Airplane passengers have rights all over the world. Even when traveling to Tenerife, you rely on an airline to arrive quickly and safely at your favorite island.
You might almost expect an airline to neatly adhere to the legal provisions protecting the consumer—in this case, the customer. Yet, there are certainly some hidden pitfalls.
Facua-Consumidores en Acción, the Spanish counterpart Formerly known as the Consumers’ Association, Which (UK) or the Consumers Union (USA), has compiled a list of 15 fallacies that an airline may use to mislead its customers. We are aware of some of them, but nothing would lead us to suspect that there are also illegal practices involved.
Note: We are not painting all airlines with the same brush, not pointing a finger of blame, and certainly not naming any company.
IP Address
One of the most common abuses is the increase in ticket prices when you visit an airline’s website to compare options and prices before booking a suitable flight. The IP address you use to search for information online before booking is recognized and then recorded in a database that counts how many “interested parties” there are for a particular flight. If many IP addresses are registered, the price of that flight may increase.
A remarkable fact: prices for the same flight are not the same for every visitor. You can check this yourself by comparing identical flights using a mobile device or by using a VPN. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) ensures a secure connection between you and the internet by sending your internet traffic through an encrypted virtual tunnel.
Various Abuses
Another fairly common tactic in online bookings is charging a surcharge for payment by credit card. The European legislator is very clear about this: it is forbidden.
A legally required insurance is included in the price of a plane ticket, and again, European regulations prohibit travel agencies and airlines from offering an additional insurance policy on their website, where a single click could bind you to this agreement.
Other practices that cannot be justified legally or figuratively include charging for selecting a seat on the plane and/or asking you to call a certain number after booking to supposedly confirm the reservation.
You also cannot be denied boarding a flight if you don’t have your identity card with you. For countries that have signed the Schengen Agreement, an official ID such as a driver’s license is also considered valid identification. There’s more: children under 14 years old do not need to identify themselves on a Spanish domestic flight; only their accompanying adult or a traveler over 14 must be able to show ID.
Compensation
Overbookings are a well-known global issue. In the European Community, this practice is not illegal, but if it occurs, the passenger is entitled to compensation of between €250 and €600, depending on the flight’s distance. Moreover, the affected passenger is also entitled to reimbursement for expenses caused by the wait. Examples include food, drinks, accommodation, transportation costs, etc.
If you arrive three hours late at your destination, you have the right to financial compensation, except if the airline can invoke force majeure. Examples include meteorological and/or geodetic phenomena such as storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, or tsunamis. Note: a technical aircraft defect is not considered force majeure.
Complaints
Another regularly recurring problem is baggage: suitcases considered lost are usually forwarded free of charge and delivered to your address. It’s a different story when your suitcase is damaged. Quite a few airlines pretend ignorance and pay no compensation for partial damage. However, the Montreal Convention stipulates in Article 22 a damages amount up to €1,100 for loss and/or damage.
Onboard an aircraft, all sorts of things can go wrong: food poisoning, illness due to air conditioning, or carry-on luggage falling out of the overhead compartment straight onto your head. All these situations can give rise to a complaint. Much depends on your personal attitude, but all these scenarios are legally regulated.
Passenger Rights
Airplane passengers have rights, and problems often arise because, on the one hand, the passenger does not sufficiently know his or her rights and, on the other, the airline certainly does not advertise the passenger’s rights unnecessarily. The speed of handling a damage claim often depends on the airline’s goodwill. In some cases, you can submit a claim through a claim firm that works on a “no cure, no pay” basis. You pay nothing upfront, not even if legal steps are taken, and at the end of the process, you pay 25% of the received claim amount to the firm that obtained the financial compensation.
Going to court is not recommended for claim amounts less than €2,000.
Not all airlines leave their passengers in the dark. In some cases, airports properly inform passengers of their rights, as you can read [HERE].
Airplane passengers have rights, but do not forget that as a passenger, you also have obligations—however, that’s a story for another time.
Unknown © Photography
Airplane passengers have rights ©
More TRIVIA can be read [HERE].
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