The recent ash clouds above the UK caused unprecedented delays to air travel and the knock-on effects are still being felt. Some travellers were treated very well by their airlines or holiday companies. Some feel they have been let down.

This article will give you an idea of the approach being taken by the more popular airlines and what they are required to do by law. You can then decide what you may be entitled to and what you can do about it.

The starting point is EU Regulation 261/2004. It applies to all airlines that are:

• Departing from an EU State; or
• Travelling to an EU State on an airline based in an EU State.

The entitlement has been broken down into compensation and assistance to help explain the different elements available.

Compensation
The Regulation provides for compensation of up to €600 in the event that a flight is cancelled, unless there are extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided. There seems to be industry wide agreement that no compensation will be payable for this because it is unprecedented.

Assistance
Regardless of extraordinary circumstances, the airline on which you travel is still responsible for getting you to your destination safely. Until it is able to do so, it is required to offer you:

• Meals and refreshments in relation to your waiting time; and
• Hotel accommodation where an overnight stay is necessary:
• Transport between the hotel and hotel accommodation
• 2 telephone calls or e-mails

The airline then needs to:

• Return you to your original destination if your plans have been disrupted to the extent that they are no longer serving their original purpose; or 
• Re-route you under comparable transport conditions to your destination at the earliest opportunity.

Travel lawyer Nolan Mortimer takes this view:

“I think that many people and the courts will have sympathy for the airlines. Although the EU Regulation was introduced to try and protect consumers, an event such as this was not foreseen. In many cases, the expenses of passengers will far outweigh the price of their tickets.

My view is that the courts will expect the airlines to assist people whilst they were waiting to get home. The Regulation is quite clear about what airlines are required to do. If they did not pay for accommodation, 2 calls and say 3 meals per day, then I think passengers will be successful in recovering them. However, any expenses will have to be reasonable.

For those that made their own way back home, I can foresee some problems. Some airlines are refusing to pay for the costs of passengers returning under their own steam and are offering just a refund of the flight cost. I think the courts will take a sensible approach and expect the airlines to pay for the return travel, but only what they consider to be a reasonable amount. In many cases, this could be much less than the amount that people have paid. I would also expect there to be thousands of claims and the claims process will unfortunately take quite a while.”

Our advice is that you should contact your airline as soon as possible and send them copies of the expenses and details of how they were incurred. Allow them enough time to respond and if you do not get a satisfactory response and there is no prospect of a resolution, you may need to consider pursuing the matter through the courts. In the English courts, it is a matter that will be dealt with as a small claim and only very basic costs can be recovered, so it will not be an expensive exercise.