Flight delays: Know your rights warns Limerick financial adviser

July is the busiest month for traveling abroad from Ireland. Major airports like Shannon, Dublin and Cork process their highest passenger volumes of the year during this month.

And it’s driven by school holidays and people looking for some sun in warmer European countries with Spain, France and Portugal being the most popular destinations for Irish people in July.

And hopefully anyone travelling won’t experience any flight delays or even cancellations but just in case anyone does, I want to remind you what would happen and what you are entitled to.

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And how long a flight is delayed and the reasons for the delay and where you are travelling to will all influence what as a consumer you are entitled to, which is why I wanted to put some information in front of you again this year, showing what your rights are if your flight happens to be delayed or is cancelled.

Delayed Flights

Okay if your flight is delayed beyond certain timeframes your air carrier should provide you with written information about what your entitlements are and what care and assistance they will provide.

The timeframes are as follows:

• for all flights less than 1500km (short haul eg, Shannon to Brussels or Cork to Paris), the delay must be greater than two hours.

• for European flights of more than 1500km and all other flights of between 1500-3500km (medium haul eg, Dublin to Malta or Knock to Madrid), the delay must be greater than three hours.

• for all non-community flights of more than 3500km (long haul eg, Shannon to New York or Dublin to Cape Town), the delay must be greater than four hours.

If your flight is delayed by more than five hours (regardless of the length of the journey) and you decide not to travel, you are entitled to a full refund.

What is ‘care and assistance’?

Care and assistance consists of:

• meals and refreshments (in reasonable relation to the waiting time)

• hotel accommodation (where an overnight stay becomes necessary)

• transport between the airport and the hotel (where necessary)

• two telephone calls/ faxes/ emails

If the airline does not provide the above assistance to you and you are forced to make your own arrangements, you should retain all your receipts as you will be entitled to a full reimbursement of your expenses. But you should make yourself known to the airline so you can avoid a situation where you have to make your own arrangements. And airlines should also ensure where available that accommodation is accessible for people with disabilities and their service dogs.

And you only have the right to assistance as long as you have to wait to be re-routed to your final destination under comparable transport conditions.

Compensation

Following a 2009 European Court ruling, you are now entitled to compensation if you arrive at your destination three hours or more after the scheduled arrival time unless the air carrier can prove that the delay was the result of extraordinary circumstances.

And examples of events defined as extraordinary circumstances are air traffic management decisions, political instability, adverse weather conditions and security risks.

• situations which are not considered as extraordinary circumstances include:

• most technical problems which come to light during aircraft maintenance or are caused by failure to maintain an aircraft.

• collision of mobile boarding stairs with an aircraft.

• strikes by air carrier staff (internal strike action).

Any strike external to an air carrier that affects the operation of the airline may be considered as extraordinary circumstances. However, to be exempted from paying compensation, the airline must prove that (a) there is a link between the extraordinary circumstances and the delay or the cancellation, and (b) the delay or cancellation could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

If a dispute arises between you and your air carrier regarding the existence of extraordinary circumstances and the payment of compensation, the matter should be referred to the appropriate enforcement body.

If you miss a connecting flight travelling within the EU or outside the EU on a flight originating from an EU country, you should be entitled to compensation, if you arrive at your final destination with a delay of more than three hours. It is not relevant if the carrier operating the connecting flights is an EU or non-EU airline.

If you depart from a non-EU country to your final destination in an EU country, with connecting flights operated successively by non-EU and EU airlines or by EU airlines only, only the flights operated by EU airlines are taken into consideration for the right to compensation in case of a long delay on arrival at the final destination.

You are not entitled to compensation if you miss connecting flights due to delays at security checks or if you did not respect the boarding time of your flight at the airport of transfer.

The amount of compensation payable depends on the distance of the flight. If the flight is classed as:

• short haul, the amount payable is €250 per person.

• medium haul, the amount payable is €400 per person.

• long haul, the amount payable is €600 per person.

The amount of compensation payable in respect of non-community flights of more than 3500kms (long haul) may be reduced by 50% if you arrive at your destination less than four hours after the scheduled arrival time.

Compensation when re-routed

When the choice is re-routing and you are entitled to compensation, the amount of compensation you are entitled to depends on the length of delay past your original planned arrival time as follows:

Flight Type Delay Compensation

Flights of 1500km or less or two hours or less – €125

Flights of 1500km or less or more than two hours – €250

Flights of over 1,500km within the EU and between 1,500 and 3,500km or three hours or less – €200

Flights of over 1,500km within the EU and other flights between 1,500 and 3,500km or more than three hours €400

All other flights or four hours or less €300

All other flights or more than four hours €600

Cancelled Flights

Where your flight is cancelled, you are entitled to a choice of refund of the cost of your ticket within seven days or re-routing to your final destination at the earliest opportunity or re-routing at a later date at your convenience, subject to the availability of seats

How to make a complaint

Complain to the airline first and complain to the appropriate national enforcement body. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is the national enforcement body in Ireland.

It deals with complaints arising from flights departing from Irish airports or those arriving at an Irish airport from outside the EU/EEA on an EUEEA-licensed carrier.

If you have a complaint about a flight returning to Ireland from the EU/EEA, you contact the national enforcement body in the EU/EEA and state where your flight departed from.

Liam Croke is MD of Harmonics Financial Ltd, based in Plassey