People often fly because of the ready availability of cheap traveldeals, such as cheapairplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, cheap auto rentals, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages. When faced with air travel snafus such asdelayed or canceled flights or overbooked planes it is useful to know yourrights.
The United States and the European Economic Community (EEC)have laid out very detailed rights for air travelers. The following is a summary of basic airpassenger rights in the U.S. and Europe:
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TheEEC and the U.S. require airlines to display the full cost of an airlineticket, including all mandatory airline charges, governmental taxes, and userfees online and in any other advertising.
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In theU.S. when an airline involuntarily bumps you due to overbooking you are not duecompensation if the airline can get you to your destination within one hour ofyour scheduled arrival. If you reachyour destination between one to two hours of your scheduled arrival on adomestic flight, or between one to four hours on an international flight, itowes you compensation of 200 percent of the one way price to your destination,up to $650. If the delay exceeds theseparameters it owes you 400 percent, up to $1,300.
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If yourairline decides to place your on an alternate flight on another airline, itmust cover all the expenses involved with the new flight. Regardless, you get to retain your originalticket, which can be used for a later trip or be refunded. These rules also apply to tickets purchasedusing frequent flier mileage. Airlinescheck in and gate arrival deadlines must be satisfied to qualify for anycompensation.
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Ifyour flight is canceled, experiences significant delay, or is rescheduled, youhave the right to be rerouted at no additional cost or receive a full refund,even on a nonrefundable ticket. Airlinecontracts generally call for meal vouchers to be distributed when a delayextends over a normal meal time and for free hotel accommodations if there isan overnight delay unless the delay is due to forces of nature outside theairlines control. Implementationvaries by airline.
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The Departmentof Transportation has mandated that an airline may not keep passengers sittingon a runway on a plane for over three hours on a domestic flight or four hourson an international flight without allowing passengers who wish to deplane,subject to security and safety considerations. Airlines are required to provide food and water after two hours ofdelay, provide passenger updates every 30 minutes, and make certain thatairplane bathrooms are operable. In theevent of a violation, airlines are fined, but passengers receive nocompensation.
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In theEEC if an airline is unable to get you to your final destination within threehours of your scheduled arrival passengers receive 250 Euros on flights of1,500 km or less, 400 Euros on flights over 1,500 km within the EEC or on flightsof 1,500 to 3,000 km outside the EEC, and 600 Euros for passengers on allflights of 3,501 km or more outside the EEC. All flights from the EEC to North America are over 3,500 km (2,175miles).
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If youare bumped, airlines must provide meals and refreshments, hotel accommodationswhere a stay of one or more nights is needed, and transport.
EEC studies have found many instanceswhere airlines did not inform travelers as to their rights to compensation oroffer compensation outright, as well as sometimes dragging their heels onlegitimate claims. Often only thesqueaky wheel gets treated properly. You must be persistent to ensure your rights are protected.
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