Overbooked flight compensation
Rights in case of an overbooked flight
If you have checked in on time with a valid reservation and the necessary travel documentation and are denied boarding due to overbooking or operational reasons and do not wish to voluntarily surrender your seat, you have:
• entitled to compensation ranging from €250 to €600, or
• the right to choose between a refund, rebooking or rebooking at a later date, or
• the right to assistance
The first steps towards compensation
• Ask the airline to inform you of the reason for your denied boarding
• Collect relevant documents such as receipts and vouchers for overbooking expenses
• Use our application to claim compensation
Compensation for overbooked flight
Under European Regulation 261/2004 and the Montreal Convention, passenger compensation is calculated according to the distance of the flight.
Here is an explanation of the compensation scheme, calculated on the basis of flight distance:
– Short-haul flight – up to 1500 km – Airline owes compensation of EUR 250
– Medium distance flight – between 1500 km and 3500 km – Airline owes compensation of EUR 400
– Long-haul flight – over 3500 km – Airline owes EUR 600 compensation
Note: the cost of the ticket is irrelevant to the total amount of compensation and as such you will be able to claim for flights with low-cost airlines. It is also possible to make claims for flights of up to 3 years. However, for your claim to be eligible for compensation, the flight must depart from the EU or if it lands in the EU, the airline must be based in the EU.
| Short distance up to 1500 km | Average distance up to 3500 km | Distance longer than 3500 km |
|---|---|---|
| Bucharest- Wien | Bucharest- Rome | Bucharest- Montreal |
| 250 € | 400€ | 600 € |
IMPORTANT
Even if vouchers are offered by the airline for drinks and meals, you are still eligible for the full amount of compensation.
Compensation procedure
The first thing to do is to have confirmation that you are indeed eligible for compensation. This is not a simple process: getting access to flight databases, comparing your situation with other similar cases, checking whether European Regulation 261/2004 or other international regulations applicable to air transport apply to you.
In fact, for a person without aviation expertise and the necessary technological means, this can prove to be very complicated.
However, the simple alternative is to claim compensation with DELAY.AERO. To do this, simply enter your flight details into the “GET COMPENSATION” application on our website for free. The DELAY.AERO team will check the details entered and determine whether you are entitled to make a claim against the airline. From then on, DELAY.AERO takes over the case and you are notified when the airline grants you compensation. The DELAY.AERO tool analyses hundreds of thousands of flights, has access to a wealth of meteorological data and is able to check whether your claim can be settled under EU law or other legal provisions applicable to your case.
The verification of the eligibility of your request is carried out free of charge
Our network of experts and our experience in the aviation sector, as well as the partnerships we have, allow us to negotiate with airlines on an equal footing. In 98% of open cases, our clients have won the case and received compensation/refunds. Regardless of the outcome, we take all the financial risk. If we are unsuccessful in your case, for whatever reason, we alone bear the costs. When we win, we receive a service fee according to the Price List from the amount recovered. This protects you, the client, from any lost expenses and investment.
Airport charges in the event of an overbooked flight
If you have experienced a long delay in departure, you are entitled to more compensation, regardless of whether the airline is responsible for the delay or not.
Below, you can see your rights, based on the length of the delay and the distance of your flight:
– Short distance – up to 1500 km: delayed departure over 2 hours – free food and drinks and 2 phone calls, emails or faxes
– Medium distance – between 1500 and 3500 km: delayed departure over 3 hours – free food and drinks, and 2 phone calls, e-mails or faxes
– Long distance – Over 3500 km: delayed departure over 4 hours – free food and drinks and 2 phone calls, e-mails or faxes
Overbooked flight – refund, re-routing, finding an alternative flight
You have the choice between a refund of the full price of your ticket (return) and rerouting to your outbound flight.
The airline must offer you the choice of one of the following:
– reimbursement of the ticket price and, if you have a connecting flight, a return flight, at the earliest opportunity, to the departure airport
– re-routing to your final destination at the earliest opportunity, or
– re-routing to a later date agreed by you, under comparable transport conditions (a new reservation), subject to availability of seats.
Once you have opted for one of these three options, you have no further rights in relation to the other two. However, the airline may offer you compensation depending on the distance flown and the delay in relation to your original scheduled arrival time.
If the airline fails to meet its obligation to offer you re-routing or a return flight to the place from which you departed at the earliest opportunity and under comparable transport conditions, it must refund the cost of your ticket.
If the airline does not give you the choice between reimbursement and re-routing, but decides unilaterally to refund the price of your original ticket, you are entitled to an additional reimbursement of the difference in price between the new ticket and the original ticket (under comparable transport conditions).
If the outbound and return flights were booked separately and are operated by different companies and the outbound flight is cancelled, you are entitled to a refund only for the cancelled flight.