EU Ruling: Airlines Must Pay Up or Be on Time

An EU Court decision last week has set a precedent paving the way for employers to be able to seek compensation from airlines in the case their employees are delayed to their final destinations while on business trips.

Europe’s highest tribunal, the European Court of Justice, ruled on Wednesday that an employer has a right to seek compensation for damages under the Montreal Convention for additional expenses resulting for its employees who missed their connection or arrived late to their final destination due to a delayed flight.

This means that airline companies will now be required to pay up or be on time. Previous court decisions have set a three-hour delay both to final destination or via connecting flight as the limit after which redress can be claimed.

The precedent was set following a case involving two Air Baltic passengers who reached their final destination delayed by more than 14 hours and which was referred to the European Court by Lithuania’s Supreme Court in 2014.

According to Bloomberg, the court decision states that the compensation carriers must pay employers is capped and “cannot in any case exceed the cumulative amount of compensation that could be awarded to all of the passengers concerned if they were to bring proceedings individually”.