My continental flight from Amsterdam to Houston was cancelled due to a
mechanical problem. We are leaving at 12 noon tomorrow instead of 4 pm
today. I tried looking up continental's flight cancellation policy or
rule 240 equivalent, but couldn't find anything. I am also curious
what European regulations dictate--does 240 apply in Europe or what is
the equivalent?

Dear lizabiz-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. I?m
terribly sorry I did not see your question sooner. However, since you
seem to travel regularly, maybe this answer will still come in handy
on another occasion:

Rule 240 was once a US Federal requirement, but following the 1978
deregulation of airlines in the US the matter became one of individual
company policy. The policy is in effect no matter where the airline
travels unless the company in its 240 Rule otherwise states certain
locations as an exception.

In the case of Continental Airlines, there is no mention of exceptions
to the rule with regard to any specific (or even general) location so
it must be assumed that the company?s Rule 240, as outlined here, is
the standing policy regardless of the location of the delay:

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES ? RULE 240
http://www.mytravelrights.com/240.cfm?keyword=continental

If, by ?continental?, you literally mean a continental flight as
opposed to Continental Airlines, whether or not Rule 240 is the
standing policy for the company you traveled with or not depends on
which company it was.

Some international carriers have Rule 80, an involuntary revised
routings policy, as seen here, which indeed (obviously) applies to
locations in Europe and elsewhere:

CONTRACT OF CARRIAGE
RULE 80: REVISED ROUTINGS, FAILURE TO CARRY, MISSED CONNECTIONS ? INTERNATIONAL
http://www.ata.com/pdfs_docs/atacoc.pdf


I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES ? RULE 240
http://www.mytravelrights.com/240.cfm?keyword=continental

CONTRACT OF CARRIAGE
RULE 80: REVISED ROUTINGS, FAILURE TO CARRY, MISSED CONNECTIONS ? INTERNATIONAL
http://www.ata.com/pdfs_docs/atacoc.pdf




SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES 

RULE 240

RULE 80

INTERNATIONAL

Thank God that the problem was spotted before take off ....

You could now be in the Land of the Angels.

I am not clear why you want to know the situation in Europe. You
bought your ticket in the US with a US airline.

There is a lot of controversy in Europe at the moment about some EU
legislation which has been passed about "Passenger Rights" which would
provide more detail on cancellation policies etc. The controversy is
because many airlines are unhappy and feel that they have of offer
more than the amount paid for the ticket and also more than rail
companies would have to offer.