Some of the thousands of people whose flights have been canceled or delayed during the chaos of half-time travel have been told they will not receive compensation, leading to calls to change the way passengers recover before looks like a chaotic summer for airlines.
Others spoke of lost claims and the need to resubmit forms up to seven times, while passengers in earlier disruptions said they had waited months for airlines to talk to them.
Consumer advocates are urging regulators to be empowered to fine airlines if they violate compensation rules, fearing it will happen again when summer school holidays begin next month. Planned flight reservations for July are already above 2019 levels.
The beginning of June was the first time many people have taken a holiday abroad since the start of the pandemic, with around 2 million people traveling abroad. But staff shortages meant airlines and tour operators struggling to keep up.
Tui canceled more than 180 flights, blaming “operational and supply chain problems”; British Airways canceled 124 with several weeks’ notice, and Wizz Air also refused flights. EasyJet canceled more than 280 flights on May 28 and said it had told customers they could book again, get a refund or “apply for compensation in accordance with the regulations”.
But some easyJet passengers said they were denied compensation. Ben Brabin and his wife and two children were due to fly in the early afternoon of May 27 from Gatwick to Pisa, Italy to reunite the family, which was originally planned before the pandemic. After hours of delays, the flight was canceled because he would not arrive in Pisa before night time. EasyJet offered to re-book a flight a few days later – after the collection was over – so Brabin found a flight to Naples instead.
This meant that the money spent on parking in Gatwick, renting a car in Pisa and accommodation was wasted, with the extra cost of last-minute plane tickets and car rental, leaving Brabin out of £ 1,500 out of pocket.
He assumed he would receive a refund of £ 880 in compensation – £ 220 per person. But last week he received an e-mail saying he did not meet the conditions.
“I have not received a refund or any compensation,” Brabin said. “It simply came to our notice then. They gave no reason. I used to have some sympathy – it’s hard to manage. But not now.”
Other EasyJet passengers said on social media that they had also been denied compensation.
An easyJet spokesman apologized and said: “While we will, of course, fully reimburse the family for their alternative flight and other expenses incurred, as this flight was canceled due to events beyond our control, no compensation is due in accordance with the regulations. that’s the reason. “
John Turville and Lori O’Brien during their honeymoon, which British Airways nearly failed by canceling its flight to Buenos Aires. Photo: Distribution
Tui passengers said on social media that they had been denied compensation because the airline’s website said they were not on the list, although some posted photos of boarding passes online. Others said they had tried to sue seven times.
Tui apologized to customers and said a technical error in his flight manifest system had caused problems that have now been fixed. Only a small number of passengers were affected, the statement said.
Some passengers waited longer just to answer. Lori O’Brien and her husband John Turville were scheduled to fly to Buenos Aires on their honeymoon on April 3 with British Airways, but their flight was canceled when they were in Heathrow. They suffered a 13-hour delay on a replacement trip offered by BA.
Two months later, they received only a general email, O’Brien said. She believes they should receive £ 520 each for the cancellation and delay: “It is unacceptable that we have not received an apology or a message. It feels like people are just hoping to forget about their claims. “
BA said it was sorry for the delay in the couple’s response and would contact them soon.
Lisa Webb, a consumer law expert at Which ?, said: “We have seen many examples of carriers failing to inform passengers about [their] rights and take weeks to respond to claims – only to invite them to re-apply due to technical errors. Consumers should not be forced to jump through hoops to receive the refunds and compensation they legally owe.
“In order to prevent further abuses of passengers’ rights as the summer holiday season approaches, regulators need to be given significant powers to prosecute carriers who break the rules, starting with the power to impose direct fines on the Civil Aviation Service.
Resolver, which helps customers file complaints, said 2,949 people had already complained in June about canceled flights – the average monthly number was less than 1,000 last summer. Resolver’s Martin James said it was an “exceptional number” and he was inundated with inquiries.
“If a flight is canceled, then compensation is applied, so no one should be told that they do not meet the conditions, unless there is a specific reason that excludes a claim – the fault must be the airline or provided by him. So strike action is on, storms are off. The air traffic control strike has been called off and there is a shortage of staff. “
Passengers on most British airlines could escalate the issue to one of the CAA’s mediators, known as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
This month was the first time many people have traveled abroad since the Covid restrictions were lifted. Photo: Tolga Akmen / EPA
In 2019, airlines and airports paid £ 12.9 million to compensate exactly 18,000 of the 27,188 people who used ADR, according to quarterly CAA data from the Observer.
Complaints decreased during the pandemic, when fewer people flew, and in 2021 the number of successful claims also decreased significantly, with 2,550 claimants receiving a share of £ 1.7 million from 9,627 claims. The CAA does not publish data on complaints allowed or rejected by airlines and airports before the ADR.
Grant Shaps, the Minister for Transport, has proposed a change in the rules to a system similar to the train delay compensation scheme, which some analysts say would mean lower compensation payments for passengers, but this will only apply to domestic flights in the UK. .
Airports have calmed down in six months, but there are likely to be more queues in July, with possible strikes by pilots in Scandinavia and airport officials in France. In the United Kingdom, airlines and airports are struggling to replace 30,000 workers laid off during the pandemic. Schaps blamed the industry for poor planning, but industry leaders say the recruits are taking on other jobs due to three-month delays in obtaining security clearances for new airport staff.
ForwardKeys, which tracks tickets issued for scheduled flights, said bookings in July were already at 102% of 2019 levels and 93% for August. Olivier Ponti, vice president of insight, said: “The destination that is currently performing best is Turkey, where reservations are 116% ahead of the equivalent in 2019. It is followed by Greece, 50% ahead, and India. 31% forward ”
Abta, the body of the tourism industry, said 58% of people had booked a holiday for the next 12 months, up from 44% in October last year.
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