Quarter of flights hit in most chaotic year
AIRLINE passengers have suffered their worst year for delays and cancellations, experts claimed yesterday.
They said a quarter of flights from the UK had been hit.
The chaos affected 175,000, nearly 26,000 more than last year.
Cancellations soared by 86 per cent to 10,640.
Only Germany performed worse in the European study by compensation company AirHelp.
Its spokeswoman Paloma Salmeron said: “Airline staff strikes, lack of pilots and bad weather have all contributed to a year of air travel misery and chaos for passengers.”
She said three-quarters of passengers felt airlines did not provide enough information on their rights to claim compensation.
“Many miss out on the compensation to which they are entitled by not filing a claim,” she said.
Travellers on disrupted flights can be entitled to up to £530 in compensation depending on the route, delay and cause.
Germany had the worst record for disrupted flights this year with 181,000 outbound delayed by more than 15 minutes or cancelled, nearly 29 per cent of the total.
That is despite 60,000 fewer flights taking off from Germany than the UK.
Spain was third on 133,000 (22 per cent). In fourth place was France on 120,000, or 28 per cent, followed by Italy on 102,000 (24 per cent). Proportionally Portugal was the worst hit with 49,000 or more than one in three of its 143,000 flights disrupted. Switzerland had 43,000 disruptions – 27 per cent of its flights – the Netherlands 42,000 (23 per cent), Sweden 35,000 (24 per cent) and Denmark 23,000 (22 per cent). AirHelp says it has assisted more than seven million people in making compensation claims totalling nearly £700million. Ms Salmeron, the firm’s air passenger rights expert, added: “2018 has seen the worst flight disruption across Europe in history. “Millions have suffered severe delays or cancellations but nowhere more so than in Germany and the UK. “We urge passengers affected by flight delays or cancellations to check whether they are entitled to financial compensation.” In June Ryanair claimed that air traffic control strikes were “destroying air traffic and economies across Europe”. There had been a 300 per cent increase in walkouts in France compared with the previous year. Twenty-four strike days in the first six months of the year had caused nearly 5,000 flight cancellations and thousands of delays affecting millions, Ryanair said.