Making Cents: Flight delays - know your rights!

I WAS travelling abroad recently and flying out of Dublin Airport and I think when you travel by plane, the first thing you do when you arrive at the airport is to check the flight information board to see what gate you need to go to check in.

And of course I did the same thing and what’s great to see and it’s probably the one thing we’re looking for more than anything else, is the status of the flight and God the relief when you see, on time. 

And my flight was on time which was great for me but I did notice there were quite a few others whose status said 'delayed' which is obviously awful to see. As an aside I wasn’t so lucky on the return flight home because even though we boarded on time, the plane didn’t take off for 90 minutes because of some technical fault!

Anyway, how long a flight is delayed and the reasons for the delay and where you are travelling to will all influence what, as a consumer, you are entitled to, which is why I wanted to put some information in front of you again this year, showing what your rights are if your flight happens to be delayed or is cancelled. 

READ MORE: Four mortgage areas for Limerick homeowners to monitor

And for 100% accuracy and so that no one is left in any doubt, I’m going to use text that I’ve taken directly from websites like the Irish Aviation Authority, Citizens Information and the European Consumer Centre Ireland.
   
Delayed Flights
Okay if your flight is delayed beyond certain timeframes your air carrier should provide you with written information about what your entitlements are and what care and assistance they will provide. 
The timeframes are as follows: for all flights less than 1500kms (short haul e.g., Shannon to Brussels or Cork to Paris), the delay must be greater than 2 hours.

For European flights of more than 1500kms and all other flights of between 1500 – 3500kms (medium haul e.g., Dublin to Malta or Knock to Madrid), the delay must be greater than 3 hours.

And for all non-Community flights of more than 3500kms (long haul e.g., Shannon to New York or Dublin to Cape Town), the delay must be greater than 4 hours. If your flight is delayed by more than 5 hours (regardless of the length of the journey) and you decide not to travel, you are entitled to a full refund.

What is ‘care and assistance’?
Care and assistance consists of: meals and refreshments (in reasonable relation to the waiting time), hotel accommodation (where an overnight stay becomes necessary), transport between the airport and the hotel (where necessary) and two telephone calls/ faxes/ emails.

If the airline does not provide the above assistance to you and you are forced to make your own arrangements, you should retain all your receipts as you will be entitled to a full reimbursement of your expenses.

But you should make yourself known to the airline so you can avoid a situation where you have to make your own arrangements. And airlines should also ensure where available that accommodation is accessible for people with disabilities and their service dogs. And you only have the right to assistance as long as you have to wait to be re-routed to your final destination under comparable transport conditions.

And in exceptional cases an airline may decide to limit or decline assistance if they feel it would cause further delay to passengers waiting for an alternative or a delayed flight.

Compensation
Following a 2009 European Court ruling, you are now entitled to compensation if you arrive at your destination 3 hours or more after the scheduled arrival time unless the air carrier can prove that the delay was the result of extraordinary circumstances. 

And examples of events defined as extraordinary circumstances are air traffic management decisions, political instability, adverse weather conditions and security risks.

Situations which are not considered as extraordinary circumstances include: most technical problems which come to light during aircraft maintenance or are caused by failure to maintain an aircraft, collision of mobile boarding stairs with an aircraft and strikes by air carrier staff (internal strike action).

Any strike external to an air carrier that affects the operation of the airline may be considered as extraordinary circumstances. However, to be exempted from paying compensation, the airline must prove that (a) there is a link between the extraordinary circumstances and the delay or the cancellation, and (b) the delay or cancellation could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

If a dispute arises between you and your air carrier regarding the existence of extraordinary circumstances and the payment of compensation, the matter should be referred to the appropriate enforcement body. 

If you miss a connecting flight travelling within the EU or outside the EU on a flight originating from an EU country, you should be entitled to compensation, if you arrive at your final destination with a delay of more than 3 hours. It is not relevant if the carrier operating the connecting flights is an EU or non-EU airline.

If you depart from a non-EU country to your final destination in an EU country, with connecting flights operated successively by non-EU and EU airlines or by EU airlines only, only the flights operated by EU airlines are taken into consideration for the right to compensation in case of a long delay on arrival at the final destination.

You are not entitled to compensation if you miss connecting flights due to delays at security checks or if you did not respect the boarding time of your flight at the airport of transfer.

If you accept a flight to a different airport from the one in the original booking and it arrives late, you're entitled to compensation. The time of arrival used for calculating the delay is the time of arrival at the airport mentioned in the original booking or the destination agreed upon with the airline. Transport costs between the alternative airport and the one in the original booking or agreed destination should be borne by the airline.

The amount of compensation payable depends on the distance of the flight. If the flight is classed as: short haul, the amount payable is €250 per person, medium haul, the amount payable is €400 per person and long haul, the amount payable is €600 per person.

The amount of compensation payable in respect of non-Community flights of more than 3500kms (long haul) may be reduced by 50% if you arrive at your destination less than 4 hours after the scheduled arrival time.

Compensation when re-routed
When the choice is re-routing and you are entitled to compensation, the amount of compensation you are entitled to depends on the length of delay past your original planned arrival time as follows:

Flight Type Delay Compensation
Flights of 1500km or less                                        2 hours or less                              €125
Flights of 1500km or less                                        more than 2 hours                       €250
Flights of over 1,500 km within the EU and other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km        3 hours or less                              €200
Flights of over 1,500 km within the EU and other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km        more than 3 hours                       €400
All other flights    4 hours or less    €300
All other flights     more than 4 hours   €600

Cancelled Flights
Where your flight is cancelled, you are entitled to a choice of: Refund the cost of your ticket within 7 days or re-routing to your final destination at the earliest opportunity or re-routing at a later date at your convenience, subject to the availability of seats

You are not entitled to compensation if: You have received at least 2 weeks’ notice of the cancellation; or you have received between 2 weeks and 7 days’ notice, but you have been offered an alternative flight departing no more than 2 hours before your original departure time and arriving at your final destination less than 4 hours after your original scheduled time of arrival.

You have received less than 7 days’ notice, but you have been offered an alternative flight departing no more than 1 hour before your original departure time and arriving at your final destination less than 2 hours after your original scheduled time of arrival.

If the airline can prove that the cancellation was caused by an extraordinary circumstance which could not have been avoided, even if all reasonable measures had been taken, no compensation is payable.

How to make a complaint: Complain to the airline first, complain to the appropriate national enforcement body and if you have a complaint about a cancellation, long flight delay or an instance of denied boarding, complain to the airline first.

If your airline does not resolve your complaint, you should send it to the appropriate national enforcement body. Each member state is responsible for departures from airports within its territory and arrivals into such airports from third countries on EU/EEA-licensed carriers.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is the national enforcement body in Ireland.

It deals with complaints arising from flights departing from Irish airports or those arriving at an Irish airport from outside the EU/EEA on an EUEEA-licensed carrier. 

If you have a complaint about a flight returning to Ireland from the EU/EEA, you contact the national enforcement body in the EU/EEA and state where your flight departed from.

Liam Croke is MD of Harmonics Financial Ltd, based in Plassey. He can be contacted at liam@harmonics.ie or www.harmonics.ie