Departure of the plane delayed? Find out if Aeroflot owes you compensation
You have to go on vacation but your flight is canceled or delayed? Did you miss your correspondence? Does the company refuse to ship you? Flight delays and cancellations are common problems that passengers face on vacation. You should know that a European regulation of February 11, 2004 protects travelers against these mishaps. It has established common rules for passenger compensation and assistance.
Is your case covered by European regulation of February 11, 2004?
More specifically, this is Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules for the compensation and assistance of passengers in the event of denied boarding and cancellation or long delay of a flight, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91. This text contains 19 articles and was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on February 17, 2004. Pursuant to article 19 of this Regulation, it has been in force throughout the Community since February 17, 2005.
The objective of this Regulation is announced in the Recital, namely to ensure a high level of passenger protection.
The Regulation sets out a wide application of this consumer protection beyond the community space in the strict sense.
The protection granted to passengers departing from an airport located in a Member State should be extended to those departing from an airport located in a third country bound for an airport located in a Member State, when the flight is operated by a Community carrier.
In order to ensure the effective application of this Regulation, the obligations arising therefrom should fall on the operating air carrier which performs or intends to perform a flight, regardless of whether it owns the aircraft, whether the aircraft is subject to a bareboat or crewed rental contract, or is part of any other scheme.
Article 1 of the Regulation establishes minimum rights for passengers who are in the following three situations:
– In case of denied boarding against their will,
– If their flight is canceled,
– In the event of a delayed flight.
On this point, it should be recalled that European regulations are, unlike European directives, applicable from their entry into force in all the Member States of the European Union. Indeed, article 288 provides that the regulation is general in scope. It is compulsory in all its elements and is directly applicable in all Member States. In other words, like all Community regulations, Regulation No. 261/2004 of February 11, 2004 has been applicable ipso jure since February 17, 2005, in all the states of the European Union, regardless of the internal texts which have been adopted.
With regard to the legal value of the regulation, the Court of Justice of the European Union specifies that by its very nature, and by its function in the system of sources of Community law, it produces immediate effects and is, as such, capable of conferring on individuals rights which the national courts have the obligation to protect.
It is also an opportunity to recall the principle known as the primacy of Community law over the national law of States, which implies that in the event of a conflict between a Community norm and a norm of domestic law, should systematically be discarded in favor of the first. It is the Court of Justice of the European Union which took a clear position in favor of this superiority of Community law in its famous Costa v. Enel judgment rendered on July 15, 1964, which specifies, coming from an independent source, Community law born of the treaty could not therefore, by reason of its original specific nature, be judicially opposed to any internal text whatsoever, without losing its Community character and without jeopardizing the legal basis of the Community itself.
What are the rights of passengers?
Air carriers have an obligation to inform passengers of their rights. This means that in the event of a delay of at least two hours, cancellation or denied boarding, the airline (Aeroflot) they are traveling on must inform them about the compensation systems. More specifically, Article 14 of the Regulation places an obligation on the operating air carrier to inform passengers of their rights very clearly.
Firstly, the operating air carrier must ensure that a notice containing the text below is printed in clearly legible characters and displayed prominently in the registration area:
If you are denied boarding or if your flight is canceled or delayed by at least two hours, ask at the check-in counter or at the boarding gate for the text stating your rights, in particular with regard to compensation or compensation.
Secondly, the operating air carrier which refuses boarding or which cancels a flight must present to each passenger concerned a written notice setting out the compensation and assistance rules provided for in the Regulations of 11 February 2004. It must also present this same notice to any passenger experiencing a delay of at least two hours.
Finally, the passenger must also be provided with the contact details of the body designated by each Member State and responsible for applying the Regulation for flights departing from airports located on its territory as well as flights to these same airports. and from a third country.
Delayed flight: which treatment?
Passengers can obtain care depending on the waiting time. Article 9 of the Regulation provides that the passengers concerned are offered free of charge by the airline:
– Refreshments and possibilities to eat enough given the waiting time,
– Hotel accommodation in cases where a waiting stay of one or more nights is necessary, or when a stay in addition to that provided by the passenger is necessary,
– Transport from the airport to the place of accommodation (hotel or other).
In addition, each passenger concerned is also offered the possibility of making two telephone calls or two faxes or two electronic messages free of charge.
If they don’t give up their trip, they can claim compensation. The amount of compensation does not depend on the ticket price, but on the distance traveled by the flight and the hours of delay on arrival.
The compensation, which is a lump sum, is calculated as follows:
– For flights with a distance of less than 1,500 km, the passenger will only receive compensation if the delay is at least two hours. Here the compensation is 250 €.
– If the flight distance exceeds 1,500 km, the passenger will only be compensated if the delay is at least three hours. The compensation is 400 €.
– For journeys which exceed 3,500 km, the delay must exceed four hours and the passenger can claim compensation of € 600.
Text No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of Distance covers, in the case of air connections with connections, only the distance between the place of the first take-off and the final destination, which must be calculated using the orthodromic method, regardless of the flight distance actually flown.
If the passenger renounces his journey, the company must, in accordance with article 8 of the Regulation, offer him three possible choices:
– Or the reimbursement of the ticket, within seven days, at the price at which it was purchased, for the part or parts of the journey not completed and for the part or parts of the journey already carried out and which have become useless in relation to his plan initial journey, as well as, if applicable, a return flight to its original point of departure as soon as possible.
– Or a re-routing to its final destination, under comparable transport conditions and as soon as possible.
– Or a re-routing to its final destination under comparable transport conditions at a later date, at its convenience, subject to availability of seats.
In case of flight cancellation by Aeroflot
If the flight is canceled, the article of the Regulation imposes specific obligations on the operating air carrier. Thus, it must route the passenger to another flight. In the meantime, as with the delay, she has an obligation to take care of him.
The compensation amounts are the same as for a delayed flight.
As for the delay, the passenger can renounce his journey and request the full reimbursement of his flight, unless the passengers concerned have been informed of the cancellation of the planned flight in the cases shown below:
– At least two weeks before the scheduled departure time.
– From two weeks to seven days before the scheduled departure time if they are offered a re-routing allowing them to leave no earlier than two hours before the scheduled departure time and reach their final destination less than four hours after the estimated time of arrival.
Less than seven days before the scheduled departure time if they are offered a re-routing allowing them to leave no earlier than one hour before the scheduled departure time and reach their final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time arrival.
It should be noted that when passengers are informed of the cancellation of a flight, information is provided to them regarding alternative transportation.
What compensation is provided for injured passengers?
You should know that the system set up by the Regulations of February 11, 2004 is a lump sum compensation system automatically applicable in the situations set out in the text.
It provides minimum flat-rate compensation for passengers injured by denied boarding, cancellation or delay of their flight.
There is nothing, of course, to prevent an airline from setting up an indemnity system superior to that provided for in the Regulations.
Finally, Article 12 of the Regulation provides that the scale of compensation provided for shall apply without prejudice to the right of any passenger concerned to additional compensation.
In this case, the text provides that the minimum compensation provided for in the Regulations may be deducted from the additional compensation paid.
In any event, a passenger who suffers a particular and significant loss can perfectly claim, in addition to the lump sum compensation provided for in the Regulations, specific additional compensation to repair the particular loss, following the incident on his flight .
In this case, the passenger concerned should bring supporting documents which allow the damage to be repaired to be assessed by additional compensation.