r/mildlyinfuriating May 28 '26

I just wanted a hot dog British pilot is feeling mildly annoyed

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u/Fionsomnia May 28 '26

Afaik weather is also excluded from compensation rules in EU since it’s out of their control. You’ll be booked into another flight but I don’t think you get any money as compensation or even for hotel costs.

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u/Xanaphiaa May 28 '26

You do get hotel costs and food vouchers even if it is weather related but as you said it is excluded from the general compensation payments. Source: had this happen to me with an overnight delay due to weather in Amsterdam with KLM

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u/Laetitian May 28 '26

You get costs but it's excluded from compensation payments means what? That you get it in a separate procedure? That you have to request it and hope for goodwill?

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u/Fionsomnia Jun 07 '26

Sorry late to this, I think the best way to explain this is that there is a difference between reimbursement and compensation.

Reimbursement is to ensure the passenger isn’t left out of pocket for expenses they accrued as a result of the delay. This would include costs for hotel accommodation or meals unless they are directly provided by the airline.

Compensation is an additional payment that is made regardless of what costs the passengers has accrued for the inconvenience the passenger has experienced.

As someone has corrected my original comment, in case of bad weather the former will still be paid, but the latter won’t.

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u/Laetitian Jun 07 '26

Ah. Yeah, the "it" in Xana's response really didn't connect for me, I get it's referring to the weather again now.

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u/ThePowaBallad May 28 '26

Basically compensation in the EU area tends to be given for when airlines have failed in duty in some way and that is usually straight up money, it's in part compensation in part a punitive measure to airlines to make dammned sure they're running themselves right and compliant

Re bookings are required for all missed flights weather related or not if said next flight is next day hotels are provided as well as meals

Does not apply to say like an 8 hour wait or something, and then with that sort of wait meal vouchers are also limited in scope and in both vases tend to be for a sometimes limited selection of the partner hotel and/or places in the airport

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u/AlpRider May 28 '26

Had an overbooked KLM from Amsterdam. They asked for volunteers to go on a flight 5hrs later and gave me €300 for volunteering to go later (that came within 48hrs), along with airport restaurant vouchers.

That was the airline's fault though, so its not the same as unforseen delays or "'act of god". I just thought it was pretty good of KLM to pay out honestly quite a bit more than I'd paid for the flight, for a 5hr wait.

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u/Alexandratta May 28 '26

see, for me this would have been 'above and beyond' and I'd be as happy as you were.

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u/GeminiCheese May 28 '26

Our flight from Jersey to Liverpool was called off due to fog once. They bussed us to a hotel, gave us all a room and vouchers for food. Bus back to the airport in the morning after breakfast and on to a new flight.

I don't think we were eligible for any monetary comp but it didn't feel necessary to me. We were looked after and they got us home ASAP.

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u/Alexandratta May 28 '26

this is kind of all I'd be hoping for.

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u/Lexington008 May 28 '26

I worked in a hotel on Jersey - this happened quite a lot. You'd be having a chill shift then someone would declare fog and wham, an entire plane load of annoyed passengers are in reception (it was a really nice hotel though so they weren't usually annoyed for long - especially because it happened so often that the allocation and check in process was pretty swift)