Eindhoven Airport has paid out around 750,000 euros to people who missed their flight last year due to long queues at security. A spokesperson for the airport informed Omroep Brabant when asked. In total, about 1700 people have asked for compensation.
Many people who flew from Eindhoven Airport during the holiday months last year had to deal with long queues. ‘Unprecedented crowds’, is what the airport calls it in its recently published annual report. At times, queues stretched far beyond the airport terminal. More than once, frustrated passengers missed a flight to the holiday destination because of this.
An important cause was the great shortage of security staff at the airport in times of national shortage on the labor market. Just when the Netherlands went on holiday en masse again after the corona crisis.
Most assigned
In order to accommodate the victims, Eindhoven Airport decided to offer financial compensation in August. Travelers who missed their flight due to staff shortages at the airport could report by filling out online forms. According to the airport, the scheme was intended for passengers ‘who have nowhere else to go’ with their claim. For example, because an airline or insurance company did not come across the bridge.
Of the total of 1700 claims submitted, 1500 have now been settled. Most have been allocated, Eindhoven Airport reports. This involves about three quarters of a million euros. Eindhoven Airport pays this amount from its own reserves. According to a spokesman, the remaining 200 claims will be completed within a few weeks.
‘Not liable’
The airport states that it is not formally liable for the damage suffered. “But we don’t want to let our travelers down,” says the recently published annual report.
Travelers were entitled to compensation if they were present at the airport at least 2.5 hours before departure and still missed their flight. Passengers had to prove this with, for example, parking tickets, WhatsApp messages or photos showing that they were actually that early.
Waiting time acceptable
Victims could request compensation for costs incurred when rebooking a flight. But also for expenses to travel to the destination in a different way and costs for food or drinks, for example, while waiting for a later flight.
Eindhoven Airport expects that the compensation scheme will not be necessary this year. “Many more security staff have been hired to be able to handle the summer crowds properly,” says an airport spokesman. “It will be busy at certain times. But the lead time is expected to be acceptable so that travelers can catch their flight.”
Schiphol
Schiphol, which owns Eindhoven Airport, also created a compensation scheme last year. There, 8,300 people filed compensation for missing their flight.
There are many more than in Eindhoven, because more people travel via that airport. How much money Schiphol has paid out is not specifically stated in its annual report.
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