AIR AMBULANCE CHASERS Better call Saul

Posted on 01/14/2016

It’s the kind of business niche that someone like Breaking Bad’s wonderfully cheesy lawyer Saul Goodman (now with his own show, Better Call Saul) might have dreamed up: It has ambulance chaser written all over it and it’s something of which anyone travelling by air in or from Europe should be aware.

EU Regulation 261/2004 is the 2005 EU law that governs passenger compensation for any number of everyday occurrences such as cancellations, delays, denied boarding, re-routings and downgrades. The law applies to anyone, regardless of nationality, whose flight departs from an EU airport or whose flight arrives into an EU country on a flight operated by an EU registered airline. The regulation spells out all the usual stuff about requirements for the provision of food and drink vouchers, hotel accommodation, ground transportation etc. Where it really gets interesting however is in the monetary compensation section for flight delays. If a passenger is delayed for three hours or more on a flight of up to 1,500km they are entitled to cash compensation of €250 ($393). Between 1,500 and 3,500kms that goes up to €400 ($628) and over 3,500 kms and a more than four-hour delay will get you a whopping €600 (942). Actually to be precise that ought to read, “should get you” and thereby, as they say, hangs a tale.

I am sure that some of you reading this are already thinking, “Dammit, I wish I’d known that when I had that four hour delay on Alitalia out of Rome last summer.” Well hold that thought because all is not lost – you maybe can’t call Saul but there are a host of web-based Saul clones just itching to help you extract you rightful compensation from those big bad airlines. You might start by checking one such UK establishment that goes by the somewhat Dickensian name of ‘Bott & Co Solicitors’ (www.bottonline.co.uk). As the self-proclaimed, “No. 1 Flight Delay Compensation Service in the UK” they claim to have “helped over 50,000 people over the last 10 years” with a “99% success rate on all cases.”

If you Google ‘EU 261’ however there are literally scores of these new generation air ambulance chasers eagerly waiting to do some online compensation archaeology on your behalf. It’s kind of like an aviation slot machine: Just type your flight number and the date on which you were delayed into the “Flight Compensation Claim Checker” – it’s not immediately clear if there is a statute of limitations – and, with Bott & Co at least, you’ll get an “instant decision” as to whether or not you’ve hit the EU 261 jackpot! And what does it cost to play this cool game? Well, rather like when Saul slips a neck support device around the throat of the rear-ended crash victim, it’s a “no-win-no-pay” contingency deal. If however you roll a pair of sixes and find you were entitled to let’s say €600 ($942), your friendly solicitor will retain about 30% or €180 ($283) of it. Still a pretty good deal and ‘found money’ from something you’d put down to experience. So why is this all necessary you might well be asking: Aren’t the airlines supposed to be on the hook for paying out this compensation? The answer to this very valid question would seem to be a definite “yes, but”.

It’s an inescapable fact of life that, in the fog of war, airlines don’t always rush to volunteer the mandatory compensation. On top of this the majority of passengers are blissfully unaware of their prescribed rights and, even when they are, for most people the daunting task of getting an airline to actually cough up the loot tends to push the thing into the category of, “It’s really not worth the hassle.” That said, as Bott & Co – whose web address of www.thebottonline.com is one letter substitution away from saying what they’re all about – is quick to point out, “About 76% of people we’ve surveyed had been refused compensation when they had a valid claim.” So I was probably entirely out of line to compare them with a loveable rogue like Saul Goodman as clearly they are performing a much needed public service.

So, go dig out those old boarding passes and start prospecting. And if you talk to Mr. Bott Esq. be sure to tell him Saul sent you.