Schiphol will reimburse the costs that travelers had to incur because they missed their flight this summer due to the chaos at the airport. The airport has agreed this with the Consumers’ Association and the Omroep MAX program MAX holiday man. Eindhoven Airport also has such an arrangement.
Like Schiphol, the airport near Eindhoven has regularly struggled with staff shortages in recent months. As a result, queues sometimes formed far into the open air on busy days.
Schiphol’s scheme applies to air passengers who missed their flight in the period from 23 April to 11 August due to the long queues. The Eindhoven Airport regulation will come into effect a month later and therefore applies to travelers who should have flown from 23 May to 11 August.
Both Schiphol and Eindhoven Airport will reimburse the costs incurred by travelers when rebooking a flight or purchasing a new flight ticket. Both airports also compensate the travel costs of victims who decided to go to their destination by car or train.
Costs for accommodation and meals are covered by arrangement
In addition, travelers can recover the costs for an accommodation that was not used, but also could not be cancelled. It may also concern expenditure on, for example, meals or drinks while waiting for a later flight. Additional expenses to travel again to the same or another airport are also covered by the scheme.
Travelers whose flight has been canceled are already being compensated by the airline according to European rules. Schiphol did not want to compensate any consequential damage for these travelers, because the reason for cancellation is often unclear, says the Consumers’ Association.
‘We thought of a mass claim, but that turned out not to be necessary’
The consumer organization is not dissatisfied with Schiphol’s scheme. “We first thought of a mass claim, but that turned out not to be necessary. Initially, Schiphol held off completely, but now we have been able to make agreements. We are pleased that an arrangement has been made for many consumers,” said a spokesperson. from the Consumers’ Association.
Schiphol will handle the matter itself. The Consumers’ Association and Omroep MAX will evaluate the scheme afterwards. “But if people are wrongly rejected, those signals will reach us sooner and we can talk.”
Minister Mark Harbers of Infrastructure is positive about the scheme. “In my view, that is also part of the good quality of service that Schiphol would like to provide again,” said the minister on Twitter.
If problems still arise at Schiphol after the scheme has ended, the Consumers’ Association will again consult with the airport. It is not yet known how much the airports will spend on the compensation.