In summer 2022 there could be more flight cancellations
Some flight cancellations and delays may be on the horizon in the summer of 2022. As the website Reisereporter reports, the Dutch airline KLM had already canceled more than 50 flights at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in early May. The Scandinavian airline SAS is also said to have warned of problems. According to the travel reporter, it announced that it would have to cancel more than 4,000 flights over the summer due to staff shortages and delays in the delivery of new aircraft. Similar incidents could also occur in Germany. “It will only be a matter of time before multiple flight delays and cancellations due to staff shortages will also occur in Germany,” Claudia Brosche, passenger rights expert at the online portal Flightright, told Reisereporter. According to her assessment, many airlines and airports are understaffed due to the previous downsizing and would not be able to keep up with the necessary increase for the coming holiday season.
When are consumers entitled to compensation in the event of a flight cancellation?
When it comes to the right to compensation for a canceled flight, what matters most is the timing of the cancellation and the alternative flight provided. According to Flightright, consumers generally have no right to compensation if the booked flight is canceled more than 14 days before the scheduled departure. In the case of a cancellation seven to 14 days before the booked flight, a claim for compensation can only be asserted if the alternative flight departs more than two hours earlier or arrives at the destination more than four hours later. If the cancellation occurs less than seven days in advance, the tolerated time is reduced to one hour before the scheduled departure and two hours after the scheduled arrival. If no replacement flight is offered at all, consumers are generally entitled to compensation if the flight is canceled less than 14 days in advance.
The reason for the flight cancellation is also relevant for the refund of the ticket price and compensation. If the booked flight is canceled for ordinary reasons, the airline is obliged to compensate or provide a replacement flight. According to the Compensation2Go website, these common or “not exceptional” reasons include bad weather, technical defects, technical defects, damage to the aircraft by third parties and delay or illness of the crew. If the flight is canceled due to a lack of staff, the airline is obliged to provide replacement or compensation. However, if the flight is canceled for exceptional reasons, things look completely different. These sometimes include airspace closures due to volcanic activity, severe storms, terrorist threats, air traffic control problems and strikes.
How high is the compensation in the event of a flight cancellation?
The amount of compensation depends on the planned flight route of the canceled flight. For short trips of up to 1,500 kilometers, it is 250 euros. For canceled medium-haul flights up to 3,500 kilometers, 400 euros are due for the airline. For longer flights, consumers can even demand 600 euros as compensation from the airline. However, for the claim to be valid, either the scheduled departure point of the canceled flight must be in the EU or the landing point must be in the EU. In the case of the latter, the airline must also be a European one. The regulations for compensation are laid down in the EU Air Passenger Rights Regulation and can therefore only be applied to the EU area.
Nicolas Flohr / Editor finanzen.net
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