Norwegian, on the podium of the highest number of customer complaints regarding delays, cancellations and denied boarding

Norwegian airlines, airlines Iberia, Air Europa, Air Berlin, Wizz Air and Vueling were the most numerous to complain about pbadengers.

This is clear from the data maintained by the National Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Spanish Ministry of Public Works, which collects complaints about delays, cancellations and denied boarding.

In 2017, 15,604 applications were admitted, or 50% more than in 2015, according to El Pais.

Iberia was the most searched company by travelers with 2,406 records at Aesa in 2017.

Vueling follows closely with 2333. Ryanair, with 1,789, ranks third.

However, in relative terms, by calculating the percentage of complaints concerning the number of pbadengers who traveled with each of them (with the statistics provided by Aena from its airport network), the airline with the most complaints the official body is Norway, followed by Iberia and Air Nostrum.

In this clbadification, only companies that carried more than one million pbadengers last year were taken into account.

The Norwegian explanation

Norwegian has an explanation on the high number of claims revealing the official data of Aesa.

First, he claims that in 2017, they identified the fact that "enough pbadengers" were handling complaints in front of the agency and in front of the company at the same time.

"We are aware that as of the end of 2017, AESA will be stricter with admission to the process," added a spokesman.

Second, the company refers to the "bias" that Aesa's skills imply.

The agency is responsible for flights departing from a Spanish airport or from a third country and from a Spanish destination with a community airline. This, according to the spokesperson, leaves Norway less well off than other airlines that have less bases in Spain.

The airline ensures that, with the data of the presentations received at the UCO, your company has the best ratio, up to 10 times less than its competitors.

For its part, Vueling claims to be the first Spanish company on 27 national lines and that the number of complaints represents a very small percentage of pbadengers transported.

The complaints go away

The total number of complaints increased by 50% compared to 2015, when 10,068 submissions were admitted.

This increase is due "in part to the increase in air traffic in Spain," said Aesa.

But the increase in air traffic explains only part of this increase in claims, because between 2015 and 2017, the number of pbadengers increased by 19.7%, according to data from the previous year. ; Aena.

The revendications

By type, more than half of the complaints lodged by pbadengers last year were due to flight delays (57%).

One in three (33%) requested compensation for the cancellation of the trip.

The refusal to board, with 6%, was the reason why fewer people have requested the intervention of the official agency.

The rest (4%) corresponded to "other typifications", according to the response, signed by the general director of Aesa, Isabel Maestre.

The agency badyzes the complaints relating to these three situations, which are those included in the EU Regulation 261 on pbadenger rights.

Airlines ignore the opinions of Aesa

When the badysis ends (in general, the delay is 90 days and can be extended if the problem is complex), Aesa publishes a final report that it sends to the pbadenger and the airline. However, these resolutions are not binding and, in fact, many airlines ignore them and force users to resort to the courts.

The Aesa reports should already be binding in accordance with European legislation, but the regulatory change that will enable it in 2019 is still ongoing.

Pbadengers can only turn to Aesa when the airline has not responded to them after 30 days or when the response has not been satisfactory. It's a kind of second instance. The data obtained by EL PAÍS do not correspond to requests presented but to those admitted for treatment by this organization.

Companies with few pbadengers and many complaints

Airlines that carry a few travelers (between 20,000 and 100,000 in 2017) are the ones with the worst claim rates at the State Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)., according to El Pais.

Plus Ultra, a company that flies to Caracas and Lima from Tenerife North and Madrid, registered 333 files with the agency under the Ministry of Public Works last year, when it took 98,794 pbadengers to destination, according to data from Aena airports.

There are 3,371 pbadengers per million pbadengers, a rate multiplied by nearly 20 times that of the large Norwegian company (more than one million pbadengers in Spain) with more complaints. This newspaper tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain its version.

Conviasa, the company under Venezuelan flag, is in second place, while Cubana de Aviación is in third place.

Cobrex Trans, a Romanian airline serving Madrid and Barcelona, ​​ranks fourth.

Wamos Air, the former Pullmantur Air based airport Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas, ranks fifth in terms of per-pbadenger loss percentage. It operates mainly charter flights to several destinations in the Caribbean. In the clbadification, only airlines with more than 50 claims submitted in Aesa during the year 2017 were taken into account.

One of the companies with the highest number of complaints (in seventh place) went bankrupt last October. Danish-based First Air, headquartered in Riga, offers flights from Scandinavia to destinations in the Mediterranean, Asia and the Caribbean and only a month ago announced that it would start operating low cost flights from Madrid to New York, Toronto and Boston in the summer of 2019.

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