Problems with your flight? Missed Flight?
Have you had any idea that you are able to claim up to 600 per traveller if your flight was overbooked, cancelled or delayed?
Know Your Rights
When you miss a flight, you may be able to get either compensation from the airline or you may be able to get a refund of the taxes you paid the airline for your flight. In this article, we will explain when you qualify for both of these categories. Compensair is an organisation that helps air passengers claim compensation from the airline when they have experienced a flight delay, cancellation, or when they were denied boarding. They also help travellers with general travel information.
Compensation Claim – EC Regulation 261/2004
Most people have no idea that if they missed their flight, they are entitled to receive compensation, you just have to be checked in.
The most important thing has to do with checking in. In most cases, airports advise travellers to come to the airport at least two hours before the departure of their flight, to make sure there’s sufficient time to check in and go through customs.
If you arrive at the airport late, most probably you won’t be allowed to fly.
Most airlines require you to have checked in at least 45 minutes before the departure of the flight. If you still arrive late at the check-in desk they are allowed to deny you from accessing the aircraft.
If an airline allows you to check in after the 45-minutes, the flight will be delayed since you won’t have enough time to go through customs or have your luggage loaded on the plane. It is very common that travellers arrive at the airport earlier than their flight but have to face long queues. In most cases, despite the fact that there are long queues an airline might deny you to board if you haven’t checked in on time.
In order to be able to claim your compensation, you have to check-in before the closing time. Prefer to do it online. If the flight is delayed or cancelled you will not be responsible for this and you will be able to claim your compensation.
Missed a connection flight due to a cancellation or delay
If you have to take a connection flight, the changes for missing your flight are higher if your first flight is cancelled or delayed. You will be entitled to receive a higher compensation compared to if you have missed your first flight.
Example: You take a flight from London to Athens with Aegean Airlines. This flight is delayed by 2 hours due to a technical error on the previous sector, which caused the aircraft to arrive late at the airport. Once you arrive in Athens, your flight to Larnaca has left: you originally had 90 minutes for your transfer, which should have been enough.
Aegean Airlines will put you on the next flight to Larnaca, and you’ll arrive at your destination 6 hours later than originally scheduled. If Athens was your final destination, you would have been entitled to receive a fixed amount of compensation.
However, in this case, you missed your connecting flight, therefore, you are entitled to receive a higher compensation. Please note that depending on the total distance between destinations your compensation varies.
When you miss your flight but aren’t entitled to compensation
In this case, you can still get a refund for the taxes you’ve paid.
If you miss your flight the airline doesn’t have to pay any passenger-bound taxes to the airport. But you’ve already paid these taxes, which comprise around the 25% of your ticket cost. Most passengers don’t know that they can ask the airline for a tax refund (in most cases).
Do you ever read the Terms & Conditions when booking a ticket? I don’t think so. It’s good to have a look and know your rights so when you miss a flight or it was delayed you know what you are entitled to.
If you have missed a flight lately find out if you are entitled to a compensation.
