Recent action by regulatory bodies in Europe and the U.S. have bolstered the hopes of passengers that maybe, just maybe, flight delays and trip interruptions will warrant more compensation.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that airline passengers who are delayed by more than three hours should be compensated the same as those whose flights are cancelled. This could mean compensation between €250 and €600 (US$375 and $900), the compensation for cancellations and delayed flights of five hours or greater. The Court also clarified that an airline can avoid having to pay compensation if it can prove the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances beyond its control. A technical problem in an aircraft cannot be considered an extraordinary circumstance unless it is caused by events beyond the airline's direct control.

In another gesture to protect stranded flyers, the European Commission is looking to extend the consumer protections covering package holidays to include independent holidays booked through airline and online travel Web sites in the event a tour operator or airline goes bankrupt. The EC is also exploring the possibility of extending the protections to include individual purchasers of airline tickets which are not part of any package. Currently, only packages purchased through a travel agent or tour operator are covered under schemes such as ATOL in the UK. This could give online consumers and those on budget airlines greater financial protections if a company ceases operations.

In the United States, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has taken the unprecedented step of fining several airlines involved in a lengthy six-hour delay in Minnesota last August. Continental Airlines (the marketing carrier), its code-share partner ExpressJet (operating as Continental Express) and Mesaba Airlines, responsible for the ground handling at the Rochester, Minnesota airport, were all fined by the DOT for their respective roles in the widely-publicized ground delay. The Continental Express flight (operated by ExpressJet) was diverted to Rochester instead of its destination of Minneapolis due to bad weather on the evening of 08 August. The passengers were stranded on the aircraft for nearly six hours as all parties debated how to handle the diversion and delay. It was not until daybreak when the passengers were allowed to disembark, wait another two and a half hours, and then re-board the aircraft to complete the flight to Minneapolis. The fines are considered a wakeup call to airlines and an unusual move by the DOT as regulations addressing such events are being considered by lawmakers.

The DOT wasn't finished with airline fines. The agency also urged British Airways to compensate customers whose reservations were cancelled because they purchased tickets for a fare the airline erroneously published. BA had published a $40 round-trip base fare from the U.S to India (not including fuel surcharges and taxes). This fare remained published for an entire day and hundreds of tickets were purchased. The airline decided that a mistake had been made and took the step of cancelling all the bookings three days later. The cancellations greatly affected customers who had also booked hotel and car packages. BA offered a $300 discount on new tickets to India to the affected customers but would not restore the cancelled reservations. The DOT's call for BA to "make the passengers whole" fell short in this regard as the agency did not issue any mandate for the airline to restore the cancelled tickets. Airlines that publish erroneous fares either cancel or honor tickets purchased at these fares at their own discretion.