Do US airlines have to pay compensation under EU rules?

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Carriers can avoid making payments in ‘extraordinary circumstances’ (iStock)

Q My wife was stuck in Amsterdam on a very late transatlantic flight on a US airline. The delay was due to maintenance issues. Can she claim anything from the airline under any EU rules?

Luke F

A If the flight arrived in the US three hours or more behind schedule, the answer is yes. European air passengers’ rights rules, known as EC261, apply to flights from all EU airports whatever the nationality of the airline. They stipulate cash payments for long delays, unless the carrier can claim “extraordinary circumstances”. The European Court of Justice has ruled that mechanical problems are part of the normal day-to-day business of running an airline and therefore do not count as extraordinary.

The amount of compensation depends on the exact length of the delay: for three hours but less than four hours, it is €300; for four hours or more, it is €600. Agreed, that does look pretty arbitrary: a four-hour delay is judged to be twice as annoying as a three-hour wait, yet a 24-hour delay gets the same as four hours. This is just one reason why the rules are long overdue an overhaul.

Another confusing aspect of the regulations, which could affect her homeward journey from America, is that non-EU carriers are not subject to the rules for flights beginning at airports outside Europe. So if a snowstorm caused the cancellation of a flight from New York to Amsterdam on, say, the Dutch carrier KLM, the airline would need to pay for a hotel and all her meals until it could fly her home. But with a US airline, she would be on her own.

Finally, it’s worth saying that all airlines are required by EU rules to tell passengers about their entitlements during disruption – but enforcement of this, like so much about the regulations, is weak.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder