Who gets to keep the compensation?

[Memba]

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?

Personally I wouldn’t have sent my child on a holiday and expected anyone else to pay for accommodation/food/activities/drinks etc I highly doubt those did did either…

The money legally belongs to the passenger. Even infants, they can claim as long as the flight cost something and was not free of charge.

A minor needs an adult to act in the claim on their behalf but any compensation paid belongs to the minor. The law around the adult’s ability to deal with/administer the child’s money is no different here than it would be in relation to Christmas money given by an auntie, money won in a competition, or earnings of a child actor. That’s potentially quite complex area and may vary depending where you/the other family live- you are still talking about Euros so not sure if UK or not?

Oh god, what an awkward situation!

I'd definitely give any relevant money to the parents of the children.

I might be secretly miffed at their unearned windfall but would do it anyway, to guard against the inevitable sods laws that it
Would get out somehow.

Can't risk being forever compared with Arthur Fowler - forever be known as the mum who nicked the compo money!

It goes to the people who were delayed. Its compensation, because they were delayed. Its to say sorry for delaying you for 24 hours. It should go to the people who were delayed. Not their parents, and not you.

@KingsleyBorder we're in UK but as flight was from an EU country claim was made in Euros.

Interested in issue of a child's money, from whatever source. So if a young child is gifted money, does a parent have the legal right to spend that on the child's behalf?

You would be massively cheeky to keep each passengers money!! You're going to make money from being delayed, you can't keep theirs either!!

There is a reason you get more back than the cost of the flight its for the inconvenience, why do you get to keep it? You didn't lose any more, yes you paided for accommodation but you was doing that anyway and there would be no money owing at all if flight was on time stop being grabby and give them what's rightfully theirs!

Would be interesting to know what the legal point is. It's given to each individual passenger. Not the lead booker to decide to keep it

No, that’s not right. The place you flew from is irrelevant. You are claiming in the UK because the UK was the destination of your return flight. Your claim is made under UK law and calculated in GBP. A court in the UK will not make an order to pay Euro.

And I’m not sure it’s possible to travel 3500km and stay within the EU?

Rights over children’s money is not my area, beyond the very high level principles I mentioned, you’d need to research that. What I can tell you for definite is that any compensation money belongs to the individual passenger.

@KingsleyBorder

And I’m not sure it’s possible to travel 3500km and stay within the EU?

It seems it is, but into/out of UK it appears there's only a really tiny number of airport pairs that would fit the bill..

Hours of fun here:

https://www.greatcirclemap.com/

What would you do if the compensation was paid out in travel vouchers and not cash?

That’s not legal unless the passenger consents to receiving vouchers.

It seems any compensation is not for tickets or out of pocket expenses it's for not getting home on time
They may not had loss of earnings but could easily have missed something important therefore the paying for the person delayed....if they choose to give it you to off set cost of holiday that's great, but you offered to take and pay for them so they are under no obligation to do this.

You might find this page helpful regarding applicable law. It has a link to a table that clearly shows your flight is covered by UK 261 (I am presuming that the airline is UK or EU based). However I think you may be in the £350 bracket not the £520 one.
CAA Guidance

Thank you @KingsleyBorder I will take a look.

The airline website (BA) cites compensation in € so that's what I was going on.

Flight was to Canaries so on checking I distance think you are right about the lower rate.

I actually called BA prior to posting on MN to ask for advice/info and was told by their customer services that no one could advise me on a claim until I had a case number!

I’ve just checked the BA website and it’s out of date, no references to UK 261 at all and, as you say, all amounts set out in Euros. That’s pretty lax on the airline’s part but not surprising in my experience. (And they will still have some passengers/flights that do qualify for Euro comp depending on routing).

The out of date info is not really significant though, the GBP amounts are equivalent, as is the wording of the UK legislation, so you’re still getting the right information about claiming, more or less. In future the two systems will diverge as more cases come out in the EU that the UK is not bound by, while we create our own case law here. But for now much of a muchness.

If they push back and say extraordinary circumstances post again, I might be able to advise. But it will probably take forever for them to come back.

I make Inverness to Gran Canaria 3408km! That’s the furthest I can stretch it I think!
that’s a great website @notimagain , the ones I found yesterday kept crashing.

@KingsleyBorder

Hi…

Yep it quite “fun with flags” but that website has it’s uses.

Now the OP has told us the Canaries were involved I think there’s no jeopardy in revealing the only major airports I could see last night that really did all fit the criteria were between the like of Glasgow/Edinburgh <> Cyprus, (Paphos, etc) as you say the Canaries falls just short.

At least you told the other parents before you found out it was the lower amount. I’m sure if you had known it was the lower amount before, then you’d have kept quiet to make sure you got it all as I’m sure you’re disappointed not to be getting £600 for each of your family members.

I would give it back to the parents. You offered to take them , so I don’t think it’s right to get grabby now. The parents will also know how much comp it is and will not take it well when they realise you creamed off th4 top,

I’d mentally write off the full amount and offer it to them in full, but be pleasantly surprised if they only accepted £250.

They are more likely to do it if you're super honest and offer it to them as “they’ve given us £600 each, £250 for the flight and the rest as a contribution to the accommodation and general inconvenience.”

If I was them, and someone spelled it out to me like that, I’d only accept £250, maybe nothing at all if I wasn't broke and I knew the other family were out of pocket. But if someone said to me “here’s £600, enjoy!” I can't guarantee I'd question it enough to think “wait, the other guys paid for £350 of this” because I hadn’t personally experienced the delay and the inconvenience of it would be sort of abstract to me.

But it isn’t compensation of accommodation or food costs or anything. That is all refunded separately.

This is purely compensation for the actual traveller who experienced the delay. It’s for their time. Nothing else. So no, you don’t explain it as if it is compensation for costs incurred. It isnt.

It’s compensation per passenger. You are being greedy.

FWIW despite my post above, if I was one of the other parents, I’d probably give you some of the compensation anyway as a thank you for taking them but you cannot just take someone else’s compensation.