Helen Teresa Roberts believes it did when she flew from Rome to Newark this summer. After Flight 43 was canceled, Continental Airlines offered her overnight accommodations and 660 euros, in accordance with EU 261, the European Union’s consumer protection law for air travelers.
But the airline never made good on its promise. Instead, it appeared to backtrack, reclassifying the flight as “delayed” and reneging on its 660 euro offer. “They changed flight numbers and used the word ‘delayed’ in order to stonewall their customers from just compensation,” she told me. Roberts didn’t receive the miles for her flight, either.
Can Continental do that?
I reviewed the documents sent to me by Roberts, and indeed, they included letters from Continental in which it calls her flight “delayed” and admits that its staff “made the statement of EU 261 of rights available at the gate.” Subsequently, the carrier appears to back away from that statement, changing the flight numbers and saying that “further compensation is not forthcoming.”
I asked Continental to review her appeal. It sent her the following response:
Your case has been reviewed again at the request of National Geographic Traveler magazine. After further review, we have credited the missing miles to your OnePass account, as you requested.
Per previous discussions, no further actions will be taken.
Though we consider this matter closed, we value your business and will be happy to address any of your future travel related concerns.
It’s nice to have a few miles back in the account, but it would be even nicer to have the 660 euros that Continental promised Roberts this summer. And that isn’t going to happen.
Here’s the sad truth about EU 261: Even though it’s a terrific consumer protection law, and even though the courts have upheld a strict interpretation of it, airlines commonly ignore it.
I believe Roberts is owed 660 euros. But I also have a stack of other cases from other airlines, in which the airline turned down a legitimate request for compensation under EU law.
Her only option is to sue Continental in Europe, and she and the airline know that she’s not going to do that over 660 euros.
Until someone goes to court, this is likely to continue.
(Photo: phinalanji/Flickr Creative Commons)
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
There are website like:
http://www.euclaim.co.uk/
which can help you get your money.
In general, you can do it yourself. There are standard forms. But if you want help, these guys do it for a small cut. €660 = $965, no peanuts.
Given that you are already agreeing to pay EU Claim 27% of what was originally owed you for “our legal costs and service fee”, I would clarify what the additional cost for their “administration fee” is before selecting them for representation.
Wow. This is pathetic, but unsurprising.
Interesting outcome! I am glad she was at least able to get the mileage.
I cannot help but wonder if EU nationals tend to gravitate away from non-EU airlines as a result of this very issue? I cannot also help but wonder if any EU Nationals were treated differently on her flight.
The more interesting trend about this EU legislation has been the advent of Ryanair’s 0.00 fares + taxes and surcharges. Effectively, these are buyer beware fares (as anyting free is bound to be) and have been successfully shown to be not under the enfocement of the EU law. Since taxes (and more importantly any surcharges) do not form the basis of the actual fare- and the fare was effectively gratis- Ryanair is effectively arguing that they are expempt from this legislation.
While it is unlikley we will ever see a Trans-Atlantic fare like this (although with AerFair in the planning, who knows?) it is a point to be aware of when travelling around Europe.
Just remember: when you do decide to come and visit the European Union beware that Low-Cost Airlines here can make Southwest look like business class luxury.
What we *NEED* to do is clone Chris Elliot and send that clone to Europe! I’m certain that will solve everything!
Ed
Class action.
I know the airlines do play games with EU261, largely because the countries don’t really enforce it. But I think it’s important to understand the real meaning behind the law–it was designed to prevent airlines from cancelling flights out from under pax for bogus reasons (e.g. not enough passengers booked, or they need the plane somewhere else that day)–while the law is written for any involuntary delay, this is the real reason why it exists. Personally, if the airline has a mechanical breakdown and is acting in good faith , I’m not inclined to try wring the money out of them.
I’ve always found it interesting that it pertains to EU airlines anywhere in the world, but lines from other countries only when they fly in/out of the EU. Seems a bit of a disadvantage to the EU lines, but the EU can’t legislate non-EU airlines outside of their territory.
I believe this is another scenario where airline gets to be unfair and the passangers get nothing. I wonder what all those who think ‘passangers must be fair to airlines and should not hold airlines responsible for their fat finger or any other mistakes’ have to say right now. If someone like Chris Elliott can not get a more favourable answer from Continental, I don’t see how a common passanger would even get any attention.
I say Ms. Roberts should not only ask EU courts for the 660 euros compensation, but the expense she has to incur to deal with all this and any emotional distress she had to live with during that period.
Airlines do these things on everyday basis because they can get away with it. Just yesterday I got another email from Delta saying my aunt’s (age 56) itinerary has changed, for the fourth time in last few months. When I purchased her ticket in April 09, she was supposed to be on a return flight from Tulsa to Atlanta to Mumbai on December 4, 09. Knowing the route and the delays well enough, I had kept over 4 hours of layover in Atlanta for her to make sure she could get on the international connection.
Delta cancelled the direct flight from Atlanta to Mumbai around July 09 after their plans about NorthWest merger came up and re-routed her through Detroit – Amsterdam. Since it wasn’t a huge issue for us except having her to fly from a snow-delays prone airport (DTW) instead of Atlanta in December, we let it slide.
In September 09, they altogether cancelled all their schedules on those flights and left a message on my phone saying she had either Nov 22, 09 or Jan 14, 09 to choose from to make her return flight. She could not have travelled on either of those days due to other pre-purchased plans (for Nov. 22, 09) and visitor’s visa expiration (for Jan 14, 09). I spent 2 hours on phone with Delta, in which I had to speak with 5 unrelenting ‘customer service’ agents to finally find a sensible enough agent who rescheduled her flight to Dec 31, 09.
Then in November 09, Delta changed her flight timings from Tulsa to Atlanta connection to leave only 2 hours of layover in Atlanta for the next flight (leaving for Paris at 6 pm). I called Delta again to have them put her on an earlier flight to Atlanta to make sure any normal (for Delta) delays wouldn’t make her miss her international connection and the agent tried to explain to me that the connection they had given her was a legitimate connection and she could not change it. It took me over an hour to convince her that the itinerary I had originally purchased in April 09 had enough layover in Atlanta for the exact same purpose. The next flight (TUL-1 pm CDT ~ ATL-4 pm EDT) has a bad enough record that my aunt would not be able to make it to her connection at 6 pm and would be stranded in Atlanta for a day or stand-by on other flights. The agent had to speak with her supervisor and finally agreed to change the itinerary to 11 am flight out of Tulsa. Then she had the audacity to tell me that this was a ‘one time favor’ she was doing and any more changes would result in all the necessary fees. Despite her rudeness, I had to ask her if the further changes she referred to were required to be from my side or Delta’s side, just to make sure I was not going to be charged for any changes made by Delta ! :) . So in summary, Delta gets to change the date of the travel, time of the travel, route of the travel and their schedule 4 times per their convinience without any compensation to me or my aunt but I can not request any minor changes in itinerary schedule just to save any further trouble.
I am looking forward to hear from any airline advocates who claim that passengers should always be fair to airlines and forgive them for their errors or mistakes.
Please read Jan 14, 2010 instead of Jan 14, 09, a typo on my part. I am glad I am not dealing with Delta but with the generous and understanding bloggers here about the typo!!
I’m not sure if its the same company of a different one (which also specializes in making collections against Airlines under EU Rules), but they actually have a desk sitting in the middle of Schiphol. (So passengers can theoretically get off the plane and make a claim, before they are even out of the airport).