Money out of thin air: how to get compensation for a flight delay

For canceled or delayed flights, passengers traveling on European airlines or simply flying from the EU can receive up to €600 in compensation. How to achieve this payment and what services will help speed up the process?

According to the European Parliament and Council EC No. 261, passengers whose flight was canceled or delayed by more than three hours can receive from €200 to €600 from the air carrier. This rule applies to flights of European airlines around the world and flights of any companies from European countries. Thus, customers of Russian airlines who fly out of Europe can also claim this money - unlike those who fly with them in Russia, the United States or Asia. The fact is that Russia is still in agreement with the Montreal Convention, which unifies the obligations of air carriers to passengers.

The key factor that allows you to receive compensation is the reason for the cancellation or delay of the flight. “It should be the fault of the airline, for example, problems with the aircraft or some technical reasons,” explains Evgeny Lonsky, Regional Director of International Compensation Services for AirHelp in Eastern Europe. “Other cases, such as terrorist attacks, strikes and bad weather, are not eligible for compensation.”

The amount of compensation, according to the EU regulation, depends on two factors: the distance of the flight and the time of delay. So, if the flight is delayed by more than three hours, and its range is less than 1500 km, the airline must pay €250 to the passenger. If the delay is more than four hours, and the flight is more than 3500 km, the amount increases to €600. Evgeny Lonsky notes that in case of long delays, the airline must also provide passengers with water, food and a hotel. But this does not relieve the carrier from the obligation to pay compensation. “The law clearly states that if a plane arrives more than three hours late, compensation is due,” says Lonsky.

You can claim compensation for several years. “It depends on the country in which the airline is registered, or on the country of departure - if it is not a European company. Usually this is a period of two years, as in Spain, to six, as in England,” says Roman Gilmanov, CEO of the Russian company Compensair, the operator of the service for receiving compensation from airlines.

How to claim compensation

The trivial way is to contact the airline yourself. The most important thing is to keep boarding passes, as some companies do not consider applications without them, Lonsky explains. Gilmanov also advises getting a certificate from the airline or airport staff stating that the flight is delayed. In extreme cases, you can take a picture of the flight board (charter flights, according to the expert, are sometimes poorly tracked by databases). If the client has to go to court, such a photo can also be evidence of a flight delay, says Gilmanov.

Next, you need to make an online application in English or a written claim against the airline (depending on its rules). To do this, you need to figure out what kind of compensation you can claim, describe the circumstances in the claim, and also indicate on the basis of which paragraphs of the law compensation is due, says Gilmanov. The response of the airline can be expected on average 1-3 months, adds Lonsky.

At the same time, companies often ignore initial customer requests or automatically send a refusal, experts say. “The task of the passenger is the next step to prove that his case occurred precisely through the fault of the airline. Therefore, it is further important to study the precedents when the company was found guilty and draw up a legally competent response to the objection received,” says Gilmanov from Compensair. If at this stage the company refuses to pay, you need to apply to the court of the European city where the main office of the carrier is located.

If we are not talking about European companies, then the claim must be filed in the country of departure, but only if the air carrier has a representative office there, says Lonsky from AirHelp.

Photo: Andrew Parsons / Zuma / TASS

What services can help

There are many companies in the world that deal with carriers and can, at the request of a passenger, go to court. In addition to the already mentioned AirHelp and Compensair, these are Refund.me, Flightright and Flight Delays services. In March, a similar service is launched by Kupibilet.ru.

Russians rarely apply for compensation, says AirHelp's Lonsky. “Many people think that European legislation applies only to European citizens. But this is not so, being late has no nationality,” he says. In the AirHelp system, according to Lonsky, there are now about 256,000 applications, Russian - only 488. Compensair's Gilmanov claims that his company is now working with about a thousand Russian requests. About 80% of the service's customers are Russian speakers, and half of these people live in Russia.

Most often - in about 60% of cases - airlines agree to pay compensation at an early stage, that is, during correspondence with service managers, says Gilmanov. If the airline rejects the application for compensation, then it is transferred to the legal department of the service and 80-90% of such cases are resolved at the level of correspondence between lawyers and the airline, experts say. In other cases, you have to apply to consumer protection authorities in European countries, and then to the court, and services win 98% of court cases, says Lonsky.

The service commission is a standard value - 25% of the amount of compensation received. Kupibilet.ru will additionally withhold another 10%. All services take payment only after receiving consent in payment from the airline. If it is not possible to receive compensation, then the client pays nothing.

How long to wait for compensation

Gilmanov notes that receiving compensation through an intermediary takes from several weeks to six months. “In the mode of communication with the airline, that is, without a trial, we usually receive money in two months. If we go to court, the case can drag on for a long time. For example, we recently won a court case in the Netherlands, and the total cycle was more than six months,” he says. Approximately the same terms are called by Lonsky from AirHelp.

However, in complex cases, the expectation can be greater. Russian Jan Kostin in July last year submitted an application to Compensair for compensation from Air France. The reason was not the delay, but the fuzzy work of the airline's ticket service. In June, Kostin was supposed to fly from Marseille to Moscow with a transfer in Paris. However, a strike by Air France pilots began, due to which, a few days before departure, his tickets were changed. In the second option, both flights - from Marseille to Paris and from Paris to Moscow - were operated at the same time. Kostin demanded to change tickets again. The new route passed through Rome, while there was a typo in the tickets. “The airline made a mistake in one letter: instead of June (“JUN”), January (“JAN”) was indicated. Therefore, in Rome, I had to communicate with the airline again and change tickets again, ”Kostin told RBC.

Compensair's lawyers, after checking the application, decided that the airline should pay compensation. The money came to Kostin in early March.

As Gilmanov explained, Air France agreed to pay compensation a long time ago, but did not transfer money to the service for a long time. “It was only after we started working with consumer protection authorities in the country of departure, and only when we sent a letter warning of the start of legal proceedings, that the airline transferred the money,” he says.

Is it worth it to use intermediaries?

Deputy Chairman of the Public Council under the Federal Tourism Agency Dmitry Davydenko considers "compensation" services convenient. “These are ordinary legal services put on the conveyor. If, for example, you have a claim amount of 5-10 thousand rubles, then for the sake of this, it is probably pointless to spend time going to a law firm. Filling out the form on the site is much easier,” he explains.

He considers a commission of 25% justified, especially considering that the services take it only if the claim is satisfied. In principle, the passenger can do the return on his own, if there is time and desire. If not, it is quite possible to entrust it to other people, says Davydenko.

However, civil aviation expert and head of the Aviator.ru portal Sergey Martirosyan advises to think carefully before turning to intermediaries. “If a person fundamentally wants to receive money from the airline, but does not want to understand the legal intricacies, then it makes sense to turn to the services. However, it is often possible to negotiate with carriers on the spot,” he says.

According to Martirosyan, many airlines value their reputation and agree to compensate for the loss of time with some bonuses - for example, give the passenger miles or upgrade the class of service on the next flight. Therefore, the expert still recommends that you first write to the carrier and try to agree on a form of compensation. If the airline does not make concessions, then it is worth making a claim, he concludes.

Oleg Smirnov, chairman of the civil aviation commission of the public council of Rostransnadzor, is more categorical. He believes that air passengers should protect their rights on their own. “Instead of entrusting all the work to similar services that make money on ignorance, it is better to understand the laws, starting with the Constitution, and, based on these laws, go to court. And the court will be on the side of the consumer,” the expert concludes.