Compensate, or customer service?

CI travellers are in a weak spot when it comes to compensation, falling outside of EU and UK law on compensation when their flights were to take off from Guernsey, Jersey or Alderney.

Of course they always have been, though it’s not been an issue while airlines are generally running to time and disruption-free. Unless the Covid-influenced parts shortages that are being blamed for service issues continue, making that scenario a thing of the past, we hope those days will return, and demands for compensation will quickly disappear.

Certainly politicians in Jersey are starting to pour cold water on the idea. They say that if local governments want to legislate for compensation, get ready for higher fares.

And what we actually want is good customer service. We’ve all been disrupted often enough to know what it’s like, and to realise that, most of the time, there’s another boat or plane in the morning, and we can get on that.

Late-night cancellations don’t always make for the most comfortable position to make alternative arrangements, but if we are satisfied that we are being looked after properly, most of us will do what we have to, and get on with it. Sadly we’ve not always seen that of late.