Ryanair is among a group of airlines refusing to pay new EU passenger compensation payments.

Since February, when new EU compensation rules for airline passengers came into force, the number of complaints and queries received by airlines has increased fourfold.

But the EU legislation has also created an unprecedented legal quagmire, according to several airline executives and aviation authorities that are challenging the rules in court.

Some airlines also say the rules have left them with an unsustainable financial risk. Low-cost carriers in particular insist they could be forced to reimburse many times the actual price of a ticket.

The EU compensation scheme is not based on the actual ticket price but instead uses a complex rising scale for what passengers can claim for events such as flight delays.

Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost airline, is among the airlines that have so far resisted paying the new compensation claims. Jim Callaghan, its head of regulatory affairs, says the new rules are "a complete mess".

Ryanair, he says, recently had a family of five that paid a total of €168 for their flights but were asking for compensation of €1,980 following a cancellation due to weather. In another case a woman who paid €46 for her flight was asking for €400. "This is how insane the situation is," he said.

Early next month, the advocate general of the European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court, is expected to give an opinion on the rules, following challenges by the International Air Transport Association and the European Low Fares Airlines Association. - (Financial Times Service)