The airline Vueling has received five more convictions that oblige it to compensate different passengers for cancellations and delays of flights to Lanzarote. The rulings add to another that La Voz de Lanzarote published several weeks ago, for which it was also ordered to pay 800 euros plus interest to a couple who were going to fly from Lanzarote to Zurich and who had their flight canceled "without a justified reason."
The new sentences have been recently dictated by different Commercial Courts of Barcelona, where Vueling has its headquarters. In one of them, the ruling upholds the claim of another couple who were going to fly from Lanzarote to Barcelona on November 4, but the company canceled the flight alleging "extraordinary circumstances due to Covid-19." In its defense, Vueling argued that they were relocated on another plane a few days later, but the Court concludes that this does not exempt it from the obligation to compensate the passengers.
In this case, it sets the compensation at 877 euros, which was what the plaintiff was claiming. In addition, he also requested the hotel expenses generated by this delay, which were valued at 300 euros. Regarding this expense, the company did agree to pay it before the sentence was issued, but now it must also pay the compensation "for damages."
In another of the rulings, the Court agrees with another plaintiff, who was acting on behalf of two passengers who suffered a "major delay" in their flight. For that reason, he claimed 500 euros plus interest, as it was a delay of more than three hours. In this case, the company did not even appear in the procedure, so the Court has fully upheld the claim, condemning the company to pay 250 euros for each of the two passengers and to pay the costs of the procedure.
Five days of delay in the arrival of luggage
In addition to these convictions for delays and cancellations of flights, Vueling has also added another for delaying the delivery of luggage to a passenger. In this case, the flight departed from Lanzarote bound for Barcelona on June 3, 2019, and the woman took five days to recover her suitcases. In total, the passenger claimed 616 euros plus interest. Of that sum, 500 euros corresponded to compensation of 100 euros per day of delay, plus 116 euros as reimbursement of the expenses she had to make.
For its part, Vueling admitted the delay in the delivery of the luggage, but partially opposed the claim, and in this case the Court also upheld part of its arguments. Thus, it has condemned the company to pay the 116 euros of expenses, but not the compensation. "It is not recorded that the loss of the luggage was due to fraud by the carrier or its employees, nor is there a special declaration of value of the delivery," the ruling states, which considers it "appropriate to compensate for material and moral damages in the amount of 116.69 euros," but concludes that "an indemnifiable right without any proof, at a rate of 100 euros per day, is not appropriate."
"The expenses that the loss caused must be compensated, as it is a proven damage, but a greater damage cannot be inferred, so the amount of compensation must be limited to the amount proven," it adds.
Another conviction of almost 2,000 euros
Another of the convictions has been much more expensive for Vueling, for which it will have to pay almost 2,000 euros to four passengers who suffered the cancellation of a flight from Barcelona to Lanzarote in July 2018. In this case, they claimed 400 euros each plus the expenses of maintenance caused.
In its response to the claim, the company agreed to compensate the plaintiff, but not the other three passengers, "alleging that the other three people are not recorded as appearing as actors in the proceedings, nor legally represented by the sole plaintiff in the procedure."
However, the sentence responds that it was his wife and children, and that there were also documents that proved that he was acting on their behalf and with the authorization of his wife.
Thus, the Court sets the compensation at 1,997 euros plus legal interest, and condemns the airline again in costs.
In the fifth sentence to which La Voz has had access, the Commercial Court number 5 of Barcelona condemns Vueling to pay 264 euros plus interest to a passenger for a flight from Malaga to Lanzarote that was canceled. In her claim, the woman claimed 434.82 euros: 250 as compensation and the rest, for what the new ticket with another airline cost her.
In this case, the sentence fully upholds the request regarding the compensation, but regarding the ticket, it points out that Vueling already returned the money for the flight initially purchased, so it only has to pay the difference with what the other cost her, which was 14.84 euros.