Missed connection & long delay on an Iberia/American flight from US to Spain. Am I entitled to compensation?

score:3

Accepted answer

You are not officially due compensation, because :

a) EU261 does not apply for the reason you've already stated - you are flying on a non-EU carrier, for a flight that is not departing from the EU. The fact that your ticket was booked with an Iberia flight number does not change this, as EU261 applies to the "operating carrier" (the one actually running the flight, in this case American Airlines) and not the marketing carrier (Iberia).

b) The US does not have any equivalent compensation due in the event of a delay like this, nor does American Airlines have a published policy for compensation beyond those that you've already received (hotel room, and I presume meal vouchers).

Despite American not having a published/legal requirement for compensation, there is certainly no harm in asking. Many US airlines will offer compensation when a specific flight suffers an extensive delay (generally at least 3 hours, often more) as a result of something like a mechanical delay. Normally this compensation will not be offered automatically, especially given that your initial flight was not extensively delay (with the delay instead coming from a missed connection).

The airline staff at the airport will almost certainly not be able to issue such compensation (although again, no harm in asking!). Instead your best option would be to email American Airlines Customer Relations and request compensation. As I said above, they have no legal requirement to offer you anything at all, so don't be surprised if they say no, or if the compensation offered is a relatively small amount of AA Miles.

Upvote:2

Pretty sure EU261 rules dont apply in this regard, as the operative line in the regulation is:

  1. This Regulation shall apply: … (b) to passengers departing from an airport located in a third country to an airport situated in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty applies, unless they received benefits or compensation and were given assistance in that third country, if the operating air carrier of the flight concerned is a Community carrier.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261

Emphasis mine.

American was the operating airline in your case, so the regulations dont apply.

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