Cheap traveloptions, such as cheapairplane tickets, cheap fares, discount hotel rooms, cheap auto rentals, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages areencouraging more people than ever to travel. Unfortunately given how full planes are flying these days, passengerssometimes get bumped off flights.
Getting compensation from an airline for a flight departingfrom or originating in Europe that is delayed, canceled or overbooked, issometimes difficult.
As a result there are several online companies, includingAirHelp, EUclaim, and refund.me that help European travelers file claims underregulations that apply to flights to or from a European Union membercountry. These companies charge a feeranging from 15 to 27 percent of the recovered funds, including in some casescharging a handling fee.
AirHelp has started offering its services to U.S. fliersonline through a free app. This companyhas found that many passengers are unaware of the compensation they are entitledto and are eligible for a lot more compensation than they are receiving.
Each year an average of $450 million in potentialcompensation is owed to passengers involuntarily bumped on overbooked U.S.flights under U.S. Department of Transportation rules and as much as $2.1billion in potential claims is owed to U.S. air passengers flying to, from, orwith Europe on EU carriers, according to AirHelp.
However because fliers do not fully understand the rulesand airlines do not go out of their way to inform customers of their rightsonly a very small percent of the compensation owed to passengers ends up beingclaimed or paid.
Under U.S. regulations, bumped passengers are entitled tobe compensated equal to double the price of their tickets up to $650 if delayedone or two hours from their originally scheduled arrival time for domesticflights, or one to four hours for international flights. Those facing longer delays, over two hoursafter their originally scheduled arrival times for domestic flights and overfour hours for international flights, are eligible to receive as much as fourtimes the value of their tickets, up to a max of $1,300.
When faced with an overbooked situation, airlines arerequired to first ask people to give up their seats voluntarily in exchange forcompensation. Airlines are allowed todecide whether to offer cash, travel vouchers, meals, and/or lodging. Today far more fliers volunteer to give uptheir seats than get bumped.
In 2013 about 57,000 passengers were bumped (0.92 percentof all fliers) from domestic flights while over 450,000 passengers agreed totake another flight in exchange for compensation.
Most volunteers accept travel vouchers values significantlybelow the amounts airlines are required to pay involuntarily bumpedpassengers. Given that only about 15percent of these vouchers ever get redeemed, this is a great deal for theairlines.
Experts believe that if passengers understood the bumpingrules better, they might not be so willing to give up their seats for airlinevouchers.
Compensation for a delayed, canceled, or overbooked flightcould be up to about $825 per passenger, plus meals, phone calls, and hotelstays, for passengers traveling to or from Europe on an EU carrier, or on acarrier from non-EU members Iceland, Norway or Switzerland, according toAirHelp. Exemptions are allowed when anairline can prove the delay was caused by things outside the airlines control,such as bad weather.
AirHelps new app for U.S. travelers helps them determineif they are eligible for compensation and for those who do not want to pursue aclaim on their own, offers to process the claim and go to court if necessaryfor a 25 percent contingency fee that is payable only if a claim is successful.
While a 25 percent fee for successfully filing a claim isconsidered excessive by some, it is still a good deal for travelers who wouldotherwise never get around to filing a claim. The reality is that fliers should be able to get compensation on theirown if they are willing to be persistent and not only file an initial claim,but follow up on the status of that claim as needed.
Given that airlines tend to take advantage of passengersignorance, AirHelps new bumping app is providing a real service, whether thecompany ultimately handles the filling of the claim.
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