When a flight within the EU is cancelled or delayed for more than two hours, the airline is legally obliged to look after its passengers. Air passengers are entitled to care and assistance, regardless of the cause of the delay or cancellation.
In these situations, the airline is legally expected to look after its passengers until they board their flight to go to their final destination. Such care should include: two phone calls or e-mails, refreshments, meals, accommodation if the waiting includes an overnight stay and transport to and from the overnight accommodation.
Financial compensation applies to cancelled flights and to flights that are delayed for more than three hours.
This compensation may vary from €125 to €600, depending on the flight distance and arrival time. The airline is not liable to provide compensation when it manages to provide passengers with another flight that takes them to their destination at the same time of the original flight.
Monetary compensation also does not apply if a flight is delayed because of extraordinary circumstances outside the airline’s control, such as extreme weather conditions or strikes.
Air passengers must be careful because an airline can sometimes come up with an excuse for an extraordinary circumstance, which might not be true.
The airline may, for instance, claim that it experienced unforeseen technical problems. While it is possible that technical problems can sometimes be defined as ‘extraordinary circumstances’, it is not always the case. In this case the airline would have to prove that the technical problem was completely out of the ordinary and something it could not have taken steps to avoid.
When a flight is delayed for more than five hours, air passengers can decide not to take the flight and hence be refunded the amount paid for the flight ticket.
Financial compensation applies to cancelled flights and to flights that are delayed for more than three hours
If the delay occurs when passengers are in between flights, they are also entitled to a return flight to the first point of departure.
Compensation may also be claimed when air passengers are placed in a class lower than that for which the ticket was purchased. When this happens, the air carrier is obliged to provide compensation according to the length of the flight.
If, for instance, the flight is shorter than 1,500 km, passengers will be entitled to a compensation of 30 per cent of the ticket paid.
In case of flights longer than 1,500 km but shorter than 3,500 km, reimbursement goes up to 50 per cent. Seventy-five per cent of the ticket has to be reimbursed in case of flights longer than 3,500 km. Affected passengers are entitled to this reimbursement within seven days.
To claim compensation, air passengers must write to the customer services department of the airline. With the complaint letter, passengers must send copies of their flight ticket.
If they also want to claim compensation for the extra costs incurred due to the delay or cancellation, they must also present the relevant receipts of these costs.
A copy of all correspondence with the airline must be kept in case one needs to take the complaint further.
If the airline rejects the passengers’ claim for compensation, they should fill a EU Complaint Form and send it to the enforcement body where the incident took place.
If the delay or cancellation 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.