4 ms·

I've had four overnight delays on three transatlantic trips this year. Fortunately, EU passenger compensation rules applied to three of them; the airline must p

by Zak 1y ago

I've had four overnight delays on three transatlantic trips this year. Fortunately, EU passenger compensation rules applied to three of them; the airline must pay each delayed passenger 600€ or convince them to take a more compelling non-cash offer. I'm not for heavily regulating non-safety details of how most industries do business, but I do think it's fair to demand the true price up front and compensation when the airline doesn't provide the service it sold for reasons within its control.

tialaramex 1y ago
Right, I've had train companies put me in a taxi, and just eat the price of a taxi to wherever because if you want to sell tickets to travel to X, and then oops you can't get me to X well, I didn't buy your "regret" that you can't do that - I bought travel to X, so if that's still possible you'd better make it happen and too bad if that's not profitable.
- Yeul 1y ago
  I got an email from the train company that according to their records I had a delay and they put a link in it to a online form to get my money back. I was positively surprised at their proactive communication. The money was on my account within the week!
  - jakub_g 1y ago
    In Italy, for regional trains, since 2025 Trenitalia gives the reimboursement automatically to your credit card if you purchased the ticket electronically. [1] [1] https://www.firstonline.info/en/trenitalia-rimborsi-automatici-dal-2025-indennizzi-diretti-sulla-carta-per-i-ritardi/ https://www.firstonline.info/en/trenitalia-rimborsi-automati...
    - decafninja 1y ago
      Good news I guess? I was in this situation in 2024 and asked a fellow traveler who was Italian what recourse we had. He laughed and replied “none, we’re fucked”.
  - GFischer 1y ago
    Meanwhile I had a terrible experience with DB (Deutsche Bahn) during the European summer two years ago, although it was partly out of their control (weather related delays and cancellations), I had to take awful detours, had paid for 1st class on ICE and ended up on regional trains up and down and lost one day of my holidays. No compensation whatsoever, although maybe I had to fill some online form for that.
baby 1y ago
There was a year I made more money from flying than I spent, because I kept flying ryanair or easyjet and I kept getting massive delays (one was a 20h delay, in which I spent the night at the airport squatting some of the couches in a cafe in the terminal, because small delays kept being slowly pushed on us, and we also spent 2h waiting in the final plane for it to take off, no A/C and they refused to give us water threatening to call the cops on us if we did get water bottles ourselves, great experience!)
- dzhiurgis 1y ago
  Ryanair is the most punctual airline tho
  - reorder9695 1y ago
    Absolutely not in my experience, maybe I've just been really unlucky but I can't remember more than 1 Ryanair flight I've been on that was actually on time. Most delayed by less than 4 hours, but delayed.
  - maest 1y ago
    Ryanair has the very sleazy habit if saying things like "we have just landed at X, note how we are 5 minutes ahead of schedule!" over the PA. However, they don't make a peep when the flight lands with a delay.
  - baby 1y ago
    Not at all in my experience
  - krageon 1y ago
    Would you like to substantiate your extraordinary claim with some actual evidence?
- sjs7007 1y ago
  Could you share more context on the water bottle thing? That makes no sense to me.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
BobbyTables2 1y ago
I do believe such regulation is merited as airlines have a strong financial incentive to misbehave. Too many times I’ve seen flights, closer to empty than full, mysteriously cancelled due to “mechanical issues”. Yes things happen on their own. But others are motivated by profit.
Braxton1980 1y ago
>I'm not for heavily regulating non-safety details of how most industries do business, but I do think it's fair to demand the true price up front and compensation when the airline doesn't provide the service it sold for reasons within its control. Why the exception for this then? There are many situations where regulations could protect consumers and I don't understand why you have the general view against non-safety regulations.
- Zak 1y ago
  There are several factors that make this situation especially suitable for regulation. The most important is that airlines have the ability and motivation to force passengers to accept unfavorable terms, and passengers have no ability to negotiate more favorable terms. Many routes are only served by one airline, so there isn't even competitive pressure in those cases. There's also a financial incentive for airlines to mistreat customers, e.g. by overbooking flights, canceling underbooked flights, and delaying non-mandatory maintenance until the cheapest or most convenient time.
  - Braxton1980 1y ago
    The limited availability of choice makes sense for regulation but I will say most of the other reasons exist with most other companies. I believe in regulation for the market to protect consumers for all products and services.

by Zak 1y ago

tialaramex 1y ago

Right, I've had train companies put me in a taxi, and just eat the price of a taxi to wherever because if you want to sell tickets to travel to X, and then oops you can't get me to X well, I didn't buy your "regret" that you can't do that - I bought travel to X, so if that's still possible you'd better make it happen and too bad if that's not profitable.

Yeul 1y ago
I got an email from the train company that according to their records I had a delay and they put a link in it to a online form to get my money back. I was positively surprised at their proactive communication. The money was on my account within the week!
- jakub_g 1y ago
  In Italy, for regional trains, since 2025 Trenitalia gives the reimboursement automatically to your credit card if you purchased the ticket electronically. [1] [1] https://www.firstonline.info/en/trenitalia-rimborsi-automatici-dal-2025-indennizzi-diretti-sulla-carta-per-i-ritardi/ https://www.firstonline.info/en/trenitalia-rimborsi-automati...
  - decafninja 1y ago
    Good news I guess? I was in this situation in 2024 and asked a fellow traveler who was Italian what recourse we had. He laughed and replied “none, we’re fucked”.
- GFischer 1y ago
  Meanwhile I had a terrible experience with DB (Deutsche Bahn) during the European summer two years ago, although it was partly out of their control (weather related delays and cancellations), I had to take awful detours, had paid for 1st class on ICE and ended up on regional trains up and down and lost one day of my holidays. No compensation whatsoever, although maybe I had to fill some online form for that.

baby 1y ago

There was a year I made more money from flying than I spent, because I kept flying ryanair or easyjet and I kept getting massive delays (one was a 20h delay, in which I spent the night at the airport squatting some of the couches in a cafe in the terminal, because small delays kept being slowly pushed on us, and we also spent 2h waiting in the final plane for it to take off, no A/C and they refused to give us water threatening to call the cops on us if we did get water bottles ourselves, great experience!)

dzhiurgis 1y ago
Ryanair is the most punctual airline tho
- reorder9695 1y ago
  Absolutely not in my experience, maybe I've just been really unlucky but I can't remember more than 1 Ryanair flight I've been on that was actually on time. Most delayed by less than 4 hours, but delayed.
- maest 1y ago
  Ryanair has the very sleazy habit if saying things like "we have just landed at X, note how we are 5 minutes ahead of schedule!" over the PA. However, they don't make a peep when the flight lands with a delay.
- baby 1y ago
  Not at all in my experience
- krageon 1y ago
  Would you like to substantiate your extraordinary claim with some actual evidence?
sjs7007 1y ago
Could you share more context on the water bottle thing? That makes no sense to me.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

BobbyTables2 1y ago

I do believe such regulation is merited as airlines have a strong financial incentive to misbehave. Too many times I’ve seen flights, closer to empty than full, mysteriously cancelled due to “mechanical issues”. Yes things happen on their own. But others are motivated by profit.

Braxton1980 1y ago

>I'm not for heavily regulating non-safety details of how most industries do business, but I do think it's fair to demand the true price up front and compensation when the airline doesn't provide the service it sold for reasons within its control. Why the exception for this then? There are many situations where regulations could protect consumers and I don't understand why you have the general view against non-safety regulations.

Zak 1y ago
There are several factors that make this situation especially suitable for regulation. The most important is that airlines have the ability and motivation to force passengers to accept unfavorable terms, and passengers have no ability to negotiate more favorable terms. Many routes are only served by one airline, so there isn't even competitive pressure in those cases. There's also a financial incentive for airlines to mistreat customers, e.g. by overbooking flights, canceling underbooked flights, and delaying non-mandatory maintenance until the cheapest or most convenient time.
- Braxton1980 1y ago
  The limited availability of choice makes sense for regulation but I will say most of the other reasons exist with most other companies. I believe in regulation for the market to protect consumers for all products and services.