Flight delayed or canceled by Edelweiss Air, you are eligible or not to compensation?
The holidays had started well but your flight is experiencing a very long delay. In this case, the rules laid down by the European Union are clear: passengers traveling on flights operated by Edelweiss Air can claim compensation.
Up to 600 euros compensation for each passenger
Indeed, as reminded by the companies specializing in compensation, if the delay is three hours or more, the Edelweiss Air company must compensate passengers with 250 euros, if the journey was less than 1,500 kilometers, with 400 euros for journeys between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometers and for all intra-Community flights of more than 1,500 kilometers, 600 euros for journeys of more than 3,500 kilometers for destinations outside the European Union.
Payment must be made by check, cash or bank transfer. Compensation by travel voucher or credit note is only possible with the passenger’s agreement. This rule applies to all flights departing from an airport located in the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, regardless of the nationality of the airline. However, “the carrier may not pay the compensation if it proves that the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken”.
When the plane door opens?
But how do you define the duration of the flight? What to consider? When do the wheels touch the ground? When did the aircraft arrive at its parking location?
As Compensation Experts Explain, Justice
The European Commission issued a judgment in September 2014 which states that a flight has ended by the time the plane arrives at the place where it is to be parked and that at least one door is open.
“It is only when passengers are authorized to leave the aircraft and when orders to open the aircraft doors are given for this purpose that passengers can in principle resume their normal activities without having to undergo these constraints ”, indicates the Court of Justice of the European Union. Jurisprudence on which the companies including Edelweiss do not hesitate to sit on it, by communicating a delay of 2h58 or 2h59 and playing on the lack of information of the passengers.
The Swiss carrier is required to compensate its passengers from 3 hours late
Who has never known the administrative hell of compensation after a late flight? Because when it comes to paying back, airlines like to play with the lines. Legally, they are required by the European Union to compensate their passengers from three hours late.
Indeed, the question is to know when the plane’s journey ends: when the wheels touch the runway or when the warning light requiring to fasten its seat belt goes out? “Between the time the plane rolls on the tarmac and the time it arrives at its parking lot, it can take several minutes,” explains Coline Port, lawyer at the European Consumer Center, interviewed by Le Parisien. And this is how an airline can officially declare a delay of two hours fifty-eight or two hours fifty-nine, leaving passengers helpless.
If the law remains on the side of the users, it must still be known. In 2014, an order of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on the question. A flight is not considered complete until the aircraft has stopped. “It is only when passengers are authorized to leave the aircraft and when orders to open the aircraft doors are given for this purpose that passengers can in principle resume their normal activities without having to undergo these constraints ”, thus confirms the CJEU. But, according to Coline Port, some airlines do not respect this legal framework and push the plug until estimating the arrival time of a flight when the wheels of the aircraft touch the runway.