Simon Calder: Flights Your Rights
Video Playing Now: On the Road with Simon Calder - Flights: Your Rights
Simon is delayed at Stansted Airport, and uses the time to tell us about our rights when flights are delayed or cancelled.
By Simon Calder
Flying has always been an uncertain business.
That's the reason a plane ticket is nothing more than a vague promise to get you from A to B, possibly via C, at a time of the airline's choosing.
But since 2005 the European Union has stipulated your entitlements when delayed, cancelled or
offloaded on a flight starting in the EU – or, from outside Europe, if it's an EU airline. You can
read the whole lot at bit.ly/EUrules, but please allow me to summarise them.
DELAYS are simple: after two hours (for a flight of up to 1500km), three hours (1500-3500km) or
four hours (longer flights) you are entitled to appropriate refreshments and two phone calls or
emails. If the delay extends overnight then the airline must put you up. This applies whatever the
cause of the delay.
CANCELLATION and OVERBOOKING compensation is more complex.
If you are denied boarding, you are entitled to €250, €400 or €600, depending on the length of the flight.
These also apply if the flight is cancelled, except in “extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken”. Needless to say, airlines will often cite “ extraordinary circumstances” to avoid having to pay out.
But they can't avoid delay compensation, whatever the cause of the problem.
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