Europe's highest court rejected attempts by airlines including Lufthansa and British Airways to avoid paying compensation for delayed flights, making it harder for carriers to side-step payments in future.The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday said passengers deserved to be recompensed for delays of more than three hours, reaffirming a right established three years ago.The court was ruling in a case involving Lufthansa and another involving TUI Travel, British Airways, easyJet and IATA.Passengers on flights starting or ending in the 27-country European Union are entitled to between EUR€250 (USD$330) and EUR€600 for delayed or cancelled flights under EU rules."The Court of Justice has confirmed its previous ruling that passengers whose flights have been delayed for a long time may be compensated," the court said in a statement on the ruling.But the court also said that passengers would not be entitled to compensation if the airline could prove that the delay was caused by circumstances beyond its control.The court ruled in 2009 that passengers should be compensated for flight delays of more than three hours in a case involving Air France.In the Lufthansa case, passengers sued the airline for compensation in a German court after a flight delay of more than 24 hours. Judges subsequently sought advice from the ECJ.In the second case, IATA, British Airways, easyJet and TUI Travel challenged the UK Civil Aviation Authority after it rejected their request to be exempted from paying for flight delays. British judges then asked the Court of Justice in Luxembourg for guidance.Earlier this month, the ECJ ordered airlines to compensate passengers they bumped off flights because of strikes, saying that was not a good enough excuse not to pay up. Source: Reuters
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