The Trust Mark scheme is open to both large and small enterprises.The Trust Mark scheme is open to both large and small enterprises.

Sometimes airlines decide to overbook a flight in order to compensate for no shows at the gate.

This may cause a situation where a flight cannot accommodate all the passengers who check in, as it won’t have enough seats for everyone. When this happens, and air passengers are travelling to or from a European (EU) country, they are protected by the EU Regulation No 261/2004.

These regulations stipulate that when there is an overbooking situation, the airline must first seek for volunteers who willingly decide not to board the flight in exchange for certain benefits. To these volunteers, the airline, besides the agreed benefits, must still offer them the choice between a full refund of the flight ticket within seven days or taking another route to arrive at their destination.

Passengers who willingly accept to be left behind and take the benefits offered by the airline are not entitled to monetary compensation.

Passengers who are denied boarding against their will are entitled to financial compensation. The amount varies from €125 to €600, depending on the length of the flight and when passengers arrive at their destination.

When a flight is overbooked, the airline must first seek for volunteers

In such a situation, air passengers are also entitled to two telephone calls or e-mails, telexes or faxes, reasonable meals and refreshments if they are waiting for a later flight and to hotel accommodation, with transport to and from the airport, if they are delayed overnight.

To get compensation, air 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.

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

Denied boarding can also occur when air passengers book a business or first class seat and due to class overbooking are downgraded to another class on the same flight.

Even in this situation, air passengers are entitled to monetary compensation. This 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 the flight ticket.

They are entitled to 50 per cent of their flight ticket for intra EU flights with distances longer than 1,500 kilometres and for all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres. Seventy-five per cent of the flight ticket is due in cases of flights longer than 3,500 kilometres. Affected passengers are entitled to this reimbursement within seven days.

The opposite situation may also happen. Air passengers may be offered a seat in a higher class because the class they booked results overbooked. In this case, the airline cannot charge up-graded passengers an additional payment for the seat.

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’ claim, 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

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

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