Hundreds await airline reimbursement

The European Union has threatened legal action against the airline to force it to pay passenger expenses caused by the volcanic cloud, which shut down air traffic over much of Europe for 18 days in April and May, the BBC reported Saturday.

EU rules require airlines to cover reasonable hotel and meal costs for passengers but KLM says it will pay for only 24 hours, the British broadcaster said. In some cases, passengers were stranded a week or more.

KLM said it paid for only 24 hours to resolve compensation cases quickly for thousands of European customers.

"EU passenger rights are there to protect consumers," a European Commission spokeswoman said, "and they are there to act as a safety net for passengers even in very difficult circumstances like this. So there is no gray area for us in this regard and those EU rights must be respected."

Many airlines oppose the EU rule because it requires them to pay huge compensation for delays they did not cause and had no control over.

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