Having your flight delayed is terrible enough, but when an airline cancels the flight entirely — leaving passengers stranded in its wake — it is the beginning of a nightmare.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has managed to land itself in this sticky situation courtesy of a computer system failure, which resulted in more than a thousand flights canceled.
Tech Times has reported that Delta was forced to delay hundreds of flights and cancel more than 800 flights on Aug. 8, thanks to the system-wide outage, which affected its worldwide operations. The number swelled to another 250 cancellations and several delays on Aug. 9, as the airline attempted to get back on track.
The chaos left thousands of passengers stranded worldwide and now Delta has come forward and announced a paltry $200 compensation to those affected.
"Delta will provide $200 in travel vouchers to all customers who experienced a delay of greater than three hours or a canceled flight as a result of Monday's system-wide outage. The vouchers are available for travel on all Delta and Delta Connection-operated flights," notes the company.
The voucher is available to any Delta Air Lines passenger whose flight was either delayed for more than three hours or canceled. However, travel experts are urging people not to accept the meager compensation Delta is offering as they are entitled to three times more, as stated in the regulations.
According to EU regulations, any passenger delayed from the Atlantic to the U.S. from any of Delta's 12 or more EU destinations are allowed to claim monetary compensation worth 600 euros, which is approximately $670 per person.
Under EU regulation EC261, a passenger is eligible to claim 300 euros (approximately $335) if the arrival at the destination is delayed between three and four hours. If the arrival at the destination is delayed by more than four hours or the flight canceled, the passenger can not only claim 600 euros (double of the previous amount), but also submit hotel and meal cost receipts to the airline. This can be done if the airline does not provide the lodging and food.
However, the EU regulations are only applicable to departing flights and not those arriving, unless the carrier is based in the EU.
Travel experts advise affected passengers to claim a cash compensation instead of a voucher due to the validity date issue of the latter. A passenger can stake a claim directly from Delta, but since regulations are complex they may need to enlist the help of a lawyer for a fee.
Photo: Aero Icarus | Flickr
