Passengers may be offered a seat in a higher class if the seats in the class they had booked are overbooked.

A problem air passengers may face is flight overbooking. Such a situation happens when the airline sells more tickets for a particular flight than the aircraft can seat.

If each and every passenger turns up for check-in, the airline would have no other option but to refuse a number of passengers.

If this happens, those passengers who are left behind at the airport are entitled to a refund of their plane ticket or an alternative flight, and also to compensation for the inconvenience suffered.

When a situation of overbooking crops up, the airline must first ask for volunteers and offer them a different flight in exchange for certain benefits. These benefits are not regulated by any law but must be negotiated between the airline and the volunteer.

Passengers who voluntarily agree not to board the booked flight must still be offered a choice between a full refund of the flight ticket within seven days or the option of taking an alternative flight to their destination.

In the case of those passengers who are left behind against their will, besides an alternative flight or ticket refund, they are also legally entitled to financial compensation. This may vary between €125 and €600, depending on the length of the flight and how late the denied passengers arrive at their final destination.

Passengers who are denied boarding are also entitled to care and assistance by the airline. They are entitled to two telephone calls, e-mails or faxes and to reasonable meals and refreshments if they have to wait for a later flight. In case of overnight delays, the airline must provide hotel accommodation with transport to and from the airport.

Passengers who are denied boarding are entitled to care and assistance by the airline

Financial compensation and assistance apply to flights on all EU airlines and foreign airlines that take off from any EU state to any part of the world. However, passengers will only be allowed to claim compensation if they fly into the EU on an EU airline. To get compensation, passengers must have a valid ticket that confirms that they were booked on the flight and must have checked in at the airport on time.

Denied boarding can also occur when passengers book a business or first-class seat but because the class is overbooked, they are downgraded on the same flight. Passengers are entitled to monetary compensation even in this situation.

The refund is a percentage of the flight ticket price originally paid. For flights up to 1,500 kilometres, passengers are entitled to a refund of 30 per cent of the price paid for their flight ticket. They are entitled to 50 per cent of their flight ticket for intra-EU flights with distances of more than 1,500 kilometres; for all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres; and 75 per cent of the flight ticket for flights longer than 3,500 kilometres. Affected passengers are entitled to this reimbursement within seven days.

The opposite situation may also happen. Passengers may be offered a seat in a higher class because the class they booked is overbooked. When this happens, the airline cannot charge up­graded passengers an additional payment for the seat.

The airline is not liable to provide compensation when it manages to provide its passengers with another flight that takes them to their destination at the same time of the original flight.

Air passengers who do not receive the compensation they are entitled to when they are refused boarding because of overbooking should complain immediately with the concerned airline. If the airline rejects the passengers’ claims, they should fill in an EU Complaint Form and send it to the enforcement body where the incident took place.

If the incident took place in Malta or outside the EU on a flight to Malta with an EU-licensed airline, passengers may register their complaint with the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.

odette.vella@mccaa.org.mt

Ms Odette Vella is senior information officer, Office for Consumer Affairs, Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.