TFCanswers: if the plane is delayed and I miss my business appointment, am I entitled to be compensated for the damage suffered?

On a daily basis we receive questions on our channels about delays, cancellations, and various inconveniences that can happen to people traveling either for work or vacation. Today with this article we want to answer a specific question, that of those who find themselves missing the purpose of their trip due to a delayed flight.

Leaving and arriving late Is a waste of time and a hassle if you are flying for vacation. But can make the flight itself unnecessary, if because of the delay you miss a business appointment. In which case, it is possible that the passenger, if he is able to, (because he does not have, for example, checked baggage) decides to forgo the trip.

The case happened to the writer, who Could not attend a press conference in Paris due to the severe delay of an easyJet flight from Milan Linate to Paris Charles De Gaulle, resulting from a technical problem with the aircraft that made it necessary to find another plane. Inconvenience that resulted in passengers disembarking from the plane two and a half hours after the scheduled departure time because the company initially thought it could repair the fault.

The question the writer asked himself at the time he chose not to board the 'reserve' airplane was as follows: By forgoing re-embarkation I will have the same rights as those who, instead, made the trip (e.g. If the arrival time at the destination is more than three hours beyond the scheduled arrival time)?

Attorney Angelo Soragni, passenger rights expert, responds to The Flight Club That "yes, rights are the same, because, like everyone else, one has checked in and embarked. The fact that one chooses not to proceed with the trip because, as a result of the delay, it has become effectively pointless, nothing changes". Delay beyond three hours was, in fact, equated with the cancellation of the flight itself, as ruled by the European Court of Justice.

The Community Regulation 261/2004 concerning passengers' rights when a flight is delayed speaks clearly: if, upon arrival at the destination, they will be more than three hours have elapsed since the official scheduled arrival time of the flight, travelers are entitled to compensation which varies depending on the distance covered by the flight and whether or not it is within the territory of the European Community. And the amount of which starts from 250 euros to a maximum of 600 euros.

The second question was this: if then the plane should nevertheless arrive at its destination within three hours after the 'official' arrival time, having missed a business appointment, and thus suffered damage, I am entitled to compensation for that damage suffered? According to Soragni, yes: "Let's say that. in the event that the delay of the arriving flight exceeds three hours, the compensation provided by Article 7 of Community Regulation 261/20024 is automatic and does not require any proof from the injured party, as it is expressly sanctioned by specific Community legislation based on the distance of the flight."

"Should instead, although the delay was not more than three hours, the delayed arrival resulted in damage, e.g., loss of profit, loss of a job opportunity," Soragni continues, "one can prove to obtain compensation by providing evidence of the pecuniary or non-pecuniary damage concretely suffered.o (Cassaz. Civ. 14667/2015), through a formal request and related notice of default sent to the airline. In the case then of judicial outburst, the competent court will be that of the consumer's (the passenger's) residence, as with any dispute on the matter. E evidence is defined, for example, as email correspondence to ascertain work engagement, in which explicit mention is made of a work or business appointment (obviously lost due to the conduct of the carrier). Jurisprudence on the point speaks of consequential damage."

However, there is also not to forget the subsidiary application of the Montreal Convention of 1999, which is also valid for non-EU carriers (and flights departing from non-EU airports) but of course also for EU carriers, as well as to close the general domestic legislation on compensation for damages (in simpler words the Civil Code).

It takes time, even weeks, the lawyer explains. (which has behind it some 200 lawsuits filed against companies for passenger injuries), But then the compensation comes".

• compensation
• delay
• TFC responds