If a flight covered by EU261 is cancelled, you are entitled to a refund, re-routing, carrier assistance and compensation if the airline does not inform you of this cancellation at least 14 days before departure. 50% of the ticket price should be reimbursed for all intra-Community flights over 1500 km. Flights between the European territory of the Member States and the French overseas departments are excluded, as these flights require a refund of 75% of the ticket price. If your flight is delayed by at least 5 hours on departure, the airline must refund your ticket and, if you have a connecting flight, offer you a return to the departure airport as soon as possible. For the purposes of EU261 compensation, cancellation means one of the following situations: The first step in the process of claiming compensation from EU airlines is to determine if you are eligible. It is this step that often deters passengers, as the idea of sneaking into legal jargon in a lengthy process is not appealing. If you want to know if your flight that was delayed a few years ago is eligible for compensation for European flight delays, you may have not run out of time to apply for compensation from an EU airline. Calculate your compensation with the “flight calculator” developed by the Norwegian ECC. Let`s face it, flight delays and cancellations are an inevitable part of air travel, and we`ve seen a lot of them so far this summer. However, airlines still need to prove that they have taken appropriate measures to avoid the delay. For example, bad weather can be considered an extraordinary circumstance. However, if other airlines were prepared and prevented delays while yours was not, you should still be entitled to compensation. In case of overbooking, you are immediately entitled to additional services and benefits.
In case of flight delay and cancellation, other rights are available: if you have waited more than 5 hours at the airport, you have the right to cancel the flights. If your flight is postponed to the next day, the airline will have to accommodate you in a hotel for the night. For more information on these rights, please visit our Flight Delays page or our Flight Cancellations page. In Case C-12/11, Denise McDonagh v Ryanair Ltd, the Third Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Communities ruled that natural disasters such as the eruption of Iceland`s Eyjafjallajökull volcano and the subsequent volcanic ash cloud in 2010, which paralysed most European air traffic, constitute “extraordinary circumstances” exempting airlines from the obligation to pay compensation. but that there is no category, such as “extraordinary circumstances”, that would exempt them from the duty of care. According to the judgment of the General Court, air carriers continued to have a duty of care towards passengers under Articles 5 and 8 of the Regulation during the week-long closure of European airspace, and that obligation has no time or monetary limit. [18] Although some air carriers cite technical problems as a reason for non-compensation, these circumstances are not considered extraordinary circumstances as the maintenance of the aircraft is the responsibility of the airline. Consequently, the airline would not have assumed its liability if a mechanical problem had prevented the rapid departure of a flight. In order to receive compensation, passengers must submit a claim in a timely manner according to certain deadlines set by each country. The deadline to submit a claim is not based on your nationality, place of residence or destination, but on the location of the airline you flew with.
For example, if you flew with Air France, French regulations give you up to the fifth full year after your flight to submit it. In October 2017, an EU Court of Appeal upheld the UK CAA`s interpretation that the final destination must be included in the overall time limit. This means that if the passenger misses a connection outside the EU and ends up with a delay longer than the deadlines indicated above, even if the delay on the flight from the EU was worse than the times mentioned above, the total delay will be used and not just the delay in leaving the EU. [9] In the event of a flight delay of five hours, the passenger also has the right to cancel the trip and receive a refund for all unused tickets. They may also request a refund of tickets already used if the flight no longer serves their original itinerary and, if necessary, a return flight to their original point of departure as soon as possible. If a passenger is classified in a lower class than the one for which a ticket was purchased, the airline must refund 30/50/75% of the ticket cost for 1/2/3 flights. For the purposes of this condition, flights to French overseas departments are not considered to be located in the European Union. It is not clear whether the refund is for the price of the entire ticket or the segment in which the passenger was downgraded. You may wish to take formal legal action and claim compensation under EU rules in the European Small Claims Procedure. For flights operated by an EU airline, you can submit your application at the point of arrival or departure. The same rule applies to connecting flights that are part of a single booking but may be operated by different air carriers. You can also take the case to the courts of the country where the airline is registered.
In addition, 75% of the ticket price should be refunded for all flights not covered by the first two cases. Indeed, EC 261 covers all flights departing from an EU airport and all flights landing in Europe, provided that the flight was operated with an EU airline. It doesn`t matter where the passenger comes from. Outbound and return flights are always considered two separate flights, even if they were booked as part of a booking. In some cases, the airline operating the flight (also known as the operating airline) may not be the same as the airline from which you purchased your ticket. In case of difficulties, only the airline operating the flight can be held responsible.