Airline finally pays passenger $680 in delayed flight compensation after court threatens to impound plane

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And get a court involved.

After waiting four years for an airline to compensate her for a delayed flight, a German woman took the issue to court.

Only after a court official showed up at Salzburg Airport and threatened to impound a Thomas Cook airplane did the airline pay the $680 compensation.

"We first heard of the claim on Friday, when we were notified by the airport in Salzburg," airline spokesman Johannes Winter told NBC News. "Once we heard of it, we immediately paid. We are very sorry that it took this long."

The woman, who has not been identified, was flying from Vienna to the Caribbean four years ago when her flight was delayed 22 hours.

Those 22 hours became four years of waiting for the compensation she was entitled to in the European Union.

When it never arrived, the woman enlisted the help of FlightRight, a claims company that collects a 25% fee. From there, the company contracted a lawyer to take the issue to court in Austria.

They secured a court order for payment and sent an official to Salzburg airport. There he told airline staff that he had the ability to ground the Thomas Cook plane. Thomas Cook's sister airline, Condor, immediately paid the compensation so that the aircraft was not impounded.

Not many people have the same determination as this woman. According to FlightRight only 15% of travelers who are entitled to airline compensation in the European Union file their claims.

FlightRight and Thomas Cook did not immediately respond to request for comment.

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