AirBaltic plane overloaded, is the Latvian company concerned by European regulations?
European regulations apply to flights operated by European companies departing or arriving from an airport located in the European Union. However, for flights operated by non-Community companies, only flights departing from the European Union are concerned. Thus, a Paris-New York flight operated by a non-European company is subject to regulations, but a New York-Paris flight operated by the same company is not.
Benefit from compensation following damage: The amount provided
In the event of an overbooked flight, compensation is fixed, it depends on the distance of the flight. No matter the ticket price or your travel class. Compensation can therefore allow you to earn money, when it exceeds your initial purchase price. Its amount is set at 250 euros for all flights up to 1500 km, 400 € for intra-Community flights over 1500 km and for all other flights from 1500 to 3500 km, and 600 € for all flights over 3,500 km.
What if compensation is already offered by Air Baltic?
You have to be very vigilant. Not knowing that they are entitled to compensation, most people accept the compensatory allowance. But if the passenger accepts this commercial gesture, he is then considered voluntary to give up his flight and will therefore no longer be able to claim compensation later.
By accepting the proposals of his airline company, does the passenger still have the right to compensation?
Absolutely, being replaced on a flight or being reimbursed for your ticket if you refuse the proposed re-routing does not prevent compensation. What suspends the right to compensation is the acceptance of a commercial proposal other than re-routing or reimbursement.
What must be done to obtain compensation?
When the passenger learns when boarding that he will not be able to board the plane, due to the lack of space available, he must request a certificate of denied boarding at the company counter. We also advise you to keep or photograph your boarding pass to be able to prove that you have made it to the check-in.
What if you are refused registration due to overbooking?
Some companies, for example during strikes, refuse passengers but inform them before check-in, in writing. In this case, we can easily ask for compensation since there will be a word proving that the customer could not take his flight due to lack of space. This is complicated when the company refuses the passenger at the airport at the time of check-in. You must then try, by all means, to obtain a document from the company stating that the person was at check-in, but that he was unable to take his flight because the aircraft was full. Without this document, it will be the passenger’s word against the listing of the company. On the listing, what will appear is that the passenger did not show up for boarding.
Other cases of eligibility: Canceled flight
The haunt of every traveler: seeing one of their delayed flights. How to react? What to do? Which solutions? Through this article, I will list the actions to do to better manage the situation
You are at home the day before departure, and you decide to check the information on your flight and learn that it is at risk of being delayed?
Or it is by taking a look at your mailbox that the title of the subject of one of the messages calls out to you: “your flight will be delayed, please excuse us for the inconvenience”.
Or, more often than not it is by going to the airport, after having passed the controls (you find then just outside the boarding gate, waiting to board and with the excitement of the journey which is at the peak) that you learn that your flight is delayed for an as yet unknown period?
First of all, you must absolutely keep calm, and ask the competent people how long the delay is estimated and the reasons for it. And because only “the writings remain”, it would be useful to request information on his rights as a passenger by requesting to receive information relating to regulation (EC) 261/2004 available at the airport.
Request compensation from airBaltic, a difficult procedure for passengers, a breeze for compensation experts
European regulations are not that simple. Knowing whether or not your flight is eligible for a compensation claim is not obvious. Today, there are teams of lawyers who do all the procedures. Out of all the files submitted by air consumers, they succeed in 9 out of 10 cases, and 80% of requests are dealt with amicably with the companies. The procedures can last from 1 month to 2 years, in the event of litigation. If the procedure is not successful, the customer does not pay anything. In the event of success, the startups take 25% of the fixed compensation paid by the transporter concerned.