Tickets, boarding cards and how I asked an airline to give $ 800 with a single email

Bleary Eyes and under-slept after spending my last night in Poland in a vodka bar – as is customary – I was still at the airport gate at 7am, ready for my 8am flight to Budapest. It was supposed to be about a one hour flight.

"Easy," I told myself, using my hand luggage as a pillow and waiting for the boarding call.

Between 10:00 and 8:00, my companion kicked me to say we had not boarded yet.

At 8am, update to the screen: the flight was delayed by 30 minutes.

At 8:30, another update telling us to wait for more information.

At this point, I took a step back and wasted time in a souvenir shop – carefully avoiding the vodka aisle – when I received an SMS from the airline, LOT Polish Airlines.

I went back to the door where there was chaos. The people were livid. No more flights a lot to Budapest today.

The flight was canceled due to "operational problems" – a vague description of what is essentially the fault of the airline. This would be important information later.

We spent more than two hours queuing at the customer service desk hoping that something could be done for us. I spent those two hours googling things such as "Krakow Train to Budapest", "How much does expensive private car from Krakow to Budapest cost" and "Best place to sleep at Krakow airport". It was a bad morning to wake up dusty.

Luckily for us, MANY staff members took a flight to Warsaw, then a connecting flight to Budapest, and gave us enough money in meal vouchers for an indispensable Macca.

We arrived in Budapest eight hours later than expected. It was obviously not a crisis, but Hungary turned out to be a highlight of our holiday in Europe and the lost day hurt.

In the middle of all this, while I was keeping my friends up to date on my chaotic morning on Instagram, a German colleague who worked in the airline industry has sent me a message.

Do not worry, you will get money for that, he says. And I did it – here's how.

Claim Compo

The European Union has clear guidelines on when and why pbadengers are entitled to compensation for flight delays and cancellations – even up to the amount they should receive – and these rules make envy of the whole world.

This is stated in Article 7 of the Regulation of the European Union (EC) No 261/2004. According to this very small article, my traveling companion and I were entitled to compensation from LOT because we were flying inside the EU more than 1500 km away and had been delayed from our position. destination of more than three hours.

These rules apply to cancellations and delays under the control of the airline. Bad weather, for example, is not under the control of the airline. But the reason for our cancellation was.

There are certain variables, such as the duration of the flight and the duration of the waiting for a new flight, but at a minimum, we were entitled to a minimum of 250 € (404 $) each.

Google "EU Flight Compensation" and you will find a multitude of online liggers that promise to handle all the tricky task of claiming compensation for you. They will even represent you before the European Ombudsman if that happens.

The problem is that these companies will keep between 25 and 40% of your earnings, which seems pretty steep.

With the blind optimism of a nearly convicted man posing for trial himself, I daringly decided to take it to myself.

I started with the most obvious: a message to LOT customer service.

By quoting the flight number, the names of the pbadengers, the dates and the times, I explained simply and politely that we were entitled to compensation under section 7 of the Charter. Regulation of the European Union (EC) No 261/2004 for the reasons that I mentioned above.

I received an automatically generated response with a file number, then a radio silence. I thought I should start being hard, fighting. But a few weeks later, I received a response from LOT.

"Please be informed that we have decided to grant you compensation in the amount of EUR 250," it was said. I was sent a link to an online form and spent five minutes filling in the bank details. In two weeks, the equivalent of 250 € of LOT was sitting on my account.

(Even though I had paid for both tickets, it turned out that my partner had to fill out his own form so that his share of the composition was sent to his own account – that was not a problem.)

So we had $ 800 for a vacation mishap. I would recommend anyone who is upset by a cancellation or delay in the EU to sue his airline. But I'm less sure of your fate in Australia.

THIS IS A LIGHTLY DIFFERENT HISTORY HERE

In Australia, pbadengers are protected by Australian consumer law, general conditions and late flight policies of different airlines. There is also recourse to the Montreal Convention for damages.

But the Australian system does not live up to the high standard of the EU, said lawyer Sean Sweeney, lawyer for tourism law in Shine Lawyers

"The system in the European Union for complaints about delays and canceled flights is certainly easier for consumers and allows them to better hold airlines accountable," he said.

"The European Union has put in place regulations that protect pbadengers departing from the EU or traveling with EU carriers in the event of denied boarding or if their flight is delayed or canceled. The regulation states that, according to the factual matrix of the claim, pbadengers may be entitled to compensation, meals, refreshments, accommodation and transportation.

"The compensation will depend on the length of the delay and the distance of the flight, but can go up to 600 € (970 USD). Unfortunately, Australia is still years behind. "

Mr. Sweeney stated that, based on the experience of his company, airlines were generally quick enough to settle claims for compensation in accordance with their policies and that claims for compensation rarely required a claimant. lawyer to intervene.

"We have seen some of these more complex cases that need to be resolved, but the opening of proceedings should really be the last resort in this type of dispute," he said.

Mr. Sweeney said that pbadengers affected by flight delays or cancellations should contact the airline directly first, with the relevant evidence and as soon as possible.

"It is recommended that you communicate in writing as often as possible and keep detailed notes of your conversations and communications with the airline," he said.

"If you are not satisfied with the airline's response to your request, you can consult a lawyer about it or make a complaint to Airline Customer Advocate (ACA) or the Protection Agency. consumers in your state. "