T’way Air has agreed to compensate the damages suffered by passengers due to an 11-hour delay of its flight to Osaka, Japan. A court issued a recommendation for a settlement in the passengers' compensation lawsuit, and both the passengers and the airline accepted this decision, making it final.
According to the airline industry on 10th, all passengers who suffered damages due to the aircraft swap with T’way Air did not file any objections within the deadline set by the court’s recommended settlement (on 9th). Consequently, T’way Air will pay the compensation amount determined by the court’s recommendation by the 30th. This is 20 days after the Seoul Western District Court issued the recommendation regarding this case on the 20th of last month.
Previously, passengers sued T’way Air to compensate for excess expenditures incurred from repurchasing tickets, transportation expenses due to late arrivals, costs of travel packages that were not refunded, and damages, amounting to about 600,000 won per person.
They insisted that T’way Air should be held responsible for swapping a non-defective aircraft to Osaka with an aircraft that had defects discovered on the Zagreb route in Croatia, for the delay due to structural defects not being seen as an operational incident like a natural disaster, and for causing damage due to prolonged waiting inside the aircraft.
On June 13 of last year, T’way Air rearranged its flight to Osaka, which was scheduled to depart at 11:05 a.m., to the Zagreb flight scheduled to depart at the same time. As a result, the flight to Osaka took off at 11:04 p.m., approximately 11 hours later than scheduled, causing damage to passengers on that flight and subsequent return flights.
The specific amount that the court ordered T’way Air to pay through the recommended settlement has not been disclosed, but it is reported that a significant portion of the claimed damage amount of 90 million won by the plaintiffs was accepted.
Kim Ji-hye, the lawyer at the law firm representing the lawsuit, noted, “This court decision orders a relatively large amount to be paid to the affected passengers compared to similar case judgments, so it could be beneficial for other affected passengers in the future.” She added, “The result was achieved because the affected passengers collectively responded, prompting an investigation by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and actively proved their damage circumstances.”