Good news – EU-wide compensation rules for airline passengers came into force this week. Labour MEPs were at the forefront of pressing for these new rules, which guarantee that passengers who are deliberately “bumped off” their flights, or who suffer severe delays or cancellations, are entitled to financial compensation, hotel accommodation, meals, and the option of alternative flights or a refund.

While most organisations welcome these moves, predictably, some of the budget airlines aren’t too happy. Why, they ask, should they have to compensate passengers to the tune of several hundred pounds when their ticket only cost a tenner in the first place?

The two responses to that complaint are obvious. Firstly, if you’re bumped off a flight, the price paid for the ticket is often the least of your worries. The compensation is not meant to be just a refund - it also takes into account the inconvenience of missed connections, missed package tours, reneged-on hotel bookings, messed up holidays etc which all follow from serious flight delays. And secondly, bumping off happens as a result of deliberate and mischievous overbooking by airlines - if they stopped doing that, they would stop having to compensate people for it!