Act quickly if your holiday flights are delayed DEAN DUNHAM
THE school summer holidays are about to start, meaning that many people will be jetting off abroad on holiday. It is inevitable that some will experience flight delays, causing you to either arrive at your holiday destination or back home late. If you experience a flight delay, here’s what you will need to know:
What are the rules on flight delays?
THE relevant law that governs flight delay compensation is known as ‘EC261’, but this only applies if: A) where you fly with an airline based in the EU – the delayed flight departs or arrives at an EU airport; or B) where you fly with an airline based outside of the EU – the delayed flight departs an EU airport. EC261 says that passengers must be paid compensation when a flight arrives at its destination three or more hours late and the delay must not have been caused by an event outside of the airline’s control (known as ‘extraordinary circumstances’), such as:
■ Severe adverse weather
■ Bird strike
■ Air traffic control strike
■ Manufacturer’s defect with the aircraft (not simply a maintenance issue)
How do I complain?
YOU must first complain to the airline, setting out details of your flight and the delay.
You should allow the airline up to eight weeks to respond, although most will respond far quicker than this. Most airlines have an online complaint form for flight delays, which you will find via the airline’s website.
What if my complaint is rejected?
IF the airline believes the delay was caused by an event that satisfies the test of extraordinary circumstances, the airline will reject your complaint. However, this does not mean that the airline is right. Also, even if it is correct, the airline also has to be able to show that it took reasonable measures to avoid the delay and often the airlines fail to even mention this when rejecting passengers’ claims. If you receive a rejection from the airline, your next port of call is to find out whether the airline is a member of an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme. In the UK, we have two schemes: A) Aviationadr (aviationadr. org.uk ) – which deals with Asiana Airlines, Air Astana, Air Canada, Air China, Air France, Air Mauritius, Cityjet, Delta, easyjet, Egyptair, Emirates, Flybe, Garuda Indonesia, KLM, Norwegian, Oman Air, Roral Brunei, South African Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Wizz Air B) CEDR (cedr.org.uk ) – which deals with British Airways, Condor, Thomas Cook and Tui. If your airline is not in these lists you will have to take your complaint to the Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT) – caa.co.uk
■ Dean Dunham is a solicitor advocate, barrister, and consumer lawyer of the year (2018). More advice can be found on theconsumerlawyer.blog