Various force majeure circumstances have always happened and will happen, changing people's plans. This also concerns flight delays. You can not blame the carrier for adverse weather conditions, the execution of orders of the state security agencies or the inspection of the aircraft for technical breakdowns. However, if the airline was unable to prove its own innocence in the delay of the flight due to external factors, then it pays the passenger compensation in the amount established by the code or charter of air transport. In any case, despite what exactly became the reason, the airline must provide the passenger with a number of free services.
Flight Delay: Aeroflot Passenger Rights
For starters, itās worth clarifying that if the flight is delayed by no more than one hundred and twenty minutes, the airlineās responsibility is not to pay compensation or provide any services. In this case, passengers should just be patient and wait for the next flight.
Since 2007, Aeroflot Airlines has introduced some mandatory services that are included in the passengerās rights when the flight is delayed.
If the plane has not left on time and more than two hours have passed, people have the right to freely use the lounges and rooms for passengers with a child under the age of seven.
Passenger rights to free meals
In that case, when there is a delay in flight, passenger rights include getting soft drinks and hot meals. You can also make two phone calls costing no more than ten euros or send two messages by email.
The right to receive a hotel room, free meals in the restaurant and transfer
When a flight is delayed, the rights of passengers provide for a free hotel room if more than eight hours have passed since the flight was canceled during the day or six hours at night. Also, the airline must pay not only the number, but also meals in the restaurant and transfer. It should be clarified that the night time of the day starts at 22:00, and the morning - from 6:00.
Services provided by various airlines
In the event that a flight delay occurs, the rights of passengers of different airlines may vary slightly. For example, Aeroflot, in addition to a free hotel room, provides its passengers with free luggage storage at the airport. Another company, KrasAir, pays for not only the number and delivery of passengers to it, but also three meals a day.
Financial compensation
If there is a flight delay, the rights of passengers provide for compensation in the amount of twenty-five percent for each hour of waiting for the next departure. To receive money, you must have a special note on your ticket to cancel the flight. You can get this seal from an airline employee.
When an unscheduled flight delay occurs at the airport, the passengerās rights also provide for receiving all of the above services, except for three meals a day, completely free of charge.
Do not wait - act!
Do not think that airline representatives will run after each passenger, apologizing for the delay in the flight and providing the full range of their free services. If you do not want to spend a day, or even more, at the airport without proper nutrition and comfortable conditions, you should take some actions yourself if the flight is delayed:
- Find the administrator at the airport and take a document from him, indicating the reason for the cancellation of the flight and a stamp with the actual departure time.
- Watch the time: after four hours, the airline is obliged to provide you with hot meals, and if the flight is delayed by more than eight hours - a hotel room and a transfer. If the airline refuses to provide these services, pay for everything yourself, but in no case throw away checks.
Flight delay: passenger rights. Arbitrage practice
After you have waited for the next flight and arrived at your destination, write a complaint to the airline, attaching as proof all the checks and documents needed to pay compensation. If the airline ignores the claims, the passengerās rights include filing an application with the court. Judicial practice shows that if you provide all receipts with unscheduled expenses that you incurred due to a flight delay, be it food, medicine, inability to attend pre-paid excursions or a frustrated business meeting, you will be paid in compensation an amount that fully covers expenses . You have enough time to submit claims and apply to court - six months. During the same time, he considers the claims and, if agreed, pays compensation. A claim with all documents, receipts and photocopies is better to have in duplicate.
Use free services as needed
Of course, if there was a flight delay, and the airline is decent and does not give up its duties, you have the right to order at least a suite and dinner at the most expensive restaurant, but then it is up to you in court to prove that it was a measure of necessity, which should pay the carrier. Therefore, it is best to do with the most common hotel room and inexpensive restaurant. One way or another, you can only crank out such a scam with a deluxe room only if the airline itself does not arrange hotel stays and meals for all passengers from the transferred flight. Otherwise, no one will pay for your whims.
Charter flights
It is a mistake to assume that the above rules apply only to regular flights. Not at all. Often there is a delay in the charter flight. In this case, the passengerās rights provide exactly the same as when delaying a regular flight: free use of lounges, soft drinks and hot meals, two free calls or two emails, luggage storage at the airport, free hotel room and transfer , payment of monetary compensation. The USA is an exception: there passengers are not paid fines for charter flights and small aircraft.
Mostly, delayed charter flights are due to the fact that the airline does not have enough backup aircraft to send passengers on it, so people have to wait for their departure.
Overbooking
For many, it is no secret that airlines sell about five percent more tickets than available seats on board. This happens for one simple reason: the same five percent of passengers who have booked a seat do not appear on the plane ā at the last minute they pass a ticket or are late. That is why, in order not to send the plane half empty, airlines go to a similar scam. However, the opposite happens: sometimes all the passengers who have booked their seats immediately appear. In this case, the carrier is looking for the so-called volunteers who agree to fly the next flight, and the company will provide them with a voucher or bonus amount. The carrier can also provide a coupon for a free hotel room, transfer and meals, depending on the waiting time for the flight.
In the event that there were no volunteers for departure by the next flight, those who booked the seats later than the others are forcibly dropped out of the plane. In the USA, passengers affected by overbooking are provided with compensation, the size of which varies from the cost of an air ticket to three hundred dollars. During overbooking, the EU countries provide passengers with the same services as with a delayed flight.
If, due to a flight malfunction, you find yourself in a foreign country, but because of an expired visa you are unable to get to the city, feel free to contact the administrator with a request to call the immigration service and get an āemergency visaā. It is issued for forty-eight hours in special force majeure circumstances. Getting it is difficult, but the attempt is worth it.
Baggage problems
After notification of the flight cancellation, the administrator or employee of the airline takes passengers to the exit and instructs: talks about food, moving to a hotel if necessary, free phone calls and other technical issues. If you need to get your luggage, since you are going to leave for the hotel yourself or just leave the airport, inform the airline representative. Usually the baggage is sent to the tape, where it can be easily picked up. If there were no things in the arrivals area, then most likely the carrier has already sent them on the next flight. Again, contact your airline representative to clarify this misunderstanding and get your baggage. If it turned out that he was lost, the airline will pay compensation in the amount of its full value.
Will there be a refund for a hotel room?
For many passengers, a logical question arises: will the daily cost of hotel accommodation be returned, the room in which was booked in advance and was not used due to the cancellation of the flight. The answer is yes. Arriving at the hotel, you can demand a refund for the night in your room.