Passengers affected by the power outage that shut down London’s Heathrow Airport Friday are not automatically entitled to compensation for their flight disruption, experts say.
Instead, different rules will apply if a passenger was set to fly on a U.S. carrier into Heathrow.
For travelers whose flights on U.S. carriers were canceled, each individual airline has its own separate rules about compensation and reimbursement — though there is usually little variation.
And unfortunately, many carriers’ stipulate that passengers are not entitled compensation or reimbursement for expenses if the delay was not within the airline’s control.
“If the delay is beyond our control, or you book your own arrangements without written authorization from American Airlines, you’re responsible to pay for your hotel, meals and other expenses. An American Airlines agent may be able to help you find a hotel,” American Airlines says on its website.
United Airlines’ reimbursement and compensation policies apply only to circumstances “within [its] control.” The same is true for Air Canada.
If you attempt to book a new flight with a different carrier, you may not be entitled to a refund on your unused ticket given that the outage was not in the airline’s control.
Still, at least one U.S. carrier was offering passengers a reimbursement option. A spokesperson for Delta Air Lines said the carrier was offering reimbursement for trains and hotels for passengers whose flights were diverted to Amsterdam as a result of the outage.
On the other hand, passengers who were set to take an European Union or U.K.-based airline — or passengers who were slated to take a U.S. carrier out of Heathrow — friendlier reimbursement rules apply.
For these passengers, U.K. law stipulates that, assuming a passenger is sticking with their original air carrier, that carrier must provide a passenger with “care and assistance” while they await a new flight.
This includes reimbursement for a reasonable amount of food and drink, hotel and the cost of transportation to those accommodations; and even refunds for the cost of making calls related to securing lodging.
“The U.K. specifically has really good passenger protection laws,” said Clint Henderson, travel expert at The Points Guy. While an extraordinary-circumstances policy relieves a carrier of having to provide compensation for the flight itself, “in this case, the airline is still required to reimburse you for charges incurred.”
But there are limits.
“Airlines only pay for ‘reasonable’ expenses — you are unlikely to get money back for alcohol, expensive meals or luxury hotels,” according to Citizens Advice, a U.K.-based consumer advocacy group.
Passengers are responsible for maintaining receipts for these costs, and reimbursement may not be immediate.
Some 1,300 flights — and hundreds of thousands of passengers — were directly affected by the Friday outage, the cause of which remains under investigation. Airport officials said that while power had been preliminarily restored, disruptions to travel were expected to continue over the next few days.
