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?

It depends how the insurance company decided on the payout amount. If it included the children at the same rate as the adults then everyone should get an equal payout. If it’s a flight refund then the payers only should get a refund. Or if it’s a combination of refund and compensation then it should be spilt as it was allocated by the insurance company.

The company has told you how compensation was calculated, and anyone can look up amounts they are due for delays on the internet. If I were a parent I would be absolutely livid if someone had just decided to redistribute the compensation my kids were due to other people! It’s unbelievably grabby to decide that some money awarded to someone else belongs to you or that you have a right to decide a different way to divide it up than how it was awarded.

The compensation was for the flight delay so I'd be minded to split it between everyone who had a seat on the flight, as they were all inconvenienced. If the children are very young I'd probably exempt them.

Nope it is per person and should be split as such, it is compensation for delay not a refund. It is independent to who paid. The person claiming has had to tick a box saying they will honour giving per person. If they do anything else it is wrong as they have claimed on those ppls behalf including the children.

Split evenly between everyone that was delayed. It's not a refund, it's for the hours spent delayed.

The compensation is for the inconvenience. It is calculated per person (and based on the length of the flight and the length of the delay)

Legally it belongs to each passenger as an individual. They were each delayed and it belongs to them.

It isn’t a refund or reimbursement, in which case it should go to the those that paid.

Were the people who paid the only ones inconvenienced?

It's a "sorry about that", not here's your money back.

So it should be given equally to everyone whose flight was delayed.

None of that matters though does it

Have the children actually been included in the lump sum as ordinarily companies don't need to pay compensation on free childcare places? I would therefore take them out of the equation and then split per adult

But kids? It may be the legal position, but in reality, it's ridiculous!

Legally your money when you didn’t pay for the original ticket?

Split between the paying adults.

I would not take rhw kids out because dealing with the children during the massive delay was probably a nightmare. They deserve compensation.

I would split it as it was allocated, per traveller.

Everyone inconvenienced should be paid, including the children.

Just fucking give it per person (kids and birthday girl included) and stop being tight.

Who gives a shit who paid for what? You're supposedly close enough to travel together and pay for someone, so why fall out over a few ££ here or there?

this isn't a refund, it is compensation - a flat rate to presumably to pay for every travellers time and unexpected spending. Some people might choose to eat mcdonalds and others might go for a full on meal whilst waiting, should they only be reimbursed what they spent etc? no. it s a flat rate per traveller. So give it per traveller.

And gifts are supposed to be given with grace, but the true colours come out when it comes to money - grabby fuckers trying to keep the money for themselves.

This

The compensation is paid per person for the inconvenience of being delayed. It's not a refund of costs paid. It should go to the people travelling rather than those who paid

The parents presumably got one free child place because of their own booking and the other free place because of other adults.

I think it is up to the person who received the free holiday and the family who got one free child place due to others bookings to offer the compensation for those people (2) to be split between the rest

Because the compensation wasn’t for the people who paid, it was paid per person for every individual who was inconvenienced.

If you want paying back for the birthday person because you didn’t actually want to pay for them after all, ditto for the children, then give them the compensation and then ask for your costs back.

Makes your position as miserly and tight plain so there isn’t any confusion of your ‘generosity’.

Yes, because it is compensation for inconvenience and you were the one who was inconvenienced. As long as you eventually travelled then the ticket price paid by your employer has been validly retained by the travel company for getting you from A to B.

If you cancel and get a refund then that goes back to the employer. But compensation is different.

Look at it this way. You’re delayed so the train or airline company provide free food and drink. You eat it, you don’t ask for them to box it up so you can give it to your boss back at the office.

And if five people are in a group and get free meals, the person who paid doesn’t eat all 5 meals.

Your employer is on very shaky ground with this policy. Sure, they can ask you to agree to it, but I don’t think it would stand up in court any more than if they said “if you hurt yourself on the way to a meeting and receive compensation for being in a wheelchair, you must give that money to us”.

The only reason the compensation is in the form of money is in recognition of the fact that money has been paid for a service and that service has been inadequate. The compensation directly relates to the expense, and that expense was not shared
Very good point. I vote for ‘split between paying adults’

This.

I think I would split it between all the adults equally, but I would expect birthday person to say their share should be split between the rest of the people or I would secretly judge.

Is there no indication on the compensation of how they have arrived at that amount? The alternative is split it based on how it has been provided.

The OP has explained that 12 people travelled and she has received 12 x £520.

This includes the children. The law for calculating the compensation is very simple, it is a fixed amount per passenger. See this guidance from the Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates all airlines flying in and out of the UK.

www.caa.co.uk/passengers-and-public/resolving-travel-problems/delays-and-cancellations/delays/

That’s illegal. Your whole interpretation is illagel. And I doubt your employer actually has that policy.

It has zero to do with who paid. It’s per passenger for the delay. It doesn’t matter what you think; that was the compensation is for.

It’s compensation, not a refund!