BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Airlines using European Union airports will have to compensate passengers for overbooking, long delays or cancelled flights under controversial new EU rules which come into force on Thursday.

Airlines will have to pay passengers up to 600 euros ($780) if they are denied a seat because of overbooking. Passengers whose flights are seriously delayed or cancelled must be given food and, if necessary, accommodation.

In some cases, carriers must give passengers the option of a refund and a trip back to their point of departure.

His spokesman, Stefaan de Rynk, said the rules applied to all flights within the EU, regardless of the nationality of the carrier, and to all EU carriers flying into Europe from another country. Non-EU citizens are eligible for the benefits, he said.



The compensation is like this:

For flights upto 1500km 250 Euro
upto 3500km 400 Euro
and above 3500km 600 Euro

Important points are:

- The tickets cane be of lesser value!
- It cant be a foreign flight too. But it shd depart from an airport within the EU

Taken from:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=7651757&type=businessNews
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/181&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

very good news for passengers...

and bad news for airlines like IBERIA... famous for their delays!

I hope that this new regulation doesn't increase the tickets prices...