Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Who gets to keep the compensation?

211 replies

Memba · 04/11/2023 15:13

This may well be hypothetical as airline hasn't agreed to anything yet but in the event that they do, who gets the money?

Situation as follows... DH and I took DC1 (18) and DC2 (15) overseas for a week for half term. Each DC brought a friend (same ages).

Both friends parents paid for their flights at approx £250 each. We paid for accommodation, car hire and activities/food/drink. They were effectively our guests.

Return flight was delayed by over 24hrs at fault of airline. I have checked and we are entitled to 600euros compensation per passenger. I have submitted claim on behalf all passengers.

In the event that the airline pays out, who gets the compensation?

Each passenger gets 600 Euros meaning friends parents make a profit on the holiday? Or we refund value of flight and keep the rest as contribution towards the cost of the trip.

FWIW DH and I are both financially disadvantaged by delay (self-employed) so actually lost income. The teenagers had no loss of earnings but got a free bonus night in a star hotel!

So, my AIBU is, in the event that airline cough up, do keep the majority of the compensation?

YANBU - refund flights to parent of each teen and keep the rest
YABU - give each set of parents the full €600

Or some other split?

OP posts:
corblimeylove · 04/11/2023 16:45

not sure what you are suggesting is even legal
"Any compensation awarded is made to the individual who was delayed, regardless of who actually paid for the ticket in the first place. EU261 is designed to compensate delayed passengers for their loss of time and inconvenience, therefore any money awarded is for the delayed individual to spend as they wish – even if you paid for the plane ticket for other members of your party, the money will go to them and not you"

KingsleyBorder · 04/11/2023 16:45

maddiemookins16mum · 04/11/2023 16:35

What was the cause of the delay?

That amount of compensation is ridiculous and I think disproportionate to the ‘losses’ incurred.

Edited

You are right, it is disproportionate, but it’s the law.

WhichEllie · 04/11/2023 16:47

If I was the parent of the teens I would accept the cost of the flight but nothing more. The extra fee is for the inconvenience. My feelings would be that the people most inconvenienced were the ones having to look after my teen(s) for the additional day. Not me, who had an extra day without them, and certainly not the teens themselves, who consider everything an inconvenience anyway including putting their glass in the dishwasher.

In fact I’d be relieved to have you keep it as it would solve the dilemma of how I was going to force you to accept something to cover the cost of my kid’s meals/activities/etc while with you.

OhComeOnFFS · 04/11/2023 16:48

I'd give them the flight money back - that means the kids have had a free holiday for the sake of 24 hours of inconvenience - which, given they had a free hotel room and meals, won't kill them.

I'd keep the rest for myself as compensation for lost work.

Ohhbaby · 04/11/2023 16:49

Ohnoooooooo · 04/11/2023 16:16

Well the money is I am assuming not just for the flights but to cover expenses for the extra 24hrs? So you would need to deduct the expenses you paid for them during this period from that amount because you offered to pay for x number of days and this increased by 1.

Readddd the thread!!! Out of pocket is a separate claim!!

BitofaStramash · 04/11/2023 16:49

maddiemookins16mum · 04/11/2023 16:35

What was the cause of the delay?

That amount of compensation is ridiculous and I think disproportionate to the ‘losses’ incurred.

Edited

Expenses incurred are paid as well as compensation.

The compensation is for your time and inconvenience.

KingsleyBorder · 04/11/2023 16:52

corblimeylove · 04/11/2023 16:45

not sure what you are suggesting is even legal
"Any compensation awarded is made to the individual who was delayed, regardless of who actually paid for the ticket in the first place. EU261 is designed to compensate delayed passengers for their loss of time and inconvenience, therefore any money awarded is for the delayed individual to spend as they wish – even if you paid for the plane ticket for other members of your party, the money will go to them and not you"

The airline won’t pay OP unless the others consent to her receiving the money on their behalf as it will just leave itself open to the others claiming they received nothing. She could get their consent to receive all the money and then the other parents might say “no, you keep it”, which would be fine, but she can’t hide from them the fact that she got £520 per person.

corblimeylove · 04/11/2023 16:53

I don't think it is legal (or moral) to keep any kind of compensation meant for someone else, why one earth is this hard for people to understand? Is it because it is children and not adults being compensated. If they decide to give some to you then that is their choice because it is their money.

Original poster
Memba · 04/11/2023 16:58

Sorry, just went out to walk the dog - didn't expect quite so many responses!

As a PP said amount of compensation is based on length of delay and length of flight. In this case it's €600. I don't know if that applies equally to passengers who are under 18.

It is clear from majority of responses that £ is not ours to keep. We hadn't really thought it through, hence posting on MN.

There does seem to be some debate over whether £ goes to passenger or person who paid for flights. To those who say the passenger, would you actually give your children the €600?! I think I would be inclined to put it towards next year's holiday!

So following these responses, I've messaged both parents with full details of the claim for complete transparency. One has already come back and said 'keep it (including flight) and thank you for giving my DC an amazing holiday'. The other has said 'thanks for letting us know'.

Thanks for all the responses!

OP posts:
RainbowFlutter · 04/11/2023 16:58

We're you financially disadvantaged because you had to wait for 24 hours and you had to pay for your guests accommodation, food etc? In which case, you could probably justify taking the cost of this from your guests compensation.

SpacePotato · 04/11/2023 16:59

If I were those parents I wouldn't want anything back.

They only paid for flights. Even if you gave cost of flights back, their children had a whole holiday paid for by you.

gotomomo · 04/11/2023 17:01

The compensation is up to, I've never got the full amount for short haul flights

gamerchick · 04/11/2023 17:02

It's their compensation, they were always your guests. I'm a bit boggled and in awe of your brass neck. Bravo man Grin

Original poster
Memba · 04/11/2023 17:02

KingsleyBorder · 04/11/2023 16:44

Was the return flight into the UK @Memba?

If so, your right to compensation is under UK 261 (the Retained EU law version of EU Regulation 261/2004). It’s more or less the same as the old EU reg but just for info the compensation is denominated in GBP not Euros. That said, it is the equivalent of 600 though-£520. This is assuming the flight was more than 3500km.

If you flew into an EU country then the claim is indeed in Euros.

You do seem a bit confused generally. You never had any right to a refund because the flight was eventually operated and you took it, so not sure why you thought you were applying for one? You should have been given a document at the time of delay that set out your rights. You could have opted for a refund when the delay went over 5 hours but would have had to make your own way home.

The 261 compensation is a fixed amount and is designed to compensate for the inconvenience of the delay, it is controversial in that it does often far exceed the flight cost, which is what seems to have happened here. The EU’s idea was to give passengers quick access to compensation without the hassle of proving their actual losses, and also to incentivise airlines not to cancel flights without very good reason.

You do say, rightly, that they have not yet agreed to pay. You say the delay was the fault of the airline but have they admitted this expressly? It’s possible they will invoke the defence that the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances if it was something like weather, air traffic control issues etc (lots of case law on this). It may all be a moot point!

The compensation money belongs to the passengers who travelled, regardless of who booked and paid for the seats. The airline may well pay the full amount to you for convenience but you’ll have to sign a release on behalf of all of them, after providing authority that you have their consent to do so. I’d need to check if the 15 year old can consent directly or whether has to be via parents.

This a particularly helpful response @KingsleyBorder Thank you!

OP posts:
itsalongwaybackfromsorry · 04/11/2023 17:05

UsingChangeofName · 04/11/2023 15:37

This.

I find it hard to believe people would do more than this.

I'm also surprised that the airline would refund more than the cost of the tickets in the first place....... considerably more than the cost, on top of paying for the hotel.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't think much of the parents of the friends if they accepted more than what they paid, when you treated them to the whole holiday except for the flights.

Show quote history

100%

you were kind enough to take and pay to entertain and feed and transport (cars) their kids for the holiday, and you had to miss a day of work due to the delays and take a hit.

Surely just reimbursing the cots of the flights would be more than adequate 'compensation' since the parents didn't suffer any loss due to the delays. You did.

KingsleyBorder · 04/11/2023 17:05

RainbowFlutter · 04/11/2023 16:58

We're you financially disadvantaged because you had to wait for 24 hours and you had to pay for your guests accommodation, food etc? In which case, you could probably justify taking the cost of this from your guests compensation.

Airline pays for all that, it’s a separate legal obligation in addition to the compensation. That part is payable even if the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances and no compensation is due.

A lot of airlines had massive bills for this during the Icelandic volcanic ash incident, and again in Covid.

Itshouldntbethisway · 04/11/2023 17:08

@Judashascomeintosomemoney couldn't have put it better myself, you are a decent human being..

wited · 04/11/2023 17:09

I'm shocked at the people saying keep it. It's not yours!

Usually the airlines pay it individually anyway but as most people know about the compensation so would you be okay if the families asked what happened to it?

Beautiful3 · 04/11/2023 17:14

It goes to each passenger. After all their parents paid for their kids flights so they could have submitted their claims. You could deduct the cost of their share of the hotel and food before giving it to them.

5128gap · 04/11/2023 17:16

The compensation is for the paying customer to compensate for the poor service they received for their money. The parents paid for a service (for their DC to be transported from A to B at a given time) and didn't recieve what they paid for so the compensation is theirs. Whether or not they were the ones inconvenienced is neither here nor there.

ElleCapitaine · 04/11/2023 17:19

It’s for each passenger. It’s irrelevant whether you paid for food/drink/whatever. You chose to and agreed to do that. By rights that money does not belong to you. It belongs to the people who paid for the delayed flights.

Noshowlomo · 04/11/2023 17:19

I’d just pay them their flights back. They weren’t put out by delayed fights, they had an extra day without their kids and you had an extra day with them.
flights and keep the rest if you get it

KingsleyBorder · 04/11/2023 17:19

Beautiful3 · 04/11/2023 17:14

It goes to each passenger. After all their parents paid for their kids flights so they could have submitted their claims. You could deduct the cost of their share of the hotel and food before giving it to them.

18 year old guest doesn’t need to involve his or her parents. It’s immaterial who paid for the flight.

Passengers travelling on business get this compensation to keep, the employer who paid for the ticket has no legal right to claim.

KingsleyBorder · 04/11/2023 17:20

ElleCapitaine · 04/11/2023 17:19

It’s for each passenger. It’s irrelevant whether you paid for food/drink/whatever. You chose to and agreed to do that. By rights that money does not belong to you. It belongs to the people who paid for the delayed flights.

No, it belongs to the passengers who experienced the delays.

Namerequired · 04/11/2023 17:23

If you took my children on holiday I wouldn’t be expecting to get anything back. I would be telling you to keep it all.