[Article] EU law gives air travellers better deal

penexpers

Be interesting to see if Ryanair obey this.

From Irish Times.

Air travellers will have additional rights from next Thursday, when new EU legislation comes into force.

The legislation will increase the level of compensation airlines must pay to passengers who have lost their seats because the airline overbooked the flight.

It will also introduce new rights to compensation for long delays or where a flight has been cancelled.

Passengers will also be entitled to claim a maximum of more than €1,000 in compensation where there is destruction of baggage or the loss or delay of luggage on a flight by an EU airline anywhere in the world.

The Department of Transport is in discussion with the Attorney General's Office to approve an enforcement body to deal with complaints arising from the new legislation.

From next Thursday, if an airline is short of seats because it has overbooked a flight, it must first ask for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for agreed benefits. If a sufficient number of passengers do not volunteer to give up their seats, the airline will then have to compensate those passengers who are denied boarding.

Compensation will range from €250 to €600, depending on the distance flown.

This is double the compensation offered by airlines under previous legislation passed by the EU in 1991.

In addition, the airline must offer passengers the choice of a ticket refund or a flight back to their original point of departure if the journey is no longer worthwhile.

The airline may also offer passengers an alternative flight to continue their journey.

Meals, refreshments and accommodation must be provided if an overnight stay is required.

If a flight is delayed by between two and four hours - depending on the length of the flight - the airline must provide meals and refreshments, and accommodation where an overnight stay is requested.

If the delay is more than five hours, passengers are entitled to a refund of the price of their air ticket.

Up to now, specific air passenger rights only applied to scheduled flights departing from an EU member-state. The new law extends these rights to charter and domestic flights.

The law also applies to flights from an airport outside the EU if the destination is within the EU.

Passengers will also have new rights if their flights are cancelled.

If the cancellation is within the airline's control, passengers must be paid compensation on the same basis as overbooked passengers. However, if the airline has given them at least two weeks' notice of the cancellation, or has provided suitable alternative flights, then compensation is not obligatory.

If the cancellation causes delays of five hours or more, passengers are also entitled to an alternative flight or a ticket refund and a flight back to the original point of departure if the delayed journey is no longer worthwhile.

flikflak

http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/air/rights/doc/2005_01_19_apr_leaflet_en.pdf

Here is the passenger info leaflet from the EU Transport site

DubTony

A friend of mine arrived at Liverpool airport to be told by Ryanair that his flight was cancelled and he could take the 4 pm flight to Dublin. As he had a meeting in Dublin at mid-day, this was obviously of no use to him.

He asked for a refund as was told he'd have to "ring the office". In the end he didn't bother and cancelled his meeting and went home.

This new legislation would have given him a few hundred euro in compensation. His tickets cost £5 each way.

The interesting point about the legislation is that it looks like it will have the effect of raising the price of flights. While regular airlines, as opposed to low fare ones, already look after passengers (they feed them and put them up in hotels overnight), the low fare airlines don't have this cost built into the ticket price. So there's nothing in the kitty in case of emergency.

Ideally, delays and cancellations should never happen, and so the issue should not arise, but it looks like we'll have some price increases, and some of the smaller airlines may find themselves out of business.

A shame really. Isn't it better to let the market sort it out? If people aren't happy with the service, they'll go elsewhere.

Tony

seamus

DubTony wrote:

A shame really. Isn't it better to let the market sort it out? If people aren't happy with the service, they'll go elsewhere.

I'm not sure. There's a limit to how much extra people will pay simply for better service. In supermarket terms, people aren't afraid to pay a euro here and there for better customer service, but when you're talking about the difference between €5 flights and €60 flights, people may not be willing to overlook the extra cost.

On top of that, for many people it's a case of flying with a certain airline, or not flying at all, be it due to financial, location, or time concerns.

Just my 2c.

mobpd

Has anyone successfully made a claim against an airline under the new Montreal Convention rules for delays / cancellations etc?
We had a five hour delay last week (aer lingus) and am about to send them a claim.

Our man in Havana

Did you get anything from them in the airport, food drinks etc?

You should have no trouble with claiming from them.

Victor

DubTony, passengers have a contract with the airline, that the airline decided to only charge a low price is not the fault of the passenger.

What if your friend's meeting was a "must attend"? What if was a wedding or a funeral?

If you let the market set price and quality would you see and beef at all in your burger?

Chris_533976

Overbooking on planes is an absolute sham. If I bought a ticket for that flight, I should be able to get on that flight. Being told its overbooked is bull****.

Cancelling/delays are one thing, but overbooking is not on.

If I ever end up screwed by overbooking Im taking them for every penny I can get, and this new legislation is a brilliant thing.

gjim

If you let the market set price and quality would you see and beef at all in your burger?

No one is forcing you to buy 99c burgers. Eddie Rockets seem to be doing good business charging 6 or 7 quid for a burger and there are a number of restauranty-bar places around the centre of Dublin who are charging 10-12 quid for burgers. The existance of cheap burgers (e.g. McDonald's 99c cheese "burger" special) hasn't killed the market. At least you've a choice. Introducing a law that stipulates that a burger has to be served with a knife and fork or knapkin or have x amount of cheese or mayo just reduces your choice. It's a subtle ploy that the gullible contingent fall for again and again because they naively think that by introducing a law that the market will suddenly start supplying restaurant-style burgers for 99c . Behind the scenes it's the Eddie Rockets and the like campaigning for these laws to give them an competative advantage over their down-market rivals.

If you don't want to be treated like sh*t, just don't travel Ryanair - it's that simple. Pay your 250 return to London with BA, as was the tradition, and you'll be refunded if they're late, given free coffee and all the trimmings on board. Just don't bring in a law to stop me from taking my chances with a 10euro flight. I've flown business class around Europe and I've taken 1 euro Ryanair flights. To be honest, my personal experience is that Ryanair are more likely to be on-time than the "quality" airlines. However, when things go wrong with Ryanair, you're on your own. Forget about being indignant, buy a book in the airport newsagent, perch yourself at the airport bar with a beer or coffee and wait it out. If you'd been expecting to get to a funeral/unmissable business meeting/your own wedding and you haven't left enough slack in your timetable then what the f*ck are you doing buying a 15 euro ticket? It's not like Ryanair have promised a business class experience - the opposite in fact. The only reason this law was introduced was to protect the nice comfortable situation the old-style inefficent flag carrying behemoths have historically had. Yes, we'd all be better off when air travel was gentile and civilised and a return trip to any European city cost the equivalent of the average monthly wage. :rolleyes: