Who should receive the compensation?

[Olanabunny]

An extended family holiday booked to celebrate somebody's big birthday
Birthday person's cost for the holiday was spread between the rest of the people attending. 2 free child places were also applied
Flight was significantly delayed
Compensation was claimed by the lead of the booking and received today.
How should it be split?
Should the children with a free place be awarded it? Should the birthday person receive a share even though they didn't pay anything towards the holiday or should those who paid for their holiday receive a portion of it back?

If one of the couples decided to pay to go first class, would you feel they were entitled to the lions share of the total compensation as they paid a lot more for their tickets than the rest combined?

Or would you feel like regardless of costs incurred, the compensation is £520 per passenger and should be distributed evenly?

But how could the parents share the money with the children, who are legally entitled to it, if most of the children’s money has been given to other adults?

If you didn’t think they children should get compensation then why would you put their name on the claim? Just claim for yourself. Let the other’s then claim for themselves. Or do you think it’s right that your claim be inflated by using the children’s names, purely so you can steal their money? Then tell the parents “tough shit, it’s in my bank account now.”

The company isn’t having to sit wasting time in York station, it has nothing to be compensated for because it’s not being inconvenienced.

It’s a statutory regime, designed to be simple. It would have been impossible for a regulator to legislate to cover all eventualities of employer/employee relationships.

I think the consensus is quite clear OP, it needs splitting properly between 12 in accordance with the law.. They extra 3 lots of £520 for the non payers would not even have been paid out if they weren't travelling so it is moot that they were 'free'.

But I would secretly judge the parents, and even the birthday person if they decided to keep all the kids compensation themselves (minus expenses obvs) or didn't at least offer do something nice for the group with part of it.

None of the 9 can have an opinion on allocating the money between 9, because of the terms of the payout, but the parents and the birthday person could decide that it would be fairer to give the payers more of the compo, I would if I was them, or I would use it for something nice for the group, I'd feel ridiculously selfish keeping all of it, no matter what the law says.

I wonder which side of the fence OP is on?

Take the amount paid...
Say £7000.
Returned money is £700.
So just work out a 10% discount on what each person paid....
So if person A paid £1500 You give them £150 back.

the company is being inconvenienced though, they are losing time they have paid for - a material loss

But that’s not what the compensation is for.

It literally doesn’t matter what you think. That’s not what it is for. It is for the person who was left sitting at an airport for hours. Absolutely nothing else matters. It is for each individual person.

Assuming the compensation was claimed for and paid purely on the basis of how many people were delayed, then of course everyone gets an equal share.

Which law or regulation did you get that idea from? Or are you suggesting fraud and theft?

@TravelInsuranceQ I always felt it would be fairer that way because, I'm the one uncomfortable e.g. due to an overcrowded train due to loads of cancellations. I didn't realise other employers were more inclined to take that view. I feel a weird mix of validated and cheated!

You've both done the impossible and changed someone's mind on Aibu 😄

It’s not compensation for a material loss. It’s compensation for inconvenience. For spending three hours in a noisy, draughty station, buying endless cups of coffee. The person affected experiences that inconvenience not the company that paid for the ticket.

I get that.

i can’t see why the compensation wouldn’t be shared equally between all people, as given to the lead booker. If I was those parents, I’d be asking what compensation was given for the children and complaining to the airline if I thought they’d not been given anything. The money is for the inconvenience, regardless of how the airline words its offers with “free child places”. Those children were still inconvenienced and would’ve cost money to feed, entertain, accommodate in the wait time. Taking an already large amount and adding to it by taking money meant for the children is theft surely?

Actually I stand by what I said. If we spent that much on a holiday, and it was a big family holiday. I would refund to people who paid , not per person.
My family would want everyone who paid to get an equal share of their money back...
3 people on this flight paid nothing.

Why claim on behalf of the kids at all if the feeling is that they don't "deserve" compensation? Why not just claim for the adults?

Having claimed for the kids, you have to give them their compensation.

What do you think should be done with the money by the kids? Pocket money? Or put into a savings account? Because I suspect their parents would spend it. Lines get pretty blurry with children and money, on account of them being mainly an expense.

Depending on age, might well have been more inconvenient for the parents than the children, and certainly any expense incurred for games dinner books etc they would have paid for. So that’s another £1k for them? Or do the children reimburse their parents and the rest is theirs? Going to make the bank transfers quite convoluted.

FWIW I have now changed sides and think bank transfer £520 to each person because the possible fallout just isn’t worth it.

I’d claim for my children (because the money is on offer so why wouldn’t I?) and I’d keep their compensation. I wouldn’t feel at all bad about it! Maybe now they’re teens I’d offer them some of it, but tbh if we were delayed in an airport or elsewhere on holiday all my children’s extra costs would fall to me to pay - I’d have been the one forking out for extra food & drink, or entertainment or what have you. And honest to god, their time is not equivalent to my time - a delay returning from holiday might mean I lost earnings but my children would just spend a day in a different place, slightly bored. I think I should get extra compensation for putting up with them, frankly!

Funny isn't it, this is about how you work as a family.
Mine would be that everyone in the family was reimbursed as much as possible...
So if the money is more than the holiday costs. I would repay everyone and we all got an equal share of what was left including the children or used for a family treat.
I would also be the person with the 2 children.

I love my family and no way would I walk off with £1000 bonus and have my family resent me for it.

I think taking money that they have been given and are legally entitled to teaches them a much worse lesson!

Funny isn't it, this is about how you work as a family.

I agree. There’s the legal position, which is very clear (children and adults get £520 each) and the practical position, which a lot of people are considering in their answers, that some people paid a bit more per person and so maybe those costs should the in the mix in decision making.

If I were OP I’d say, Guys, compensation came through at £520pp. Shall I transfer it over to you?

And I’d let anyone suggest if they wanted to forego any of it in favour of others.

Possibly. Solution is probably to give them the money in a savings account. Money in savings always seems untouchable anyway. If you give it to their parents though, the outcome is still that adults have withheld it.

Absolutely. As long as everyone knows that they are legally entitled to £520 then it is up to those involved to reach agreement as to distribution. The parents can make the decision on behalf of their children.

As long as OP does not act unilaterally or conceal information then the moral/ethical question is for the family to resolve.