WHAT'S THE STORY WITH AIR PASSENGERS' RIGHTS?
"Flight delayed" - two words that can spell disaster for the air traveller, as the best-laid plans are lost in a welter of anxious waiting, missed connections and extra expenses.
On an average day, about 6,000 flights within the EU arrive late, and while many of the delays are of manageable proportions, others do have serious consequences for passengers' travel arrangements. Another 450 flights are cancelled, leaving passengers stranded at either end of their journey or having to row in with cumbersome alternative arrangements.
That adds up to a lot of airport cups of coffee and ham sandwiches, a lot of hotels booked at short notice, a lot of messed-up travel plans. Yet passengers tend to lack consistency in reacting to cancellations and long delays; all too often, they complain loudly when the problem arises, but lose resolve once they get back home.
It's this lack of follow-through that the airlines love. Some years ago, the International Air Travel Association (IATA) estimated the cost of compensating customers for cancelled and delayed flights at over €500 million, but it's a fair bet that the airlines, if they would tell us, don't pay out anything close to this figure.
Under EU rules, air passengers are entitled to compensation and/or expenses incurred when their flight is cancelled or delayed. The sums aren't huge - up to €600 per person for a cancelled flight, depending on distance, plus a ticket refund - but they can help ease the trauma of a ruined holiday or business trip.
Aggrieved passengers are supposed to seek compensation from the airline in the first instance - and this is where the problems begin. Some airlines fail to answer complaints, others do so tardily and invariably the response is negative.
According to Tina Leonard of the European Consumer Centre office in Dublin, airlines are "not very responsive". "The situation varies from airline to airline, or even from case to case, but in our experience most consumers have to wait a minimum one month to receive a response from the airline, if any. After that, the communication remains very difficult; forget about being able to contact the airline over the phone or by e-mail."
THE MOST COMMONLY USEDexcuse is to cite "exceptional circumstances", such as bad weather or industrial problems, in which case the airline is not required to pay compensation. Most passengers give up at this point, but the more determined may take their case to the national regulator, which in the case of Ireland is usually the Commission for Aviation Regulation.
CAR has tried to improve its service recently, but the enforcement of air passenger rights is still the Cinderella within an organisation largely geared towards airline regulation. It has managed to get the airlines to inform passengers of their rights and even Ryanair now gives refreshment vouchers to delayed passengers rather than telling them to buy their own coffees and send in the receipts. About one-quarter of the complaints processed by CAR so far have resulted in the payment of compensation.
However, the process is slow, particularly in the case of complaints involving travel from an airport in another EU state; in these cases, the complaint must be referred to the regulator in the member state where the flight originated. These regulatory bodies vary greatly in their efficiency and willingness to investigate consumers' complaints.
Leonard says the airlines rely heavily on the "extraordinary circumstances" excuse and consumers get nothing. National enforcement bodies such as CAR have not been successful in challenging this, she says.
Given the number of obstacles put in passengers' way, it is perhaps not surprising that someone should have spotted a gap in the market for representing their interests. Dutchman Hendrik Noorderhaven was a salesman roaming the world until seven years ago, when he was angered by KLM's failure to respond to a complaint he had made. "I was so annoyed that they weren't taking me seriously that I started collecting data to show they were wrong." Out of this campaign was born Euclaim, an agency that handles passengers' complaints in return for a 27 per cent cut of any compensation. The company, which has processed over 4,500 in The Netherlands, has just opened an Irish operation (visit euclaim.ie) and has contracted solicitors Lavelle Coleman to pursue claims in Ireland and the UK.
Noorderhaven has built up a giant database capable of tracking aircraft movements across the globe and so checking whether the airlines' claims are correct in relation to the punctuality of their fleet and the reason for any delays or cancellations.
This shows the airlines regularly lie on both counts, he claims.
He gives the example of a flight from London to Poland that was forced by bad weather to divert to Berlin. There, the passengers, who included an elderly woman in a wheelchair and families with young children, had to alight while the plane returned to London. On checking the records, he found the flight had been recorded as arriving back in London on time (even if it was minus any passengers).
He finds it mystifying that more information isn't officially published to show how punctual the airlines are, when the relevant data is freely available. Euclaim's own punctuality figures for Dublin airport show 69 per cent of Ryanair and 65 per cent of Aer Lingus flights taking off on time (defined as within 15 minutes of scheduled departure time). Ryanair doesn't publish figures for specific airports but claims 89 per cent punctuality on its entire network.
Most of Euclaim's customers have tried to obtain compensation from the airlines themselves but without success. "Some try once, and give up. A few keep trying and some even have legal knowledge, but the airlines know they will eventually get tired. The difference with us is - we don't give up."
NOORDERHAVEN ISN'Tthe first to challenge the airlines' reliance on exceptional circumstances to wiggle out of compensation claims. The EU Commission has also checked the data and come to the conclusion that the carriers are often supplying inaccurate information to consumers. Pressure from the EU and the UK consumer authorities has forced the aviation industry to pull up its socks - airline websites now list fare prices inclusive of taxes and charges, for example - but the issue of passenger compensation remains a problem.
Noorderhaven points out that more flights are pulled in the summer, when the weather is fine, rather than the winter, when you might expect the greatest number of problems. This is because demand for seats is highest in the holiday period, he says, and airlines often haven't enough planes: "They tell their passengers it's because of extraordinary circumstances, but in fact they are making a business decision." So-called "legacy" airlines (former national airlines such as KLM or Air France) have the worst record, he says, but both Aer Lingus and Ryanair feature in the top 10 for complaints in the Netherlands and are likely to feature strongly in Euclaim's Irish operations.
Last month alone, more than €1.2 million in compensation was paid by airlines to Euclaim's Dutch clients. The average payout per claim (which could involve several passengers) was about €1,200 last year.
Anyone who thinks they might be entitled to compensation as a result of delays or cancellations can check their possible eligibility on the company's website by entering the flight details. They can then decide whether to proceed by first contacting the airline (and then, if not satisfied, the Commission for Aviation Regulation) or by tasking Euclaim to file the claim in return for a 27 per cent cut of the award.
One tip Noorderhaven has for air passengers who find themselves stranded or are left waiting in airports because of lengthy delays is to share e-mails with other passengers. That way they can check afterwards what the company is saying to each customer and hear about any settlements arrived at. Remember, too, that you have an entitlement to a leaflet outlining your rights. It's worth noting that compensation is not payable in the event of delays, though you are entitled to phone calls, meals and overnight accommodation, and after five hours the choice of a refund rather than re-routing.
