FLIGHT CANCELLETION AND DELAY

Flight cancelletion and delay

Flight cancelletion and delay

Claim 1

Ans#1. Ever since EC Regulation 261/2004 on denied boarding, cancellations and delays came into force, a key question has been when a delay is in reality a cancellation: key because it makes the difference between whether or not the passenger is entitled.

1. To give a name or title to.

2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: to compensation. Now that distinction is under threat.

The Advocate General to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has recently published an Opinion in two joined cases referred by the German Federal Court of Justice and the Vienna Commercial Court. (Rosenberger, Schaefer, Goldsman, Johnson, Anton, George , 2002, 357) The cases requested clarification of the distinction between "delay" and "cancellation" under Regulation 261/2004. The trouble with referring questions on the proper interpretation of Regulation 261 to the ECJ is that one often gets more than one bargained for. That was the case with the ECJ's decision in late 2008 in Wallentin which has made life extremely difficult for carriers seeking to rely on a defence of "extraordinary circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact.

2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or “when flights are cancelled for technical reasons, and it threatens to be the case here too. (Rosenberger, Schaefer, Goldsman, Johnson, Anton, George , 2002, 357) For, as well as examining the vexed question VEXED QUESTION, vexata quaestio. A question or point of law often discussed or agitated, but not determined nor settled. of when a delay becomes a cancellation, the Advocate General's approach threatens a wholesale reopening Reopening

Treasury offerings of additional amounts of outstanding issues, rather than an entirely new issue. A reopened issue will always have the same maturity date, CUSIP number, and interest rate as the original issue.

In both these cases heard by the ECJ, the claimants (Tom and Chabanna) had argued that their flights had in reality been cancelled rather than, as the carriers argued, delayed and that they were accordingly entitled to compensation under Article 5 of Regulation 261. The ECJ was accordingly asked questions aimed at assisting in determining whether a flight has been delayed or cancelled for the purposes of the Regulation. (Rosenberger, Schaefer, Goldsman, Johnson, Anton, George , 2002, 357)

When is a delay a cancellation? The Advocate General acknowledged that there are a number of factors which might, in any particular case, indicate that a flight has been cancelled rather than just delayed. Those include: change of air carrier, change of aircraft, change of flight number, change of airport of departure or arrival, issuing new boarding passes, requiring new check-in, description of the flights as "cancelled" by flight crew or customer service representatives.

The more of these factors that are present, the more likely it is that the flight has been cancelled rather than delayed; however, the Advocate ...