Is EasyJet's website misleading and wrong regarding EU regulation 261?

Question

Easyjet's website https://www.easyjet.com/en/help/contact says:

"Apply for EC261 Compensation

If your flight has been delayed by more than 3 hours on arrival or was cancelled within 14 days of departure you may be eligible to receive compensation"

However, the regulation is this: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML

According to the regulation:

Delay

1. When an operating air carrier reasonably expects a flight to be delayed beyond its scheduled time of departure:

(a) for two hours or more in the case of flights of 1500 kilometres or less; or

Right to compensation

1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall receive compensation amounting to:

(a) EUR 250 for all flights of 1500 kilometres or less;

Is there something I do not understand correctly, or is the Easyjet's statement wrong and misleading?

Answer 1

As noted in the other answer, the statement is indeed partially true. It is also misleading by virtue of being oversimplified.

I don't suppose that advertising is particularly relevant here, but the directive you link to does contain explicit provisions about the notification of air passengers by air carriers, in Article 14. This says nothing about information on the web, however, only about what must be displayed "at check-in" and in the event of denied boarding or flight cancellation:

Article 14

Obligation to inform passengers of their rights

1. The operating air carrier shall ensure that at check-in a clearly legible notice containing the following text is displayed in a manner clearly visible to passengers: "If you are denied boarding or if your flight is cancelled or delayed for at least two hours, ask at the check-in counter or boarding gate for the text stating your rights, particularly with regard to compensation and assistance".

2. An operating air carrier denying boarding or cancelling a flight shall provide each passenger affected with a written notice setting out the rules for compensation and assistance in line with this Regulation. It shall also provide each passenger affected by a delay of at least two hours with an equivalent notice. The contact details of the national designated body referred to in Article 16 shall also be given to the passenger in written form.

3. In respect of blind and visually impaired persons, the provisions of this Article shall be applied using appropriate alternative means.

If the company have a compliant notice at the check-in counter, and distribute a compliant notice to affected passengers, then they are probably not violating the directive. There could be other laws that apply to the misleading statement, either under EU law or national law.

However, the regulation is somewhat complex. For example, Article 7 (the latter half of your quotation) says that the compensation amounts apply "where reference is made to this Article." But Article 6 (the first half of your quotation) makes no reference to Article 7. Article 7 is only invoked in Articles 4 and 5, concerning denied boarding and flight compensation, respectively.

Rather, Article 6 provides that in covered cases, passengers shall be offered

(i) the assistance specified in Article 9(1)(a) and 9(2); and

(ii) when the reasonably expected time of departure is at least the day after the time of departure previously announced, the assistance specified in Article 9(1)(b) and 9(1)(c); and

(iii) when the delay is at least five hours, the assistance specified in Article 8(1)(a).

(Item (i) concerns meals, refreshments, and communications (phone/fax/e-mail). Item (ii) concerns hotel accommodations, including transportation to and from the hotel. Item (iii) concerns reimbursement of the ticket cost and transportation to the point of departure.)

Answer 2

Their claim is a partial truth, but not the whole truth. Article 6 also sets 3 and 4 hour thresholds

(b) for three hours or more in the case of all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres and of all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometres

(c) for four hours or more in the case of all flights not falling under (a) or (b)

Their statement is not wrong. It is not a "comparative" statement, and the directive regarding misleading advertising doesn't say that a business has to give a complete accounting of applicable EU law in advertising. Insofar as they do not seem to have flights covered by (c) and they do not say "four hours" in their delay statement, their claim is true of some instances of what they offer.