Even though air transportation is without a doubt the no. 1 choice for business and leisure travellers world-wide, flight disruptions are still a huge headache. Thousands of delayed, cancelled flights, lost or damaged baggage – all of it should cost airlines an arm and a leg. However, as experts at SKYCOP explain, passengers are the ones left to pay for their own trouble due to airlines wiggling about and using dirty play to avoid paying a proper compensation.
According to Marius Stonkus, CEO of SKYCOP, a company, standing up for passengers and their rights in a fight against airline misbehaviour towards flight refunds, due to every imaginable and even ridiculous reasons created by carriers, only 5% of all passengers whose flights were disturbed receive appropriate compensation.
“We see even the most determined passengers that know how and where to find all of the information about claim processes giving up after few months of fruitless fight with airline legal department. It is with good reason that carriers invest heavily in their legal teams – EU airlines alone owe travellers €3,2 billion for delayed, cancelled and otherwise disrupted flights. Knowing the slim profit margin this business, they are willing to go the extra mile to close the claim cases are soon as possible,” explains M. Stonkus.
SKYCOP reveals the most common ways airlines try to avoid paying the compensation:
- TIME LINGERING
- The claim is investigated for a preposterous amount of time
- Airline forgets to send you an answer
- BUREAUCRACY
- Travellers are blamed for incomplete claim forms, wrongly placed signatures, etc.
- Airline ignores requests from the CAA
- Carrier tries to exploit different laws in different countries
- DECEPTION
- States deadlines that are nowhere to be found or heard about
- Claims that rules don’t allow revealing information about the flight
- Offers the deceived passengers ridiculous compensations – food coupons, flight coupons, etc.
Every correction (necessary or not) takes 30 days to process. SKYCOP urges every traveller that has experienced delay, cancellation, overbooking or any other disturbance to not accept any of the coupon-based compensations and to keep in mind that according to EU regulation you are entitled to up to €600 compensation.
- If a flight is delayed for more than 3 hours
- If a flight is cancelled less than 14 days before flight
- If a passenger is denied boarding due to overbooking
“It is important to keep your cool and restrain yourself from taking the first available option – evaluate the situation – does it fit the EU regulation criteria. Fill in the claim and decide on whether you are going the hard way and will try to get through the airline barriers yourself or you will trust a claim management company to take care of everything,” suggests the CEO of SKYCOP, Marius Stonkus.