Flight was delayed, what to do: how to behave in case of problems with departure?

Has the airline canceled the flight? Delayed your flight? Selling two tickets for one seat? Or are you late for your plane? The site has found answers to these and other questions.

It is easy to buy a plane ticket and find yourself in a few hours on the opposite end of the world map if everything goes smoothly: the ticket is purchased, the flight is not delayed, there are no problems with control.

What if something went wrong? Site site figured out what is supposed to be a passenger, and where it is useless to argue with the system.

Not everyone is entitled to a hotel if the flight is delayed

The Cabinet of Ministers is concerned about the comfort of passengers who are "stuck" at the airport. If the waiting time for departure is delayed due to the fault of the airline due to flight delays, cancellations due to weather conditions and technical reasons, the carrier is obliged to arrange a free hotel for the passengers. But not everyone in a row, but only those who wait more than eight hours in the afternoon and six hours in the evening or are in transit with a 24-hour wait.

There is one more caveat: you can count on preferences only if you managed to pass the checkpoint across the state border. And if you are sitting near the check-in counter, then you will have to wait for departure in the common hall. Remember, recently it is forbidden to sit on the floor and lie on the chairs at the airports.
The hotels will be located in a free customs zone, that is, in the same place as duty-free shops. This will be done after some time, but for now the comfort of passengers is recorded only in a government decree.

What can a passenger count on if a flight is delayed? Image: Victor Huseynov / KP

Flight delay by the airline

If your plane is delayed due to force majeure (the weather does not allow or a technical malfunction of the plane), then you can count on pleasant bonuses from the airline, which will brighten up the exhausting wait. For gatherings at the airport from two to five hours, you can count on free drinks and food (as a rule, vouchers are given that can be exchanged at the airport cafe), two free phone calls or fax and e-mail messages. If the wait is delayed, then there are two options: either a free room in the hotel and a transfer to it, or a refund for the ticket.
As a rule, the carrier is in no hurry to offer refunds and tries to fulfill its obligations.

Flight cancellation compensation

If your flight is canceled, then the reasons why the flight was canceled and the period for which you were notified are of key importance. If you do not go into details, then when canceling a departure, the carrier is obliged to offer an alternative flight or return the full cost of the ticket and compensation: for a route up to 1.5 thousand km - 250 euros, up to 3.5 thousand km - 400 euros, over - 600 Euro.

But do not rush to rejoice, there are so many subtleties in this part of the rules that it will not be so easy to achieve a real payment of money. So, there will be no compensation in excess of the ticket if:

• • The plane does not fly due to bad weather, terrorist attack, riots and other force majeure conditions;
  • You were informed about the cancellation 14 days in advance. It is believed that this is a convenient time and the passenger may well receive a refund for the ticket and buy another;
  • Reported 7-13 days in advance, but offered an alternative flight, which can be taken off at almost the same time (the difference is 2-4 hours between departure and arrival from the scheduled one);
  • The information reached you 7 days before departure, but an alternative flight is offered with a difference of 1 hour from the planned one;
  • If the replacement flight flies strictly according to the canceled schedule;
  • In all other situations (and there are not so many of them), you can get compensation. And not only for your ticket, but also for other tickets, if the route was multiple.

Two tickets for one seat

Such an unpleasant situation is called the beautiful word overbooking. Your seat can be sold to another person. Is it an extraordinary accident for you? This is normal practice for an airline. Many carriers knowingly sell slightly more tickets than passengers. If we discard those who return their ticket or do not show up for boarding, it’s just the norm. But there are also unpleasant situations when everyone showed up, or when the plane was replaced with a less capacious one.

Here the golden rule applies: whoever is ahead, that and the chair. Go through electronic check-in for the flight as soon as it starts, or arrive at the airport before the check-in counters open.

What can you expect in such situations:

• A seat in business class at an economy price and vice versa;
• On the offer to fly on a later flight at the expense of the airline and for compensation;
• For damages in the amount of 250 to 600 euros, but there are also a lot of tricks here. Final payments depend on the length of the flight, conditions offered by the airline, etc .;
• To the hotel, food and mobile communications, if you are still left out.

And most importantly, if there are no volunteers who agree to fly on another flight, then the airline reserves the right to remove any passenger from the plane. For example, the one who came to the registration last.
If overbooking has burst into your life, then do not forget to put a mark on the ticket at the check-in counter that you are not taken on the plane due to the fault of the airline.

How to get the full ticket price back

Airlines are ready to refund the full cost of the ticket in rare cases and not to everyone. If you had a fight with a friend and do not want to fly together, then this is not an argument at all. A boss who suddenly didn’t give a vacation will also not be able to get the full ticket price.

The carrier recognizes as significant:

• Death of a close relative (mother, father, child, spouse);
• Refusal to issue a visa (of course, documented);
• Emergency hospitalization (of course, confirmed by all medical records).

The second and third options will be relevant only for the traveler himself. If his companion also decides not to fly alone, then he will not have to rely on full compensation. For him, this is not at all a weighty reason.

Lost my plane ticket. How to recover?

The situation is unpleasant, but fixable. To save themselves and the passenger from such misunderstandings, airlines are increasingly selling electronic plane tickets. Having such a virtual coupon, you do not have to worry about a paper document. It is enough to have a passport and remember the time of departure.
If, nevertheless, the usual paper ticket was bought, then it makes sense to take care of its safety. It did not work: we do not panic, although airlines are not obliged to restore tickets, they go to meet the passenger:

• We run to the district department of the FSSP, take bills and pay all debts.
• We carry the payment document back, taking into account the Russian bureaucracy - this is relevant.
• We take a certificate that everything has been paid for and wait 10 days for you to be deleted from the debtor database. A small correction: not only bailiffs, but also border guards.
• To calm our conscience, we check ourselves in the database of debtors on the website of the bailiffs and write a request to the online reception of the border service with a request to confirm that you are now visiting. The official response will take another 10-12 days.

Useful advice: if you bought not just a plane ticket, but a whole tour, then by all means take out travel cancellation insurance.