Jet2 applied to the Supreme Court to appeal this
decision, but the court has refused permission to
appeal. Airlines should therefore pay compensation for
flights disrupted by ordinary technical faults. The
Jet2 v Huzar case related to when technical faults that
cause long delays to flights should be considered
“extraordinary circumstances”. The court found that
technical faults are inherent to the normal activity of
an airline, unless caused by extraneous acts of third
parties. This means that most technical faults will no
longer be considered as extraordinary circumstances.
Passengers wishing to take a claim to court can issue
proceedings at the county court.
In
Thomson v Dawson, the
Court of Appeal in June confirmed passengers can refer
compensation claims to the courts in
England and Wales for
flights going back six years, as opposed to the two year
maximum cited by Thomson when dealing with compensation
claims. Thomson applied to the Supreme Court
to appeal this decision, but the court has refused
permission to appeal. Under European regulations,
passengers are entitled to compensation if their flight
is cancelled or delayed by more than three hours on
arrival, providing the disruption was not caused by
“extraordinary circumstances”.
The CAA is the UK's specialist aviation regulator.
Its activities include making sure that the aviation
industry meets the highest technical and operational
safety standards; preventing holidaymakers from being
stranded abroad or losing money because of tour operator
insolvency; planning and regulating all UK airspace; and
regulating airports, air traffic services and airlines
and providing advice on aviation policy. (see U.S.
Consumer Rule Limits Airline
Tarmac Delays)
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