AIRLINE COMPENSATION
By Susan Stellin
1The day I was supposed to fly from London to Newark this spring, British Airways sent an e-mail saying the flight had been canceled. When I called to rebook, the British Airways agent offered a flight two hours earlier, which meant my boyfriend and I had to drop everything and race to Heathrow. The payoff came a month later, when the airline sent a check for $787 (300 euros each), compensation for our inconvenience.
2 Travelers on flights that are canceled or delayed must often accept whatever rebooking an airline offers, even if it means getting stranded at an airport for days. In the United States airlines aren’t required to compensate passengers on delayed or canceled flights, but it’s a different story in Europe. The payment that my boyfriend and I received was required by the European Union’s passenger rights law, EC 261, which obligates airlines to pay for a hotel room and meals if travelers are stranded because of a cancellation or delay.
3 If the problem is the airline’s fault — for instance, our cancellation was due to a malfunctioning plane — the carrier is supposed to compensate passengers up to 600 euros, based on the length of the flight and how long you’re delayed. I was surprised that we qualified since we actually got an earlier flight, but the law covers situations when passengers have little advance notice and have to change their plans.
4 EC 261 applies to any airline departing from the European Union — including American carriers — and European airlines flying to or from Europe. It was adopted in 2005; since then, similar rules have been extended to passengers traveling within Europe by rail, ship or bus.
5 In theory, the law gives travelers greater protection in Europe than in the United States. In practice, airlines on both sides of the Atlantic have resisted paying some of these benefits, and many passengers do not even know these rights exist. The emails British Airways sent me didn’t mention compensation, and neither did the agent I spoke with. I knew about the law so I found the information on the airline’s Internet site. But the claims process was easy, and British Airways paid quickly.
6“You’re lucky you got your money,” said Dale Kidd, a spokesman for the European Commission. “Generally, it depends on the airline, but some are better than others at paying claims.” So which airlines are the worst offenders? “I’d prefer not to do naming and shaming,” Mr. Kidd said. “It depends a lot on the persistence of the victim making the claim.
7One reason airlines have resisted this regulation is disagreement over who should be responsible for stranded travelers when major disruptions occur — like the volcanic ash cloud that caused more than 100,000 flight cancellations in Europe in 2010. “The ash cloud went on for eight or nine days, so it’s probably unreasonable to expect a carrier to put you up at the Hilton for that length of time,” Mr. Kidd conceded. Indeed, the airline industry says carriers lost nearly $2 billion because of the cloud, including expenses for hotel bills, although some airlines refused to pay these claims.
Adapted from The International Herald Tribune,
August 31 – September 1, 2013.
