Complaints and enquiries - Air Transport Users Council

7
Complaints under Regulation EC 261/2004 on compensation and assistance
for denied boarding, cancellation and delays
Under Regulation EC 261/2004, the AUC is designated as the complaints
handling body for passengers departing from UK airports, whilst the CAA is
the designated enforcement body.
We received 2919 written complaints that could be categorised as coming
under Regulation EC 261/2004, compared to 2928 the year before. A
breakdown of the number of complaints by type is in the table below.
Type of complaint 2008/09 2007/08
Cancellations 1968 1896
Delays 681 790
Denied boarding 252 242
Downgrading 18 (not categorised)
Total 2919 2928
As with 2007/08, written complaints under the Regulation accounted for about
half of the total complaints we received last year. However, the number of
complaints under the Regulation decreased very slightly (in comparison to an
11% increase in overall complaints).
Delays
We are pleased to report that complaints about delays decreased for the third
year running. Last year we received 681 complaints compared to 790 in
2007/08, and 1969 in 2005/6, the first full year after the Regulation came into
force. We like to think that this is a sign that passengers are increasingly
getting what they should be entitled to under the Regulation following a delay.
However, complaints to us show that a number of airlines still continue to
sometimes flout the rules (whether intentionally or not) when a flight is
delayed.
Cancellations
Complaints about cancellations increased slightly in 2008/09 compared to
2007/08. However, we are making headway in getting redress for passengers
in terms of compensation. This is something which has often been difficult to
achieve because under Regulation EC 261/2004 airlines do not have to pay
compensation when a flight is cancelled under “extraordinary circumstances”,
which airlines claim tends to be on
most occasions. Last year we
managed to get compensation for
128 complainants who contacted
us compared to 60 the year before.
We had particular success in
persuading one airline to