Know your flight rights as Easter travel chaos hits
THOUSANDS of people seeking sun and fun abroad over the Easter holidays have faced travel misery.
Staff shortages have been causing mayhem at airports and for some airlines.
If you’ve been caught up in the chaos or if you’re due to travel this Easter, here’s my guide to all you need to know.
It ranges from how to check the status of your flight to knowing your rights should your flight be delayed or cancelled.
THE PROBLEM
Staff shortages, blamed on Covid, have put airports under extreme pressure. This week passengers at several airports, including Heathrow and Manchester, have endured frustrating delays of many hours in security queues.
Airlines have also suffered with staffing issues, most notably British Airways and easyjet, which both cancelled large numbers of flights – a trend that looks set to continue into the Easter break.
HOW DO I CHECK IF MY FLIGHT IS CANCELLED?
On most airlines’ websites you can check a flight’s status or it will have a customer service number to find this information. See the end of this article for web addresses. Jet 2 only post on their page if there is a problem. Ryanair says they contact you by text or email if a flight is delayed or cancelled. My advice is to check. I’ve heard many Ryanair passengers say they did not get the message.
WHAT IF MY FLIGHT IS DELAYED?
If your flight is delayed by a certain amount of time you have a right to food and drink, phone calls and/or accommodation if you are delayed overnight, plus journeys between the airport and the hotel.how long the delay has to be depends on the distance of the flight and the countries it’s flying between (see table above). You can work out the distance in miles at webflyer.com then convert it to kilometres.
Some airlines will give you vouchers at the airport for the above. If your airline does not do this you will need to keep your receipts for expenses and then send them in for reimbursement Airlines only have to pay for “reasonable” expenses – not for alcohol, expensive meals or luxury hotels.
RIGHT TO COMPENSATION
Airlines do not have to pay compensation if the delay was caused by “extraordinary circumstances” which is basically an event outside of its control such as severe weather or a security risk. Staff shortages do not fall within this.
WHAT IF MY FLIGHT IS CANCELLED?
You have the legal right to either a full refund – including other flights from the airline that you won’t use in the same booking, such as onward or return flights, or a replacement flight to get you to your destination.
If you’re part-way through a journey and you don’t want a replacement flight, you also have a right to a flight back to the airport you originally departed from.
If the flight is cancelled with less than two weeks’ notice you will be entitled to compensation, unless you asked for a replacement flight (as opposed to a refund), the delay is less than two hours, or the cancellation is caused by the “extraordinary circumstances” mentioned above.
IF YOU GET A REPLACEMENT FLIGHT
You still have the same entitlement to food and drink, phone, calls, accommodation and transport listed under “What If My
Flight Is Delayed”.
HOW DO I MAKE A CLAIM?
You must contact the airline first.
In this respect, most airlines have an online form, or other form of online system, to lodge a claim. Many airlines now stipulate in their terms of carriage that they will not entertain any claim unless the passenger personally lodges it directly with them. This means the airline will reject claims that initially come direct from a claims management company/law firm on the passengers behalf.
The airline has up to eight weeks to respond to your claim.
If it fails to respond in this time or if your claim is rejected, ask if it is subscribed to a alternative dispute resolution scheme (ADR).
If it is, you can lodge your claim with the ADR scheme for FREE (unless the airline is British Airways, in which case there is an ADR fee).
CHECK FLIGHT DELAYS ONLINE easyjet.com/en/flight-tracker ba.com/travel/flightstatus/public/ en_gb/search/ jet2.com/flights/incident