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Would you like to know when you are eligible for compensation? Here, we have compiled the most important questions about flight delays, re-bookings and cancellations.
The new EU regulation 261-2004 has been in place since 2004 and lays out all of the rights enjoyed by airline passengers. These also include compensation payments in the amount of € 250, € 400 and € 600. This law also specifies under what conditions passengers have a right to compensation for flight delays, flight cancellations as well as missed connecting flights.
Airline passenger rights addressed by regulation 261-2004 apply to flights which take off from an airport within the EU. As they do to flights which land at an airport inside the EU, if said flights are operated by an airline which is headquartered in the EU.
Statutes of limitation are not addressed in EU regulations pertaining to airline passenger rights and are only addressed by the statutes of limitation which are in effect in the country where the delay occurred. In Austria, Germany and many other EU countries, this is a period of 3 years.
Also, airlines that are headquartered outside of the EU, such as Turkish Airlines, Ukrainian Airlines, Emirates, Delta Airlines, Qatar Airlines, etc. must pay compensation in the event of flights delayed by 3 hours or longer, cancellations resulting in late arrival of 2 hours or more, as well as missed connecting flights or overbookings, if the delayed flight departs from an airport within the EU.
Fundamentally, every aggrieved passenger can assert compensation claims against the airline themselves. That said, airlines have found many ways of avoiding having to pay private persons. This begins with the task of even finding the right point of contact. There is also the additional risk that the complainant has to bear the risk of potentially high costs themselves. Which is why EUROFLYREFUND exists: On behalf of passengers, we take care of all of the paperwork and even assume the cost risk in the event we have to pursue the claim by legal means. And we do so for a contingency fee – in other words, only if compensation payment is received from the airline – of just 24% of the compensation amount plus VAT.
Experts estimate that airlines only pay out in approximately 5% of those delays that are actually eligible. This is because EU regulation 261-2004 is a very murky field of the law and airlines frequently wiggle out of their obligations spuriously. However, when dealing with the experts from EUROFLYREFUND, who look at every case in detail and know precisely the legal situation as well as current case law, airlines understand that they have no chance with their questionable evasions and therefore go ahead and pay out the compensation to which passengers are entitled.
Fundamentally, it is the person who actually suffered detriment due to the waiting period or similar damages who is entitled to compensation. Which means, even if the employer paid for the flight, it would be the passenger who receives the compensation. Only if an expressed stipulation exists between the employer and employee that the compensation will be retained by the employer is the situation different. In most countries, the compensation amount is not subject to taxation.
Fundamentally, the same principles apply to package travel as well as appurtenant charter flights. In the event of delays of over 3 hours, flight cancellations resulting in late arrival of more than 2 hours, missed connecting flights as well as overbookings, under certain circumstances you have a claim to compensation. For further information about this topic, please read more under "Package Travel".