This was published 7 years ago
Lost baggage, cancelled flights: What are your rights when you fly?
By Michael Gebicki
If your airline delays your flight, would you know your rights?Credit: iStock
Know your rights? If your airline damages or loses your baggage, delays your flight or chucks you off due to an overbooked flight, those rights are anything but straightforward. In many cases that allows the airline to avoid paying full compensation you might be entitled to.
One source of confusion is that different laws apply depending on where you are flying from and to, and on which airline. For example, if you are travelling aboard a Middle Eastern airline departing from an EU airport bound for a destination outside the EU, you are entitled to compensation under European Commission Regulation 261 if your flight is cancelled or delayed by more than three hours. If you are travelling from outside the EU to a destination within the EU, you may be eligible for compensation if your flight arrives more than three hours late, but only if you are travelling aboard an EU airline. Although airlines are legally obliged to inform passengers of their rights, this information will not necessarily be forthcoming. Passengers need to know to ask and that might mean a polite but steely conversation at the boarding gate.
A general exclusion applies if a flight is delayed or cancelled for reasons beyond the airline's control. Storms, fog, volcanic eruptions and terrorist events that affect airport operations all fall into this category. In such cases travellers need to look to their own travel insurance policy for recourse.
The Montreal Convention
Injury to passengers and damage to baggage or goods on international flights is covered by the Montreal Convention of 1999. Most countries are signatories and their airlines operate under its rules. Article 17 of the convention states "The carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger upon condition only that the accident which caused the death or injury took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking." Compensation is unlimited but claims for more than 113,100 Special Drawing Rights may be contested by the airline. The value of Special Drawing Rights fluctuates, based on a basket of international currencies. At the current SDR rate, that entitles passengers who suffer injury or death to a maximum uncontested compensation of about $206,000.
Paragraph 2 of Article 17 states "The carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of destruction or loss of, or of damage to, checked baggage." In this case compensation is limited to 1131 Special Drawing Rights, about $2061 at the current rate.
If your baggage is damaged or lost you must write to the carrier within seven days, or 21 days in the case of delayed baggage.
See also: Are we being ripped off? World's cheapest airlines named
Within the EU
This is world's best and fairest practice for passengers whose flights are delayed, cancelled or who are denied boarding. Under EC Regulation 261, compensation ranges from €250-600 a passenger depending on the distance of your flight and the length of the delay. Passengers are also entitled to food and hotel accommodation if necessary during the delay. A flight must be delayed for three hours or more before a passenger is eligible for compensation.
If you have cause to lodge a complaint, your first point of contact should be the airline itself. If that complaint is not resolved your next port of call is the relevant National Enforcement Body.
Another source of assistance is airhelp.com, a specialist fee-for-service enterprise.
Within the USA
If your flight is delayed or cancelled there is no legislation that obliges your airline to offer compensation. However there are strict regulations that apply if you are offloaded involuntarily from a flight due to overbooking. You are eligible for 200 per cent of your one-way fare if you reach your final destination between one and two hours late, capped at $US650. If you arrive at your final destination more than two hours late you are eligible for 400 per cent of your one-way fare, with a cap of $US1300. If a flight is overbooked an airline must first ask for volunteers willing to take a later flight. Usually an offer of immediate compensation will be made, and most of the time the airline will get the empty seats it needs. Only in about 10 per cent of cases will an airline need to offload passengers who have not volunteered.
Within Australia
We're getting short changed. Our airlines are obliged to get you from A to B, but if they're late or if the airline cancels your flight, that's just too bad. If you are denied boarding involuntarily on a Virgin Australia flight you are entitled to a payment of denied boarding compensation under normal circumstances. If that happens on a Qantas flight the airline will offer you a seat on the next available flight, or compensation if that is unacceptable. Neither airline specifies the amount.
If you have a complaint that is not resolved by the airline itself the place to go is the Airline Customer Advocate, which provides a free service to customers of Australia's major airlines. The ACA is funded by the participating airlines. If you think that's possibly a conflict of interest, and something less than intervention from a fair-minded umpire, keep reading. According to the ACA's own annual report for 2015, just over 70 million passenger journeys were recorded on flights aboard the Australian airlines represented by the ACA. In that year the Advocate received 1204 eligible complaints. That's about one unresolved complaint for every 58,000 passengers. Obviously Jetstar, Tiger, Virgin, Qantas and Rex are doing an absolutely stellar job of resolving complaints made against them, nothing to see here folks.
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