All these DELAYED passengers need to do is write a letter of complaint to the airlines and then under European Parliament Law Regulation EC 261/2004 they are eligible for reimbursement for delayed or cancelled flight. EVEN if the airlines provided them with alternative travel arrangements. Yes, it works a few years back I wrote a letter to Luftansa and was reimbursed Euro 400 (The FULL cost of the round-trip ticket even though I was delayed only on one leg of the flight). Please please do write a letter and get your money! Please do pass it forward

They won't be reimbursed because they don't fit the conditions of the regulation. I am a travel agent and in order for them to get reimbursment (and only partially since it works by levels of sums) they would have had a delay of more than 3 hours (IATA laws). Secondly, a charter flight always answers under particular conditions.

Flying low cost which makes travel affordable for so many people, does not have to mean that maintenance, upkeep and security of air travel on such an airline has to be compromised. It all depends on good regulation and the owners of the airlines not being too greedy and having a willingness to spend whatever is required on safety of the aircraft. This is where government oversight is required. The pure laissez fare capitalist model of anything goes will not work in the airline industry. There is also a fine line between national and international regulation. The boundaries must be clearly outlined, managed and negotiated.