Considering planes are worth tens of millions of dollars, that ruling got the airline's attention in a big way, and a rep from Condor, Thomas Cook's partner airline, promptly paid up. The unidentified woman from Germany had been locked in a four-year battle with Thomas Cook Airlines over a compensation payout of $US680 ($AU900) over a flight from Austria to the Caribbean that took off 22 hours late due to mechanical issues. According to the regulations, qualified passengers can claim financial compensation when they are denied from boarding, their flight is cancelled or their aircraft arrives more than three hours late, both within the EU and between EU and non-EU airports. But Thomas Cook Airlines never came through with the payment, and the woman took the matter to an Austrian court. A court order was issued over the payment, and an official told Salzburg Airport last week he was empowered to ground a Thomas Cook Airlines jet, worth tens of millions of dollars, until the airline came through with the money, NBC News reports. "Some airlines use the tactic of blocking requests or taking so long that people give up" 
 
 Thomas Cook's sister airline, Condor, immediately paid the money so that the aircraft did not need to be impounded and no enforcement action was needed. "We first heard of the claim on Friday, when we were notified by the airport in Salzburg," Condor spokesman Johannes Winter told NBC News. "Once we heard of it, we immediately paid. We are very sorry that it took this long.” 
 
 Jonas Swarzenski, the legal chief of compensation company FlightRight, which represented the woman, said he believed it was an innocent blunder by the airline. She hired FlightRight , a claims company that fights airlines to get fees paid out (in exchange for a portion of the money), which won the suit in Austrian small claims court. "Some airlines use the tactic of blocking requests or taking so long that people give up," the firm's legal chief, Jonas Swarzenski, told NBC News. “I think this was just an administrative mistake by the airline, the claim probably just got lost on somebody’s desk.” 
 
 Mr Swarzenski said only 15 per cent of travellers who were entitled to EU compensation ever actually made a claim. Only about 15 percent of EU residents who qualify for airline reimbursements even file for them in the first place, and we're guessing that most of them aren't as persistent as this woman.
– An airline nearly had one of its jets, worth "tens of millions" of dollars, impounded Friday because it wouldn't pay a customer the $680 it owed her for a delayed flight, NBC News reports. The EU requires airlines to reimburse travelers for delays depending on their length. A German woman's flight from Austria to the Caribbean was delayed 22 hours for mechanical issues, earning her a $680 payout. But four years later, Thomas Cook Airlines still hadn't paid up. So the woman went to a claims company called FlightRight and took the airline to court. On Friday, an official armed with a court order warned Salzburg Airport that Thomas Cook was about to have one of its jets impounded, affecting flights, unless it ponied up the woman's money. The $680 was immediately paid by Condor, a Thomas Cook-affiliated airline. "We are very sorry that it took this long," a Condor spokesperson says. FlightRight says airlines will sometimes drag their feet when paying out compensation in the hopes travelers will give up, but this was probably an honest mistake. "The claim probably just got lost on somebody's desk," a FlightRight spokesperson says. The regulations behind this "ultimate revenge" exacted by the customer require that passengers be compensated when flights are three hours late or more, notes News.com.au. Protections for travelers aren't as strong in the US, so don't expect this to happen here, adds a post at Conde Nast Traveler, "but we still love the visual of a woman towing a jumbo jet home with her behind her car or spray-painting 'Property of Disgruntled Customer' on the side." (This woman sued an airline after being told to switch seats for a man.)