The ruling will require airlines within the EU to compensate passengers for delays for which they are responsible.

The length of delay which would entitle passengers to compensation varies according to the nature of the flight. On flights shorter than 1,500 km, the threshold is 2 hours. The threshold is 3 hours for longer flights within the EU as well as other flights between 1,500km and 3,500km. On all other flights, the threshold is 4 hours.

Presently, passengers are entitled to choose not to travel and obtain a full refund if a flight is delayed by at least 5 hours. They are also entitled to free meals and refreshments appropriate to the delay, 2 free phone calls, faxes or emails and free accommodation if an overnight stay is required.

The ECJ was dealing with cases referred from German and Austrian Courts in which passengers claimed that they were entitled to compensation.

It ruled that the €600 compensation awarded to those whose flight had been cancelled should also apply to passengers who are made to wait for a certain period of time. It also determined that technical problems with an aircraft could not be regarded as an extraordinary circumstance unless the problem stemmed from extraordinary events.

“This is great news for air passengers. We hear all too often of people who are delayed for hours at the airport, often without any information about when their flight will finally leave, and are then offered no compensation,” Rochelle Turner said on behalf of British consumer association Which?

Meanwhile, the president of international airline passenger group flyersrights.org, Kate Hanni, hailed the decision as “an important step forward in creating a legal acknowledgment that the rights of victims, abused and ignored by the big airlines for far too long, will be given priority over the bloodless corporations that have simply taken it for granted that they engage in any behaviour, no matter how injurious it is to consumers, without fearing repercussion.”

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