CANCELLED/DELAYED FLIGHT. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

Bad weather condition, air traffic control officers’ strike, tourist traffic decrease etc. - whatever the reason of flight cancellation is, the only thing which is clear – your plans will be ruined. In case a flight cancellation is planned by an airline you’ll get a notification in advance (in some days, weeks or even months) from the airline or booking agency where you bought your ticket. Do not forget to check your emails regularly and you’ll have enough time to make a decision. But what should you do in case your flight was cancelled unexpectedly, because of, let’s say, ice rain or abundant snowfall? For example during the last snowfall in Moscow on December 25^th 20 flights were cancelled and more than 170 postponed. January is usually frosty and February can bring lots of snowy surprises.

Unfortunately, airlines very rarely inform about the expected cancellation in the airport of arrival or departure because of the weather. Some airlines do inform on their official pages or in social networks accounts.

If you see heavy snowfall you should expect your flight to be cancelled or postponed. Do not panic. Below you’ll find some tips on what you should do to get faster to the needed place or get maximum service or compensation for the ramp pounding or refuse the flight.

1.       Several hours before the flight, visit the airline site and check yourself its status. In case the flight is cancelled you should immediately contact the call center to become one of the first to be proposed the best conditions of your flight’s change.

2.       In case you found out about flight cancellation at the airport contact immediately the call center of the airline and at the same time go to the airline counter – it does not matter at all where you will be served faster.

3.       As soon as you get the answer from the call center or your turn to the airline counter come and the cancellation of the flight will be confirmed, you’ll be proposed one of the following options:

-          CHANGE OF THE DEPARTURE TIME.  It is likely the weather conditions will change for the better tomorrow and you’ll have a good possibility to get to the planned destination but a bit later. If your plans allow that you can agree for the later flight. Who knows, you may even fly by business class – it is very common for the airlines to minimize discontent of their passengers by all means that they have.

-          CHANGE OF ROUTE. It is possible that your flight was changed because of the bad weather conditions at the arrival destination or at the point of plane change. Airlines have agreements with different air companies. For example, it can happen so that your flight with the plane change in Paris is impossible and you’ll be proposed a different route with the change in Amsterdam. You should remember that the alternative route can be proposed to other passengers also. So you should have your good decision fast. An airline cannot insist on the only variant of flight. If you disagree with the proposed variant you have the right to refuse the flight and get full compensation.

-          COMPENSATION FOR THE FLIGHT CANCELLATION OR REFUSAL OF FLIGHT. It is very likely that you planned to go somewhere for a weekend starting in Friday evening and returning on Sunday. Or maybe you planned a one day business trip with return on the same day. Unfortunately, your flight can’t be done and the air company proposes the only variant with departure in a day. Here you understand that your plans are totally ruined and you may refuse to fly at all. This case is an example of the forced refusal, so the air company or the agency will return the whole sum paid for the ticket.  You must keep in mind that in case you’ve made part of your flight, you’ll get the money only for that part which was forcefully cancelled.

4.       If you agreed for the change of flight or route you should know that in accordance with the point 99 of Federal Aviation Rules in case of interval in the transportation on the transport company’s fault and in case of flight delay or cancellation because of bad weather conditions, technical or other reasons, change of route etc, the transporter must organize for the passengers in the departure points and in the relay points the following services:

-          Baby care room (for the passengers with children under 7 years old); 2 telephone calls or 2 emails in case of more than 2 hours expectation;

-          Soft drinks in case of more than 2 hours expectation;

-          Hot meals in case of more than 4 hours expectation and further each 6 hours during the day time and each 8 hours during the night;

-          Hotel in case of more than 8 hour expectation during the day time and more than 6 hours during the night;

-          Transfer to the hotel and back in case when the hotel is provided without extra payment;

-          Baggage storage

5.       In case on some reason you would like to deal with the problem of cancellation/delay of the flight outside the airport, you should require airport administration a statement paper why your flight was delayed with the actual flight time. Later you should write claim letter to the air company attaching the documents proving your right for the compensation. In case of the flight delay your meeting was disrupted or some paid excursions didn’t take place, you should also ask for the compensation. In case air company ignores your claims you should go to court with the copies of air ticket and documents about flight delay.

6.       In case your delayed or cancelled flight was planned from the EU then air companies are subject to EU Act 261 (Common rules of compensation and support to the passengers in case of refusal of boarding or cancellation or long time delay of flights). In this case you may expect compensation up to 600 Euro depending on your situation.

Source: http://samtrip.ru