JURIST - Paper Chase: EU high court upholds airline passenger rights legislation

[JURIST] The European Court of Justice [official website] on Tuesday upheld a law [text] that requires airlines to pay compensation to passengers [JURIST report] who experience long flight delays, overbooking and cancellation on flights to and from the European Union. The International Air Transport Association [group website] and the European Low Fares Airline Association [group website; press release, PDF] had challenged the EU regulation, arguing the law was too costly to implement and some conditions were outside of the airlines' control. Under the law, passengers may be compensated up to $725 (600 euros) if they are denied a seat because of overbooking. In other cases, airlines must provide food, lodging or a trip back to the point of departure. The court ruled [judgment; press release, PDF] that the regulation does not violate the Montreal Convention [text] and does not violate the principle of proportionality. View the EU air passenger rights website. Reuters has more.

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