Aer Lingus is one of three major airlines facing legal action over alleged breaches of consumer law in their handling of passengers hit by disruption to flights.
Aer Lingus, Jet2 and Wizz Air have not made changes to their policies requested by regulators despite extensive discussions, it is claimed.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK aviation regulator, has announced it has launched enforcement action against the carriers and will seek a court order unless they comply.
It comes after the CAA carried out a six-month review of airline policies in relation to supporting passengers during disruption, including their approaches to paying flight delay compensation and providing information to fliers about their rights.
Among the allegations against the airlines are that Jet2 and Wizz Air failed to satisfy the regulator that they are consistently paying compensation for disruption caused by technical faults, despite a Court o
The CAA also alleges Jet 2 and Wizz Air are imposing two-year time limits for passengers to take compensation claims to court, despite a Court of Appeal ruling that passengers should have up to six years to take a claim to court.
While it is alleged Aer Lingus and Jet2 have failed to give satisfactory evidence they proactively provide passengers with information about their rights during disruption in line with the requirements set out in European regulation.
A spokesman for Aer Lingus said: "Aer Lingus' procedures, relating to the provision of information to customers affected by operational disruption, are fully compliant with all the relevant regulations.
"We have provided a number of documents to the CAA in recent months to substantiate this point and we continue to engage with the CAA to address their concerns."
Chief Executive of the CAA Andrew Haines said: "Airlines are well aware of the support they must provide when there is disruption and passengers have every right to be disappointed that a small number of airlines are not complying with the Court of Appeal rulings and continue to let people down in this way.
"While we have no power to secure redress for individual consumers, we are determined to stand up for passengers and are taking this action to safeguard their rights, making sure all airlines consistently provide their passengers with the support and compensation they are legally entitled to."
