The Islandic erupting volcano and the resulting grounding of flights pressure the 27 EU-States. The “regional” Sky is still a tentatively watched point of national interest. At least the EU member states were finally able to agree on the three-zones model by the European flight control agency Eurocontrol and the volcanic ash institution VAAC. Eyjafjallajökull is continuously spewing forth ash clouds – the last previous eruption lasting for two years – forcing airports and airlines alike to get used to spontaneously closed air traffic. Passengers would be advised to not only inform themselves about the position of the ash cloud, but also about their rights.

Every passenger has a right to receive compensation by the airlines – but not for compensatory damages, as the consumer advice centre in Berlin explains. A natural catastrophe is the precise definition of “unforeseen events” in the light of an “act of god”, and thus not grounds for liability by anyone.

EU-regulation 261/2004 is very precise: If flights are annulled, the passengers should receive a full refund of the ticket price within seven days. Since the closing of the airspace due to the ash could, Lufthansa has apparently been overburdened with this deadline. Customers have to wait for two months for the refunds, says the call centre. Official estimations of the company place the timeframe at “several weeks” – it is an “exceptional case”, after all.

It is quite possible that Lufthansa will fall on deaf ears when presenting this argument to the EU-commission and the federal aviation office (Luftfahrtbundesamt), the national monitoring agency. While the commission has signalled that it will not insist on the seven-day deadline, a timeframe of two months might well be pushing it over the limit.

Proof that two months is a sad record is given by Lufthansa’s subsidiary company, Brussels Airlines. This airline is able to provide refunds within a two week waiting period. Might this be connected to the fact that Brussels Airlines is the most used airline by EU commissioners, who do know their rights quite well?

All in all, Europe’s airlines have to pay about 200 million Euro to their customers for cancelled flights. The companies are now trying to get back their money from national agencies – their strategy being that the closing of the airspace was a decision made by the monitoring agencies, which is the most proximate direct cause of their cancellations. Finland and the Czech Republic have already denied this claim, France and the Netherlands’ finance ministries are pumping the breaks, even though their ministry of transportation is looking favourably upon these happenings. In Germany, the government’s position is not yet clear.

No wonder. He, who is fighting with the implementation of the Euro rescuing fund, is probably not very inclined to beat around the ash.