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Croatia, which is holding the six-month European Union presidency, has proposed amending the rules on compensation for airline delays and cancellations at talks among EU governments on revising passengers’ rights that are due to start in the coming weeks. Under existing EU rules, travellers are entitled to up to 600 euros if a flight is delayed by at least three hours or cancelled less than fourteen days before departure. They can also receive compensation if they are denied boarding. However, some national authorities and courts have criticised the rules, saying member states struggle to process the large number of claims they receive, and airlines’ compensation payments have grown because the number of delays and cancellations have risen. In an informal document circulated among member states, Croatia has proposed keeping the level of compensation the same as now for passengers but suggested increasing the minimum flight delay for which airlines must make payments. Zagreb made the proposals “in order to take account of the high financial burden for airlines and of the fact that delays are less and less imputable to airlines”, the document said. However, Croatia did not say what it wanted the new minimum delay to be for passengers to claim compensation, or how long before departure flights would have to be cancelled for travellers to be reimbursed.
Best for them is to pay nothing to the passenger. Make promises but not keep them whithout any consequences. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteThe new proposed delay margin is 5 hrs (now 3), which would cut most of the claims...
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDelete... for exactly what? For saving their bankrupted OU also through this?
DeleteIgnore the troll.
DeleteCompensation system is fair, it eventually bankrupts airlines who cannot deliver services their customers paid for.
ReplyDeleteAirlines should be proactive in finding root cause of their delays and doing their best to eliminate them, not lobby for lower compensations, so they can screw their customers travel plans without paying compensation.
+100000
DeleteWhat if the plane go in late due to the weather issues? For example Let410, not pressurized airplane, have to fly through the weather not above it. I don't like landing like Pegasus...
DeleteDue to weather reasons... you don't get any compensation at all already now...
DeleteExactly. Force majeur is and was always exempt.
DeleteThat is actually a great idea and very much needed. There is no logic in compensations being this high, specially when passenger demand brought tickets to all time low. Big ones will always be able to pay compensations, although will damage their financial results, while smaller airlines can suffer a lot from this. And for what? For example; LJU-DXB with connecting flights arrive to DXB at 12, instead of 9. Ticket was bought during promotion for 300 EUR. Paid compensation: 600 EUR. There is no or very little logic in that. Not all compensations should be considered the same like they are now.
ReplyDeleteCome on, there are so many reasons where the compensation is already not paid at all.
DeleteIt is paid only when the airline has the full responsibility for delay and therefore is their inside thing how they will deal with that matter and not blame the EU regulations for their negligence.
Really? Example: Flight is late from DPS to DXB.. I don't know, volcano or something. This plane should fly from DXB to FRA, but it's not in Dubai to perform the flight. Other planes are not available.. so, operational issues. And they will pay 600 EUR to some backpacker paying 300 EUR for a ticket anyway?
DeleteSorry, but airline has controllers who can sum up all the income from each flight and see the risks of not performing or delaying the actual flights. it is still better that there is backpacker who paid 300 eur 3 times and once they will return him 600 than flying with empty seats.
DeleteEach company has risks and it is their matter how they will deal with them. The better risk control, the better results. Simple as that.
And believe me, for that backpacker who paid 300 eur are 10 business travellers who paid much more and airline could still have positive results.
If volcano or "something" similar happens no compensation will be paid.
DeleteAlso, compensation are from 250 up to 600 depending of flight length.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_Compensation_Regulation
https://www.euclaim.co.uk/regulation-261-2004
Its not really that hard to find info and read it.
Only thing that needs to changed imho is that lowest compensation is 250 euro per person currently not depending on the ticket price. I think it is unfair towards the airlines if the passenger only paid 9.99 on a Ryan or Wizzair flight. Then compensation should be limited to for ex. 10x the total price paid which still amounts in this case to a hundred euros.
Delete@Anonymous6 February 2020 at 15:14
DeleteTrust me, I know the rules very well. And if you would read what I wrote correctly, you would see that I didn't mention the volcano as a reason for compensation but rather that the plane late for another flight (late due to volcano on previous flight) is a reason for compensation. And it's 600 EUR for DXB-FRA since it's more than 3500km.
Compensation doesn't need to be calculated relative to ticket price because it is paid for the "damages" passengers have, not related to price of ticket.
DeleteFor example, if 2 of us book ticket on the same plane, different ticket price, but we missed same meeting - damages are same no matter what was ticket price. Thats the essence of compensation system.
Good job HDZ. First thing at the head of EU and let's reduce rights for ordinary Joe.
ReplyDeleteGreat, cut the last leverage a passenger has against airlines. Now we are fully at their mercy. Already today its a struggle to get any compensation from crap LCCs.
ReplyDeleteSerious airlines pay out straight away, and to be honest in 20 years of flying I had only 2 delays on legacy airlines eligible for compensation - both times LH which paid right away.
As much as I try to avoid low end LCCs (volotea...wizz), I had no choice but to fly with them on 3 occasions... delayed on 2 out of 3, and only got compensated from volotea after 5 months of arguments.
So yeah "Bravo Hrvatska" for this move...
I will agree with this only if airlines agree to refund a ticket if the passenger misses the flight or at least allow you to re-book for another date.
ReplyDeleteCroatias international airport was built by French company which has concession for 30 years and they operate it. Croatia Airlines (national company operating not by market rules, but how the government says) is the largest user, but the least significant so others have priority. It's their miserable way of trying to reduce the claim numbers.
DeleteIf you delay to get to the airport before Scheduled departure time, the airlines will not pardon you for not arriving on time irrespective of the reason for coming late, they just tell you gate is closed that all.. you lose your ticket money, even if it happened that the aircraft is still there you can still catch up with it, they just dont care, the same should apply to the airlines company if they waste passengers time continue from 0 min to 1 hour they have to compensate the passengers cos some passengers have businesses to catch up with
ReplyDelete"struggle to process the large number of claims they receive"
ReplyDeleteI'm in tears for the poor, struggling airlines;(
Just make sure your flights are ON TIME and there is no compensation struggle. Ever. Very simple.