Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is important to make a distinction between care and assistance on the one hand and cash compensation on the other. There is no argument that if someone misses a connection, the airline is responsible for making sure the person can get the next available flight. If the person is delayed for a certain period of time, he or she should be provided with assistance or meals. We have concerns about cash compensation on top of that. Our concern is that if airlines are required to pay too much cash compensation too often, it may create a perverse incentive. If someone is flying from Shannon to London and on to Bangkok but misses a connection in London and is delayed by four or five hours, the airline may be hit with a compensation bill of several hundred euro. The airline may come to the view that it would be better not to provide connecting flights at all. That is the perverse incentive I am talking about.

The compensation airlines are required to pay under this proposal is much higher for a delay than for a cancellation. An airline might take a financial decision that it is less costly to cancel a flight than to pay out compensation for the delay. Even though this is intended to enhance the rights of passengers, there is a risk it could create perverse incentives that make the situation worse for passengers. That is what we will ask the Commission to bear in mind.