The well-known events that have recently involved the air carrier Ryanair, culminating in the publication of the list of suppressed flights (702 in Italy alone!), call for a recap of passengers’ rights when flights are cancelled.
Regulation (EC) No. 261/04 provides that, in the event of flight cancellation, the passenger has the right to choose between: reimbursement of the ticket price for the cancelled part of the journey; re-routing at the earliest opportunity; re-routing at a later date at the passenger’s convenience.
The passenger also has the right to be assisted by the airline that must offer meals and drinks for the duration of the waiting; hotel accommodation, if one or more nights are needed; the transfer from the airport to the place of accommodation and vice versa; two phone calls or telex, fax, or e-mail messages.
And not only that. In some specific cases, the passenger has the right to obtain compensation for damage caused by the cancellation of the flight (so-called “monetary compensation”), the amount of which is predetermined, depending on the flight segment (intra- or extra- community) and on the traveled distance in kilometers.
Compensation, however, is not always due. In fact, the cases in which the airline can prove that the cancellation of the flight was caused by exceptional circumstances are excluded. Such circumstances are adverse meteorological conditions; sudden and unpredictable flight safety failures; strikes (but not pilots’, hostesses’ or ground crews’ strikes that the company could have avoided by accepting their demands).
In addition, there is no reimbursement if the passenger has been informed of the cancellation: with at least two weeks notice; in the period between two weeks and seven days before the date of departure if there is the offer of an alternative flight departing no sooner than two hours before the originally scheduled time and arriving at its final destination no later than four hours after the originally scheduled time; with less than seven days notice, and if an alternative flight departing no sooner than one hour before the originally scheduled time and arriving at its final destination no later than two hours after the originally scheduled time is offered.
In any case, Ryanair has already amply acknowledged its responsibility for the cancellation of the flights, hence it is assumed (and hoped) that it will not come up with justifications and will grant compensation to passengers, as provided by the law.
(Bologna Office – Federico Tassinari – 0039 (0)51 2750020)
