Your plane is delayed or cancelled? Rest assured, as a customer, the airline must take care of you and, in some cases, compensate you. Let's review the different scenarios and the conditions attached to them.
If your flight is delayed, you can benefit from care and compensation, but under certain conditions. A flight is considered to be late when it departs after the scheduled time on the tickets.
In the event of a delayed flight, and while waiting for your plane to take off, your airline must offer you support which differs according to the time of your wait. However, at a minimum, it is obliged to serve you refreshments or food, to pay for at least two telephone calls to call France if you are abroad and accommodation, as well as your transfer, if the departure of the flight is not scheduled until the next day.
This support is conditioned by the distance of your flight. Within the European Union, for flights of 1,500 km or less, the delay must be at least two hours. For a distance of more than 1,500 km, a minimum of three hours of delay must be noted. If the flight is departing from a country outside the European Union, the minimum delay is set at three hours for flights between 1,500 and 3,000 km and at four hours for flights over 3,500 km.
In all cases of delay, the company must provide you with a written text reminding you of your rights.
In addition to your care, the airline is required to compensate you if your plane is delayed by at least three hours. First if this delay forces you to give up your trip. In this specific case, your ticket will be fully refunded to you by the company within seven clear days without you having to take any particular steps.
However, this notion of minimum delay is not sufficient to qualify for compensation. Conditions concerning the places of departure and arrival of your flight are also necessary. If you leave from France or a country of the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Switzerland, your compensation is insured. On the other hand, if the problem occurs for a flight departing from a country outside the European Union to France or Europe, you will be able to claim compensation for the delay observed only if the airline is a company of the 'European Union. If your flight departs from and is destined for a country outside Europe, you will not be entitled to compensation or only according to the conditions specific to the country of departure.
The amount of compensation also depends on the length of the flight.
To be compensated, you must send a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to your airline, making reference to European regulation n° 261/2004 of February 11, 2004 which provides for this compensation. Be careful, however:the airline can invoke cases of force majeure (which are not always cases) to refuse you your compensation.
In terms of delay or cancellation of a flight, as we will see below, it is often the obstacle course to succeed in being compensated, between strict conditions and procedures which can be complex. Fortunately, companies like Flightright specialize in helping you claim your compensation with the support of passenger law experts.
As with a delayed flight, you have the right to care and compensation if your flight is cancelled, but also under certain conditions.
Your company must provide you with care if it cancels your flight at least two weeks before departure. This obligation is however conditioned by the place of departure and arrival of your flight. If he were to leave from France, the European Union and Norway, Iceland or Switzerland, your company must take care of you. If you are leaving from a country that does not belong to the European Union to France or to the EU, you will be taken care of if your company is itself European. But if you are leaving for a country outside the EU, you will not be entitled to care or only according to the conditions specific to the country of departure.
This support consists in particular in giving you priority on a new flight to the planned destination, without additional payment. While waiting for this flight, it must offer you refreshments, meals, support for telephone communications and accommodation if necessary. If you renounce your flight because it has been cancelled, the airline must refund your ticket in full within seven clear days without you having to take any steps.
As in the case of a delayed flight, you must be able to have at the check-in counter or in the boarding area a written text which stipulates your rights in terms of compensation and support.
In the event that your flight is cancelled, you are entitled to compensation in addition to care. The first of the conditions is that your plane must have been canceled at least two weeks before your departure. A second condition lies in the place of departure and arrival of your flight. In summary, this compensation is due to you if you are departing or arriving from the European Union and under certain other conditions if you are traveling outside the EU.
The amount of your compensation varies according to the length of the planned journey.
Note: these amounts can be deducted by half if the airline offers you another flight to your destination and the arrival time is not more than two hours late than the initially scheduled time for flights of 1,500 km or less; three hours for flights over 1,500 km within the European Union or between 1,500 and 3,500 km for other flights; four hours otherwise. On the other hand, the company can invoke cases of force majeure (an unforeseeable incident that cannot be avoided) to refuse you compensation. Compensation may also be refused in the event of a strike by personnel outside the company, such as air traffic controllers for example.
You must request your compensation from your airline by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt. As with a delayed flight, you have five years to claim your compensation.
