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My husband (US citizen) traveled from Mumbai, India, to Cleveland, OH, via Newark. The Mumbai-Newark flight was delayed just over 8 hours due to crew availability. (Scheduled departure 11:20 pm, actual departure 7:30 am the next day).

Once on the Mumbai-Newark flight, they had to make an emergency diversion to Stockholm, complete with an emergency fuel dump, due to a passenger medical emergency. A passenger and a flight attendant left the plane. The crew announced refueling, and that they had to wait for the flight attendant to return, as they did not have a replacement and FAA rules required them to have 10.

This took 3 hours. They arrived to Newark 11 hours 45 minutes later than they should have. What compensation is required by law, and what laws apply?

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  • I was on an American Airlines flight that was delayed by 6h and the only thing that happened was that all the passengers wound up being given 5,000 frequent flier miles.
    – neubert
    Jun 20, 2015 at 22:27
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    What does your contract say? What airlines are involved?
    – choster
    Jun 21, 2015 at 22:26
  • You forgot to mention which airline (a critical component in calculating liability).
    – Burhan Khalid
    Jul 21, 2015 at 8:13
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    Compensation for delays is spelled out in the Contract of Carriage under Rule 24— meal vouchers, lodging, and re-accommodation. Beyond this, since United did transport him to Cleveland, I do not think they are legally obligated to provide compensation— but for such an extreme case, I would be surprised if United did not offer at least a token as a customer service gesture (e.g. drink certificates, frequent flyer miles, voucher), especially if he is a Mileage Plus elite.
    – choster
    Jul 21, 2015 at 14:11
  • Hopefully @Amy will be back to clarify, but until then: the only airlines that fly non-stop BOM–EWR are Air India, Jet Airways, and United. And United is the only one of those three that also flies to Cleveland.
    – Michael Seifert
    Jul 21, 2015 at 14:21

2 Answers 2

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In India, The India Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) governs the air passenger rights and as the law states: "An airline will have to pay up to Rs 10,000 to a passenger if a flight is cancelled or delayed beyond two hours, while the compensation for not allowing a passenger to board the flight is up to Rs 20,000." Although there are certain terms and conditions that need to be met in order to get compensation successfully.

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  • 10,000 Rs is about US$150 so it’s not a bad sum of money for delayed flights. Only getting that for denied boarding is ludicrous though.
    – RoboKaren
    May 19, 2018 at 15:08
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Very sad story with your husband. It is common problem of delayed flights of developed Asian countries and daily many flights delayed due to one or other problem. So i think you can file case against this flight company according to flight rules of India.

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    Doesn't it depend on the contract of carriage? AFAIK neither India or the US has compensatory laws (such as the EU). The airline was contracted to get the husband to the US, and they did so.
    – CGCampbell
    Jul 21, 2015 at 13:44

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