In a judgment which may reverberate down the airline industry, Meg Cochrane of 1EC scored a huge win against some high-powered opposition in Dore v EasyJet Airline Company Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 1553. Meg successfully persuaded the Court of Appeal (Males, Birss and Snowden LJJ), in the face of determined resistance from EasyJet, that Ms Dore and Ms Pistidda were entitled to compensation for their delayed flight under the Air Passenger Rights Regulations 2019. The Court of Appeal decided two issues which may be of significance to the industry: first, that to avoid the risk of contravening Article 15 of the Regulations, any automated online claims system which an airline requires passengers to use (such as the one operated by EasyJet) should provide an accessible record of data entered. This would assist passengers to correct any input errors and make their claims for compensation. Second, passengers are entitled to have someone else access the online portal on their behalf and thereby make a claim in their name. If this were not permitted it would be an unlawful material obstacle in a passenger’s path.
