Complaints and enquiries - Air Transport Users Council

More documents

Recommendations

Info

8 compensate a number of passengers for cancellations caused by “crew shortages” – we argued that this was foreseeable (and therefore not an “extraordinary” circumstance) and could be prevented by rostering extra backup staff to cover for any shortages. Our success with these types of complaints and the recent European Court of Justice ruling on the “Wallentin” case (see box below) gives us renewed optimism that passengers will be in a better position in the future to pursue their right to compensation when their flight is cancelled. Summary of European Court of Justice Judgement C-549/07- Wallentin – Hermann 22 December 2008 Background Mrs Wallentin-Hermann’s flight from Vienna to Brindlisi on Alitalia was cancelled as a result of an engine defect which had been discovered the day before during a check. Following the airline’s refusal to pay her compensation, Mrs Wallentin-Hermann went to court in Austria. The Commercial Court, Vienna, made a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Communities about whether the technical problems which led to the cancellation of the flight were covered by ‘extraordinary circumstances’ under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and therefore would exempt Alitalia from the obligation to pay compensation. Judgement The Court of Justice found that “in the light of the specific conditions in which air travel takes place and the degree of technological sophistication of aircraft, airlines are confronted as a matter of course in the exercise of their activity with various technical problems to which the operation of those aircraft inevitably gives rise. The resolution of a technical problem caused by failure to maintain an aircraft must therefore be regarded as inherent in the normal exercise of an air carrier’s activity. Consequently, technical problems which come to light during maintenance of aircraft or on account of failure to carry out such maintenance do not constitute, in themselves, ‘extraordinary circumstances’.” However, it did not rule out altogether that technical problems could be considered “extraordinary circumstances”. It suggested that problems that stemmed from events “which are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond its actual control” might be considered “exceptional circumstances”. For example, if a fleet of the aircraft were affected by a hidden manufacturing defect which impinged on flight safety. A passenger had a reservation for a flight from the Isle of Man to Birmingham. Unfortunately her flight was cancelled due to technical difficulties. The airline subsequently refused her claim for compensation. We took up her case with the airline and argued that, in light of the Wallentin ruling, the passenger was due £250 in compensation under Regulation EC261/2004. The airline subsequently paid up.
9 Other issues Reservation issues Last year we received 415 written complaints about reservation issues, compared to 318 the previous year. The complaints covered a number of problems concerning making or changing a reservation. This included passengers being charged twice for a booking, incorrect names or dates being entered into the booking, and general confusion for consumers about the fees airlines charged to change reservations. We had hoped that we would have seen a decrease in complaints about reservation issues following the publication of our report on buying tickets online in May (see page 13). But instead complaints have increased significantly. This is disappointing. But maybe we shouldn’t be surprised; the increasing number of bookings (and changes to reservations) made online, combined with continual tinkering by airlines of their booking systems are going to create problems sometimes. Airline failure The financial failure of a number of airlines last year accounted for a significant increase in telephone enquiries about this issue. Last year we received 231 calls about airline failure compared to 98 the year before. In addition, there were 5512 hits on the advice page on financial protection on the AUC website compared to 2155 the year before. There were 1242 hits in April alone, following the failure of Oasis Hong Kong Airlines in that month. However, we only received 27 written complaints about this issue. This is probably because there is little we can do for passengers who find themselves stuck abroad or out of pocket following an airline going bust, apart from offer advice over the phone or through our website. Unless passengers are covered by their credit card or travel insurance they are unlikely to get their money back even with our help (see page 16).
Page 1: AIR TRANSPORT USERS COUNCIL ANNUAL
Page 4 and 5: 2 CHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION There h
Page 6 and 7: 4 REVIEW OF THE YEAR Complaints and
Page 8 and 9: 6 Telephone enquiries in 2008/09 Ty
Page 12 and 13: 10 Schedule changes Last year we re
Page 14 and 15: 12 Representing passengers Consumer
Page 16 and 17: 14 Besides, we suggested that it wa
Page 18 and 19: 16 Financial protection Last year t
Page 20 and 21: 18 to change the date or the name o
Page 22 and 23: 20 two-thirds of the standards and
Page 24 and 25: 22 Consultations and Inquiries Civi
Page 26 and 27: 24 Guest speakers at AUC Council me
Page 28 and 29: 26 She has written several text boo
Page 30 and 31: 28 Secretariat (as of March 31 st 2
Page 32 and 33: 30 • The AUC shall consist of a C
Page 34: 32 GLOSSARY APD Air Passenger Duty

Complaints and enquiries - Air Transport Users Council

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?