Board cuts meal claim of stranded pair to NOK 2,000

Norway's air travel complaints board has cut a meal claim from two passengers stranded in Longyearbyen to NOK 2,000 in total. It ordered Norwegian to pay another NOK 920 on top of the NOK 1,080 the airline had already paid, Flysmart24 reported on Wednesday 4 November.

The two had asked for NOK 6,664 after their flight from Svalbard to Tromsø was cancelled because of bad weather. The flight was due on 25 February and was put off by two days. Nobody disputes the delay itself, the report said.

The passengers had presented receipts for food, drink and kiosk goods. Norwegian called the sum excessive and said it pointed to a high level of spending on meals and restaurants. It argued that they could have picked cheaper meals and could have avoided non-essential items such as chocolate and snacks.

The receipts came from NUGA Sushi & Noodles, Funktionærmessen Restaurant and Svalbardbutikken. They included a sushi set for NOK 1,050, a tomahawk steak for NOK 1,820, king crab for NOK 850 and chocolate for NOK 403.

The passengers held to their claim and took the refusal to the board. The board agreed with the airline that the spending was more than necessary.

It also found, however, that Norwegian had been a little too stingy towards them. The final NOK 2,000 is less than a third of what the two had demanded.

Coverage: Flysmart24