Flemish families awarded €120,000 from Vueling for late flights
A group of families in Flanders went to a collection agency to fight the Spanish-owned airline with a troubled reputation
Third-party seizure
Since 2013, EU law dictates that any airline passenger whose flight arrives three hours or more late at its destination is entitled to compensation, which increases as the distance increases. In this case, the Spanish-owned Vueling refused to pay, even after a justice of the peace in Zaventem ruled against them.
Instead of pursuing the matter in court, the families turned to debt agency Claim It, which made use of a little-known legality known as third-party seizure. Claim It approached the international air transport association (IATA), which acts as a clearing house for ticket payments. Claim It sent a bailiff to IATA’s office in Brussels to demand payment of the compensation, and IATA paid out €120,000 on Vueling’s behalf.
The sum is much more than the families demanded, Ralph Pais of ClaimIt said, but the remainder will cover the costs incurred while the airline refused to pay. His company has many more cases against the airline, he said. “Now we know we can use this loophole. This could be a precedent.”
Photo: Curimedia/Wikimedia
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