Travel question: Can I get compensation after drunk passengers ruined my trip?

Q We were flying from Hurghada to Birmingham when there were problems on the plane with a couple that were obviously drunk. The pilot decided to land in Athens. By the time all was sorted with the couple arrested, the crew were out of hours so we could not continue to Birmingham. In total we did not land home until 17 hours after we should have done. The airline now says that it is not paying compensation since it was beyond its control. But there was a problem on the transfer coach with these people, and they were allowed to board. So who is to blame?

John L

A How maddening for you (unless you had the luxury of time and were therefore able to enjoy an unexpected stay in Athens). And it will have been extremely expensive for the airline, too, with costs running into tens of thousands of pounds – for hotels for everyone on board, handling charges, extra fuel and losing an aircraft out of the fleet for about 12 hours.

Generally “air rage” is counted as extraordinary circumstances that could not have been foreseen – excusing airlines from paying compensation for long delays. However, if you can provide evidence that the disruptive passengers were an identifiable risk and should have been stopped from boarding, then you may be able to make a case that the disruption was preventable. This could involve a legal battle, though.

Were you to win, the airline could claim the cost of compensation back from the disruptive passengers. And indeed if you have suffered financially as a result of the delay, for example by losing wages or paying extra for parking, then in theory you could recover the costs from the disruptive couple. But given the effort in tracing them, suing them and, assuming you win, actually getting the cash, you would have to have some very significant losses to make it worthwhile.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder