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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:
travelallthetime · 04/11/2023 17:25

Personally I think you would have to be a pretty shitty person to accept more than the cost of the flight when someone has taken your child away for a week and paid for all their meals accommodation, regardless of whether that was what was arranged or not. If you offered me the money I would tell you to keep the lot, including the cost of the flight, but then, im not a money grabbing weirdo like a lot of the people on here

LaurieStrode · 04/11/2023 17:27

12345onceIcaughta · 04/11/2023 15:18

You were out of pocket, they weren’t so you keep anything above the 250 they paid.

Agree with this. They will have had a completely free holiday and you will get a bit of compensation for a) organizing and paying for the bulk of the holiday and b) missing work.

rookiemere · 04/11/2023 17:27

I seem to be out of sync.
I'd give them the full 600 euro. It is per passenger so if the person hadn't come, you wouldn't have got it, therefore it's not yours to keep.

LaurieStrode · 04/11/2023 17:28

travelallthetime · 04/11/2023 17:25

Personally I think you would have to be a pretty shitty person to accept more than the cost of the flight when someone has taken your child away for a week and paid for all their meals accommodation, regardless of whether that was what was arranged or not. If you offered me the money I would tell you to keep the lot, including the cost of the flight, but then, im not a money grabbing weirdo like a lot of the people on here

You can say that again. I can't believe how many people expect the OP to work over anything in excess of the original ticket cost.

LaurieStrode · 04/11/2023 17:29

rookiemere · 04/11/2023 17:27

I seem to be out of sync.
I'd give them the full 600 euro. It is per passenger so if the person hadn't come, you wouldn't have got it, therefore it's not yours to keep.

And if the person hadn't come, the OP wouldn't be out the cost of their accommodation, meals and other expenses! Of course she should keep the excess.

endofagain · 04/11/2023 17:31

I would refund everybody as near as possible to what they have lost. Unless, of course, the payment has to be made directly to named individuals.

Grapefruitsquash · 04/11/2023 17:32

The money is compensation for the passenger not for who paid for the tickets. I fly and use trains for business trips. My company pays for the tickets. If I have a delay I apply for the compensation and keep it.

FictionalCharacter · 04/11/2023 17:32

Startagainjanuary · 04/11/2023 15:23

Legally the compensation money is paid per passenger to be given to each passenger for their delay not at the discretion of what you think is acceptable. Even if you had paid for the flights the compensation belongs to each passenger who had to endure the delay not who paid for the flight.

I agree. Each person who had a ticket is a passenger, and the compensation is 600 for each passenger. So each of them gets the 600. It isn’t your money to dish out as you please.

Daffodilsandtuplips · 04/11/2023 17:35

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.

I’d be very annoyed if you did that to me or my child.I’d like to decide for myself what happens to any money due.

The compensation is due to the named passenger, child or not they were equally as delayed as the op was. It’s wrong to hold back money due to someone else as compensation for ops lost work.
If those kids hadn’t been on that flight, op would have still been delayed, she would still have lost work but she’d have had to take it on the chin and not look to take it out of the pockets of others.

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 04/11/2023 17:36

If I was you I'd offer it all to the parent.

If I was the parent I would either accept what I paid and leave you the rest or if I was well off tell you to keep it all.

ChickHenLittle · 04/11/2023 17:40

I would actually say you either keep the lot having paid for most of the holiday, or they get the cost of the flight.

tellittothemoon · 04/11/2023 17:41

what @BellaEllaWella said

rookiemere · 04/11/2023 17:48

OP you say you lost income. Was it more than 1200 euros? Or in fact 2400 euros if you factor in your own DCs as well ?

Anyway I see you told the DPs and one set told you to keep the money and the other hasn't so far, so you've done the right thing anyway.

Notwhatyouwanttohear · 04/11/2023 17:53

This is ridiculous.

Do you have no morals.

If you wanted them to contribute to the holiday you should have asked for money.

Instead you want to STEAL the children's compensation.

If you couldn't afford to take them you shouldn't have, now being grabby with compensation to make up with it is low.

Motomum23 · 04/11/2023 17:57

I'd refund the cost of the flight. You qwre obliged to care for their children from an extra day - therefore you should keep thw compensation imo.

Nonimai · 04/11/2023 17:59

The parents weren’t disadvantaged, you were. You were good enough to take these kids on hols in the first place at considerable cost and let’s face it significant responsibility for you. If one of those kids had been in hospital for several days you would have accepted the time lost from your holiday, not charged the parents for time lost. I’m waffling but as I see it the flights have been reimbursed with £350 extra per person which should go towards the cost of the holiday (which everyone who was delayed benefitted from)It would be ridiculous to give any more than the flight reimbursement to the parents imo.

KingsleyBorder · 04/11/2023 18:03

There is a much more interesting question here- should the 18 and 15 year olds (in both families) give their compensation money to their parents?

It’s legally theirs. Does not matter who paid for the flights. Morally, of course, a different matter…

Smurf123 · 04/11/2023 18:05

Good luck getting it back. We applied after a cancelled flight last December and are still awaiting a response from the airline

OneTC · 04/11/2023 18:06

The parents didn't get what they paid for, so they get 600 back per child

Original poster
Memba · 04/11/2023 18:06

KingsleyBorder · 04/11/2023 18:03

There is a much more interesting question here- should the 18 and 15 year olds (in both families) give their compensation money to their parents?

It’s legally theirs. Does not matter who paid for the flights. Morally, of course, a different matter…

Yes, this is what I am wondering.

Obviously for 18 year olds, it's legally theirs.

Not so clear for 15 year olds! What if they were even younger? 6 year olds? I'm assuming for under 18s (financially dependent) it is at the discretion of the parent?

OP posts:
Original poster
Memba · 04/11/2023 18:09

Smurf123 · 04/11/2023 18:05

Good luck getting it back. We applied after a cancelled flight last December and are still awaiting a response from the airline

Haha! Yes, I think this is most likely scenario!

I have given all concerned the case number so they can track progress if they choose to...

OP posts:
Yalta · 04/11/2023 18:09

Correctly you should pay them the full £600 each

Although I think you would still be correct in splitting the extra £100 you spent pro rata within the group

However if you don’t think any of the parents would ask for the evidence from the airline and you know you and dh don’t breathe a word of this to anyone (not even your children or talk to your dh within earshot of your dc) and you can destroy the evidence it would never be found out. I would refund them the flight costs only

Although the airline might write to the parents who booked the ticket directly with the refund or send a cheque to them even though you were the one claiming compensation on their behalf as they booked directly for the flights and I would find it odd if someone else could claim compensation on my behalf and the compensation was paid directly to them

You could in theory claim compensation for anyone in that flight.

Mumofthreeteenagers · 04/11/2023 18:12

I assume you aren't giving your children the 600 are you? As parents, you made the financial decisions, take the hits.... and the gains. You were proxy parents at that point so the financial belong to you. It was your decisions and acumen to claim. It's yours. Giving the 250 is a kind gesture. Or you could do a weekend away for the same group (and make it cost less than the compensation) and not give any money to the parents.

MumblesParty · 04/11/2023 18:19

OP you say you’re self employed. How much to you charge for your time? Because making a claim is going to take a lot of time in my experience, and lots of arguing. There’s no way on earth I’d have been in charge of 2 extra teens for 24 hours and also go through the sheer hell of dealing with an insurance company, only to hand over a ton of cash to people who did literally nothing.

If - and it’s a big IF - you do manage to secure the compensation money, I would deduct a chunk for your time and inconvenience. I would ensure the parents of the guests had their flight costs covered and a bit more, but I wouldn’t be giving them the whole lot.

Original poster
Memba · 04/11/2023 18:19

@Mumofthreeteenagers Not a chance! The 15 year old would go and spend the whole lot in Sephora on products they've seen on TikTok 😂 But they will benefit from next years holiday, which is what we would use our £s for.

Will discuss with older DC. They are going travelling next summer so we will suggest that we hold it for them to put towards cost of trip.

OP posts: