Scots courts on budget airline practices: Jurisdiction, care and compensation

Budget airline practices – a ‘price’ passengers have to pay and at what cost? What services can a passenger expect from an airline, despite contracting on restrictive contract terms? This paper discusses a number of budget airline practices, the ensuing legal issues and related arguments of jurisdiction as received in the Scottish courts. Two key Scots cases are analysed considering the following topics: separation of flights at booking stage, the airline’s lack of assistance to passengers at the airport regarding check-in and proceeding through security, restrictive contract clauses used by airlines designed to curtail the passengers’ rights, and lack of sufficient aircraft on stand-by to be called upon to minimise disruptions for passengers in case of previous extraordinary circumstances. It will be seen that the combination of the international and European legislative frameworks provide passengers with a helpful safety net, which is effectively enforced in the Scots courts.