The innovation of the airplane can be considered as a turning point in the human history. It depicts the mastermind of human thoughts and how it was used to make revolutionary standpoints of the explorations. Although there are numerous ways of transportation, people prefer and they are much fond of using the airplane as their mode of transport because it offers a wide range of benefits for them. The main reason to use airplanes is the convenience and the higher standards of the facilities being offered in airplanes. They have adhered to punctuality unlike the other transport methods and that offers passengers an immeasurable service to get their work done properly. However, there is a huge code of laws and regulations to protect the passengers’ rights in airplanes. But it seems that passengers are not much aware of these. They might have the necessary knowledge to book seating and take the airplane but they do not know the laws and regulations that have been composed in order to safeguard the rights of them.

No matter what the rules are, no matter which transportation method is, in each and every one of it, there can be errors and flaws. But when it comes to transportation in the air, the errors and fallacies could be extremely hazardous for the passengers because they have to go through a firm procedure in order to get their journey done. The common error in air transportation is the flight delays. However, for the benefit of the passengers, compensating systems have been introduced for them to cover up the loss. It is exceptional for flights because a journey through the air is supposed to be much responsible and reliable for the passengers. But it could be seen that the people do not have a proper understanding about the ways that they could receive compensations for the losses that occurred due to the oversights of the system. Keep reading to get to know about the ways and how could you be benefitted through compensation laws when transporting by air.

What is “Flight Compensation Regulation 261/2004”?

This is a law formed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on 11th February 2004 and it came in to force on the 17th February 2005. Through this regulation, they have established common rules on compensation and assistance for the passengers in several events such as denied boarding due to overbooking, cancellation of flights or long delay of flights. This was the very first step that made passengers obtain their compensation and assistance due to the errors of the airline.

Anyway, there are many more types of compensations that you can claim if you were not served by the airline properly. It is wise worthy to get to know about each of them in order to obtain the remuneration that is due for the loss. If by any chance you did not meet your expectations through the airline, remember that you have the right to be compensated at any time. The amount of remuneration is approximately €125-€600. But it differs according to the flight distance, arrival and departing times of the connection flight and the duration that flight was delayed to arrive at the airport. You are not entitled to claim a remuneration if the flight delayed due to weather conditions or staff strikes. You must keep in mind that there are several conditions that should be fulfilled to be eligible for compensation.

 

 

Conditions to be eligible for compensation

 

• When the flight is delayed
• Flight being canceled
• Denial of boarding because of lack of seating/overbooking

Tip: to claim compensation according to the EU Law, the flight must depart from the UK, European Union (EU), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland.

There are main types of compensations that you receive through Flight Compensation Regulation 261/2004 of EU. Each of them has conditions and terms that differ from one to another. It is better to have a proper understanding of these before you arrive at the airport. It saves both time and effort. Here is a brief understanding of the compensations for your ease.

1. Flight Delay Compensation

A Delayed flight causes a lot of complication for a passenger because all his schedules and arrangements become a mere waste. As the fault is at the end of the airport, they are legally bound to pay back the remuneration to the passengers. The airline has a massive responsibility in avoiding and flight delays or else they are bound to recompense the passengers under certain conditions. Take a note on the following points first to learn more about Delayed flight compensation.

• If your expected flight gets delayed for 2 hours or more than it, the airline has to provide you
• Ample amount of foods, meals, and beverages that is
• Necessary facilities for communication such as phone calls and emails
• Accommodation, If the flight delay occurs at overnight
• Transportation facilities between the hotel and the airport.

Some airlines force passengers to arrange these facilities by ourselves. During such an instance, you can maintain receipts for your expenses and claim for a compensation later. However, you have to keep in mind that the airline is not bound to pay back for your receipts of supreme meals, hotels, and beverages. They are required to pay for the facilities that are utilized by the passengers till the next flight arrives.

• If the flight delay duration is three hours or more, you are already eligible to claim the facilities given when the flight is delayed for 2 hours or more. If the flight delay is due to a technical error of the airline you are still entitled to claim it. Anyway, you can use the compensate calculator to calculate the amount that the airline owes you.
• If the flight delay is five hours or exceeding that, and if you are not going to take the flight, the airline is legally bound to offer you with a full refund for the flight and all the above mentioned primary facilities of foods, beverages, communication, and accommodation. If by any chance, if you are going to take the respective flight you are eligible for a compensation for a refund up to €600.

 

• Canceled flight compensation

 

The news of a Cancelled flight messes up all our plans and routines. Airlines do not guarantee the time schedules of flight because it constantly varies due to many reasons, unlike the other transportation methods. As examples, airlines may announce a cancellation of flights due to weather conditions, air traffics and strikes. For such kind of reasons, you cannot claim Cancelled flight compensation. But if the flight was canceled because of the technical errors, lack of the passenger crew or maintenance errors, you are eligible to claim. If your flight was canceled you have the right to claim either a full refund or a partial refund for the flight or ask for a replacement to arrive at the expected destination.

But it seems most of the passengers misunderstand the two terms “A canceled flight” and a “delayed flight”. A delayed flight is not a canceled flight. If the airline informs the cancellation of the flight less than two weeks of your departure, you might have a capability of obtaining the compensation under certain regulations. However, in a cancellation of a flight, the airline takes necessary steps to get the available seats booked in the next possible flight in the same class without any extra charges. There are some airlines which rebook their passengers in a higher class if the crew of the ordinary class is full.

 

• Denied boarding compensation

 

An airline may deny boarding on a flight due to many reasons such as overbooking. When considering all passengers as a whole, the most common reason for a Denied boarding is overbooking. If an airline denies boarding due to overbooking, they will first ask for the volunteers to surrender their boarding in exchange for some benefits. The airline should offer these volunteers with two possible options. They are,

• Full refund of their unused air ticket price
• The change of a route/re-route

If the voluntary passengers pick the change of the route, the airline has a responsibility of helping them with further support. These may include the facilities for accommodation, food and beverages and access to communication facilities such as phone calls and emails, transportation facilities from the place of accommodation to the airport. If there is a passenger who is confirmed with the booking but he is denied of boarding he is eligible for compensation in addition to his original price of the air ticket. In some places, you will notice that the denied boarding being divided into two main categories. One is the voluntary denied boarding and the other category is involuntarily denied boarding.

Involuntary denied boarding

In this kind of an instance, even if you arrive at the airport with all the necessary documents (confirmed reservations, confirmed travel documents that are needed to complete the journey), and you are confirmed that you do not have any health, security or safety issues; you may not be allowed to board the flight. Even if you arrive at the airport before the due time and represent yourself for all security follow-ups you will not be granted the chance to board the flight. Such an instance would be quite embarrassing for anyone. If this happens to you, you will be provided with three different options to choose between.

• Rerouting at the moment itself – if you choose this option you will be boarded on another flight with a different route to carry you to the expected destination. If you are on an urgent journey, you may choose this option without any hesitation. As you have to wait for the alternative flight, the airline has to provide you with all the necessary measures to at your convenience. This includes meals, refreshments, beverages, hotel accommodation, and communication facilities. If by any chance you were not offered with these facilities, it is recommended to make arrangements by yourself. But do not forget to keep track of all receipts and documents related to the payments and charges of that you had to bore by yourself. If you are able to produce the properly tracked receipts you can make a claim to the airline before departing.
• Rerouting at the following date – this is the second choice offered to the passenger who is subjected to involuntarily denied boarding. He is allowed to book seats for a later date at his earliest convenient time. He does not have to reproduce the necessary documents. The passenger is offered with the assistance of the staff to move on further proceedings.
• Refunds of the full air ticket – if you choose this option you are receiving the full amount of the ticket price.

The airline is bound to compensate for denying boarding involuntarily. However, you have to keep in mind that the amount of compensation may differ from one to another depending on the distance of the journey and the time that was spent to reroute the journey.

 

Voluntary denied boarding

This happens when the flight is overbooked. In this kind of a situation, the staff calls out for volunteers to surrender their seats for those who are denied boarding. But for those volunteers, a wide range of benefits are being offered by the airline. As mentioned earlier, they are awarded the chance of accommodation, meals and communication facilities. In addition to these, they also are given few options to choose between.

• Rerouting as soon as possible
• Rerouting on another convenient day
• Refund of the full cost of the air ticket.

 

 

• Missed connection compensation

 

If you are someone who travels air, it is worth to know what Missed connection compensation is. Some air journeys need transits or in other words, you have to travel by several flights to reach the destination. It might be a tiring experience but you will not find it difficult if you find your boarding on time without any disturbance. Air travel schedules can never be predicted. They constantly keep changing. Hence we might not know when and where we will have to face a trouble. However if by any chance you had to experience a delayed flight or a denied boarding and missed a connecting flight, what would you do? Before reaching to claim Missed connection compensation, you must first identify the reasons for missing the expected flight. There two possible reasons for missing a flight which occurs as an error of the airline.

• The first one is a delayed flight at the first airport. It means when you have to board on a flight that arrives at your first airport later than the due time, you may miss the connection flight at the next airport. The fault is at their end but still, you are helpless as you missed it.
• The second reason is denied boarding. Even if you get subjected to either voluntary denied boarding or involuntary boarding you may get delayed due to re-routing. Even if you take another route and reach the second airport you might have missed the connection with the split of a second.

These are the two possible reasons that commonly occur in this field. You will be able to claim it even if you decide to fly back to the first leg or for your destination. The amount may vary due to several reasons. Hence we should be concerned about the ways to claim Missed connection compensation. You cannot claim it according to your whims and wishes without considering the necessary criteria that fall under the EU law. What are the conditions that are applied when becoming eligible for compensation?

• The first condition is that you have to be ready with the tickets with the same reservation. If you do not satisfy this condition, mind that you will not be eligible for compensation.
• The flight you boarded should fall under the criteria that are being listed under EC 261.
• The airline should be responsible for the missing of the connection flight. This should be given much thought because many passengers miss their flights due to their ignorance. The majority of them are not paying their attention to the announcements delivered there hence they end up in troublesome experiences. However, you have to keep in mind that if the fault/ error should be with the airline in order to claim Missed connection compensation.

Although people do have access to this kind of readings to receive information about compensations related to flights, they do not try to claim them assuming that they do have to follow a complicated procedure to receive it. But it is merely an utter waste of time and energy. They do not try to receive the remuneration that they deserve. Let it be Delayed flight compensation, Cancelled flight compensation, Denied boarding compensation or Missed connection compensation there is a firm procedure to follow through. You can receive the assistance online through websites that offer help for the passengers to receive the compensation or get it done physically. You have to keep in mind that each passenger is eligible for compensation up to an amount of €600 in instances where passengers have to go through delayed flights, canceled flights or denied boarding.

Tips for flight compensations

• First, make sure that you have all necessary documents to claim the compensation. The documents needed for each type of compensation from one to another. So as a passenger, you have a great responsibility in getting prepared with all necessary documents.
• Then visit the online platform or the website and fill all the documents online. Make sure that all the details you enter are true and accurate.
• You will be asked to fill the details of travel departure, destination and the dates related to them. They will offer you a chance of calculating the amount of compensation before claiming it. Sometimes the website may charge some amount of your compensation only if you get compensated from the airline.
• After submitting all documents accurately the website will assess your case and they will prepare the claim against the airline. The website will arrange all legal positions of the case and with the help of lawyers; supporting arguments too will be gathered. The website is responsible for arranging further documents that are needed for the claim. They will take care of the forthcoming procedures by communicating with the airline to settle your claim.
• If your claim is fair and reasonable enough, the airline has to pay it without any hesitation. But in some cases even if the claim has nothing bogus, the airline refuses to compensate the passenger by forwarding their excuses. In such an instance the website will begin the initial steps of the legal process and make it to the court. When they begin the legal process they will cover the legal fees and additional charges by themselves.

Most online platforms charge a fee of up to 25% of the remuneration in settling up the claim. Using these platforms you become eligible to claim and they facilitate the passenger with the easiest ways of reaching their success of receiving the compensation. If you feel that you do need more information on these matters you can seek the assistance of the airport to claim it because you should never be hesitant to receive what you really deserve. It is quick and convenient if you can use an online platform to claim your compensation since they take care of all the necessary measure to win the claim for you. However, the best thing is to have a proper understanding of the types of compensations and how you can claim them. There are special and specific conditions that should be fulfilled before moving for further proceedings. Hence make sure that you have fulfilled all these requirements before claiming compensation and be confident enough to claim it without any delay.