Home News Passengers face fight to get paid when flights are delayed

Passengers face fight to get paid when flights are delayed

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Airlines are denying or delaying passenger compensation claims only to be told to cough up in more than half of cases that customers take to the regulator, new Which? analysis reveals.

Which? analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data has found that in more than half (53%) of cases it was passengers, not airlines, who were in the right when they took a compensation complaint to the CAA.

Some airlines had an alarmingly high percentage of instances where the aviation body ruled against them. Scandinavia’s largest airline, Norwegian Air, was advised by the regulator to pay up in a staggering 83% of cases. The Spanish airline Vueling, who share the same parent company as British Airways, and budget carrier Ryanair were also told to pay out to passengers in the vast majority of cases, with rulings against them made 79% and 77% of the time respectively.

Of the other high profile airlines that operate in the UK, Thomson Airways were told to pay out in 69% of cases, Thomas Cook was told to pay out to passengers in 41% of instances and Easyjet was told to cough up 39% of the time.

British Airways, who had 1,166 flights delayed by more than three hours in 2016, was advised to pay up in half (48%) of cases.

However, as the CAA has no power to enforce its judgements, airlines won’t always pay out when asked to do so. By far the worst offender for this was Emirates, who were advised to issue compensation in 60% of cases taken to the CAA, but still refused to pay up 74% of the time.

This refusal stems from Emirates not accepting the CAA’s interpretation of the law with regard to compensating passengers who experience a delay on the first leg of a flight that caused them to miss a connecting flight in a non EU country and, as a result, to arrive at their final destination over three hours late.

Under current EU regulations, passengers are entitled to compensation if delayed by more than three hours when flying from the UK or with an EU airline to an EU airport.  Holidaymakers flying short-haul would potentially be able to claim €250 if they are delayed by more than three hours, while long-haul passengers could claim €300 if their plane landed between three or four hours late, or €600 if their flight was at least four hours behind schedule.

By making it unacceptably difficult for passengers to recoup the money that they are entitled to, airlines could potentially be keeping millions of pounds in unclaimed compensation. Which? believes that it is time for airlines to start automatically compensating eligible passengers for delayed and cancelled flights.

In most cases, passengers can no longer take claims to the CAA and must take complaints to one of several alternative dispute resolution bodies (ADR) that airlines can voluntarily sign up to. However, Which? believes the current system is too muddled and doesn’t work in travellers’ best interests. It is calling on the Government to introduce a Transport Ombudsman that all airlines must join, to improve the way in which passenger complaints are resolved.

Alex Neill, Which? Managing Director of Home Products and Services, said:

“Some airlines seem to be making it as difficult as possible for passengers to receive the money that they are rightly entitled to for flight delays.

“We want to see airlines introduce measures so that, where possible, passengers are compensated automatically for delays and cancellations.”

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