Ticket in hand, no space on board. You will not only receive compensation for overbooking

The choice of airlines as a holiday means of transport is for many people convenience and time saving. However, problems sometimes appear at the airport, where you can find out not only about the delay of the flight, but also to meet the refusal to board the plane due to overbooking. Practice is known, but not everyone knows what rights passengers are in such a situation.

The holiday season is conducive to traveling abroad, so it's no wonder that many people choose a plane as a way to reach their destination quickly. At the boarding, you can find a refusal from the staff due to too many passengers in relation to the tickets sold. The problem is known, but not much is said about it, meanwhile consumers have certain rights in this situation.

Overbooking frequent practice of carriers

Although the airlines reserve that, as a rule, they do not sell more flight tickets than there are places on the plane (such a record can be found in Ryanair's documents), the practice of customers and unofficial statements of carriers show that the problem is as real. When the passenger completed all the formalities, i.e. he was briefing and passed through a security control, he has the right to expect that the place on the plane is already waiting for him, meanwhile it turns out that this is not necessarily happening. Overbooking, because we are talking about it, comes for purely economic reasons: the calculation of airlines shows that customers often do not appear at the goal, and this generates the cost for the carrier and the environment (the need for a 100% non -filled flight increases the carbon trail), hence the possibility of selling more tickets than it is available on the plane.

Advertisement

Overbooking can also happen from another cause independent of the carrier. If the aircraft fails, the airlines have the option of substituting another machine, but sometimes with fewer places. Then all who have a ticket will not be on the deck, but the victims of the passengers are entitled to compensation from the carrier.

Regulation 261/2004 on the rescue of passengers

The basis for pursuing claims from the airlines at overbooking is the Regulation of the European Commission No. 261/2004. According to this document, in the case of more passengers than available places on the plane, the carrier should first look for people willing to give up the flight in exchange for established benefits (e.g. cash compensation). The passenger who decides to do so is entitled to choose one of the options:

• Reimbursement of ticket costs for part or part of the non -existent journey with a possible return flight to the first place of departure,
• Travel plan changes on similar conditions to the same destination at the earliest period,
• Travel plan changes on comparable conditions to the same destination later corresponding to the passenger provided that places are available.

It is worth noting that the above rules relate to voluntary resignation from boarding. If we decide to do so, we get what we agreed with the carrier, but we have a choice whether we want to change the flight date or we completely give up.

There is compensation for refusing to board the deck

If the carrier has not found those willing to give up a place on the plane, he may refuse specific people to board them against their will. Then passengers are entitled to compensation depending on the distance from the last destination:

As the European Consumer Center reminds, airlines cannot refuse to pay compensation, regardless of the reasons for the refusal to enter the plane. The regulation, however, gives the possibility to reduce the benefit by 50%, if the carrier was able to offer passengers an alternative connection, whose arrival time does not exceed 2 hours for flights to 1500 km, 3h for intra -Community flights and other from 1500 to 3000 km and 4h for all others.

Free meals, hotel and ride

Regardless of financial compensation

• Meals and drinks tailored to the time of waiting for a new connection,
• Hotel accommodation If you need to spend a minimum of one night there,
• Transport between the airport and the place of accommodation,
• Two telephone conversations, emails and faxes.

According to the information of the airlines themselves, if they are not able to provide the said funds, the passenger can organize them on their own and then apply for reimbursement after presentation of bills, from reading forums for travelers and social media, however, it follows that the process of granting compensation may last for months.

What about hotels and trips?

Compensation from the airlines compensates the passenger of the inconvenience associated with refusing to board and change the flight, unfortunately does not solve the problem of booking accommodation in a hotel or trip bought in a travel agency. The latter is regulated by separate provisions under which you can apply for help from the organizer, but if we organized the trip ourselves, we can still bear the costs of accommodation at the destination. There is a travel resignation insurance, it only includes strictly defined cases, such as illness or other random events, and not problems with boarding the aircraft. If we found ourselves in such a situation and the hotel does not make concessions, we will remain with the costs of accommodation and a possible attempt to pursue claims from the carrier.

Source: