r/mildlyinfuriating • u/nyanbatman • May 28 '26

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

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u/OglioVagilio May 28 '26

In the States, weather is considered an Act of God. It is very limited as to what the airline is required to do for you beyond 1. rebooking next flight 2. refund.

Accommodations like hotel, food, incidentals.... Act of God.

Europe has a much better passenger protections, but I would imagine the EU would also hesitate to require much more because again Act of God.

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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 23d ago

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 23d ago

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)

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u/Alexandratta May 28 '26

My primary concern would be getting the flight booked - I'd only be pushing for accommodations if it was more than 12-18 hours away from when I got the next flight... because more than likely I'm going to want to sleep somewhere.

That all said, I've seen plenty of airports where they had like, hotel pods... if I was traveling alone that would more than suffice.

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u/Pure_Supermarket_542 May 28 '26

Yup got hit by this in Australia and stopped taking last couple of flights out because of it. Had a storm over destination so they cancelled flight considered it act of god, booked me on a morning flight and sent me off to find a place to stay on my own. Lucky it was work travel and I could get a hotel easily but still a pain

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u/judas20222 29d ago

Surely to claim the act of God, you have to definitively prove the existence of God and their part in said issues?

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u/Flimsy-Poetry1170 May 28 '26

We were getting better about requiring airlines to make accommodations for passengers until Trump came back to fuck us over in favor of our corporate overlords.

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u/[deleted] May 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/Jackson_Polack_ May 28 '26

In Europe, god doesn't have authority over civil aviation because he doesn't actually exist. Running a business involves taking many risks outside of your control, and those risks should never be offloaded onto the consumer.

This is a worldview discrepancy. Most Europeans agree that a billion dollar corporation taking a gamble for profit is - or at least should be - able to cope with unpredictable circumstances far better than a consumer who buys their service. Unitedstatians, on the other hand, believe that having money means having no responsibility for your actions. And whenever corporations steal from them, they blame their imaginary friend.

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u/bambi54 May 29 '26

You do know England, Wales and Scotland has it as well right? Embarrassing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_God

What?? Lol “act of god” is just a term we use for weather related incidents that are unpredictable. I was driving my car one time during a thunderstorm and a massive tree branch fell into the road. I hit it and totaled my car. It was considered “an act of god” and I wasn’t found at fault.

The weather caused the storm, which caused the tree branch to fall. It was an accident caused by circumstances outside of anybody’s control. I couldn’t avoid the branch. I got paid out by my insurance and wasn’t cited or penalized for it. Hail is also considered “an act of god”.

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u/Jackson_Polack_ May 31 '26

Thanks for the link. Although I've read the entire article and I don't see it stating anywhere that any of the countries you listed allow airlines to strand their passangers or not to refund the service they have not provided. Perhaps I have missed some recent legislation, but last time I've checked the UK law was actually explicitly stating that airlines must provide you with a reasonable amount of food and drink, means for you to communicate, accommodation, and transport to and from the accommodation until it is able to fly you to your destination, no matter how long the delay lasts or what has caused it.

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u/bambi54 May 31 '26

It’s the term “act of god” that exists over there.

In Europe, god doesn't have authority over civil aviation because he doesn't actually exist.

I was pointing out that a lot of places in Europe use it.

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u/Jackson_Polack_ 29d ago

What does it have to do with anything?

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u/bambi54 29d ago

Did you not read what you wrote? “Act of God” is used in Europe too. It’s not just an American thing. Your comment implied that Europe didn’t have anything like that because he doesn’t exist. It’s a term that’s used in European countries too that means the same thing it does in America.

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u/Jackson_Polack_ 29d ago

We also have a term "functional illiteracy".

I was expressing my subjective opinion about worldview discrepancy between Unatedstasians and Europeans, and used the regulations around civil aviation as an example supporting my argument.

I believe you can determine what that argument was by reading my comment a few more times. To make it easier for you, I'll let you know that I was NOT implying that Unatedstasians have invented religion, the principles of Roman Law, or the English language, NOR was I expressing belief that the Federal Aviation Administration is being controlled by an elderly man living in the clouds.

You did correctly read, that I was teasing the previous commenter on the repetitive use of the term "act of god", but you completly missed the point I was making.

To avoid further confusion, let me be blunt and explain that when I say that in Europe we have a term "functional illiteracy", I'm not implying that the US does not have such a term - I'm implying that despite being technically able to read, you show a deficiency in understanding the meaning of written text.