Delta is offering $200 in travel vouchers to passengers affected by Monday’s system failure, which caused the cancellation of thousands of flights.
The US-carrier said it will offer compensation to passengers who experienced a delay of more than three hours or a cancelled flight.
UK passengers will be entitled to cash compensation covered by EU law.
On Monday (August 9) Delta suspended all departing services due to a nationwide system outage – causing the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights. The problems continued into Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to Bott & CO data, eight flights from the UK were delayed, resulting in around 2,500 potential passengers who would qualify for compensation under EU Regulation 261/2004.
EU Regulation was put in place to protect passengers who have been delayed for three hours or more on a flight coming into or out of Europe and if the delay is not due to ‘extraordinary circumstances’.
“I would always advise going for cash compensation rather than a voucher that comes with small print like an expiry date," said Kevin Clarke, flight delay lawyer, Bott & Co.
“The circumstances of this incident are akin to a technical defect in a plane – yes it may be unpredictable and beyond the control of the airline but the law is clear on this point; if it stems from an event which is inherent in the normal activity of an air carrier then compensation must be paid,” said Clarke.
At 11am (ET) yesterday, Delta said 80 per cent of its flights were departing within 30 minutes of departure time.
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