What to do when a flight is canceled? You may not know it but passengers are entitled to ask for a refund or compensation. And you can do it with an app ...
The last summer was one of the most anticipated by travelers, after years of dramatically postponing travel due to the pandemic, but it was also one of the most turbulent ones on the flight front. The two-year lockdown forced airlines to keep most of the aircraft grounded and to operate drastic staff reductions.
By the time travel resumed, carriers were unable to cope with the significant influx of travelers. The remaining staff were too small to handle air traffic that in some cases exceeded pre-Covid levels. The consequences have been disastrous for travelers, who found themselves involved in significant flight delays, inefficiencies with baggage and real flight cancellations.
Air disruptions occurred mainly with low cost airlines, which have come to cancel in total tens of thousands of flights, causing unimaginable inconvenience to travelers.
What to do when a flight is canceled? You may not know it but passengers are entitled to ask for a refund or compensation. They can do this either independently by contacting the airline, well aware of the long time frames they face, or they can rely on specialized companies. Many travelers, to obtain refunds for canceled flights, turn to daily AirHelp for, a company that has distinguished itself both nationally and internationally for the service it offers to its customers.
When are you entitled to a refund for a canceled flight?
First of all it is essential to understand when you are entitled to a refund for flight cancellation. It is much easier to obtain refunds for canceled flights within the European Union, as a special legislation has been drawn up for the protection of passengers.
A flight is considered deleted when the aircraft does not take off, it takes off but must return to the airport of departure or lands in a different airport than the one established. And this must be done by a decision of the airline.
In fact, there are cases in which carriers have no responsibility for the canceled flight and therefore do not have to pay passengers anything. In this case, the exceptional circumstances or extraordinary, that is the cases in which the company could not have taken any other decision than to cancel the flight. Such circumstances can be bad weather that prevents the plane from taking off safely, a strike, a terrorist attack alarm and so on.
Out of these cases, if the airline does not communicate well in advance passengers for any changes regarding departure are required to pay compensation for canceled flights.
Refund or compensation?
La financial compensation for flight cancellation that the airline has to pay passengers is not always the same. In fact, there are two solutions depending on the circumstances: reimbursement or compensation for damages for canceled flights.
Il refund for canceled flight it is due to the passenger both when the cancellation took place due to a decision of the airline, and when the latter is not responsible but has not given assistance to passengers during the disruption.
Already after the two-hour wait, both in the event of cancellation by internal decision and in the event that an exceptional circumstance has occurred, the airline is required to assist passengers with food and drink, access to communications, transportation and accommodation where needed. If passengers are forced to cover these expenses out of their own pockets, they are entitled to later claim reimbursement.
Among other things, in case of cancellation, passengers can ask for the full refund in the ticket if, due to the disruption, they no longer have an interest in continuing with their journey.
If, on the other hand, the airline offers a replacement flight and the traveler accepts it, he is still entitled to compensation. This figure is established by law and goes from 250 to 600 euro based on the length of the route that the plane would have had to travel. It can be added to the refund and is due only when the disruption was caused by the carrier.
What do you need to get the refund?
In case of a canceled flight what to do? To obtain reimbursement and compensation, it is very important to document what happened as much as possible. If you are at the airport and you realize that your flight has been canceled, activate immediately. To get paid you need:
- Flight ticket;
- Boarding pass;
- Receipts or receipts of basic necessities that you have made while waiting;
- Any photographs at the departures board (if you have had the opportunity to take them).
Remember to ask the airline operators for the reason for cancellation and to obtain the answer, if possible, in writing. Also, remember not to sign anything while you are at the airport as you may unintentionally waive your right to get a refund for your flight cancellation ticket.
With all these documents in hand, it is possible to initiate a flight cancellation claim against the airline, but at the risk of not getting any response. This is why it is much more practical, faster and safer to rely on a team of lawyers specialized in the protection of air passengers thanks to whom it is possible to lodge a complaint free of charge.
In case of victory, compensation or refund, the AirHelp team retains a commission illustrated on the dedicated page.
