Some of the thousands of people whose flights were canceled or delayed during the half-term travel chaos have been told they will not be compensated, leading to calls for a change to the way passengers are reimbursed.
Passengers caught up in earlier disruption said they had waited months for airlines to talk to them, while others said they had lost claims and had to resubmit them multiple times.
Consumer advocates want regulators to have the power to fine airlines if they break compensation rules during the summer months. There are flights booked for July that are above average.
The beginning of June was the first time in a long time that many people took a foreign vacation. Airlines and tour operators had to deal with staff shortages.
British Airways and Wizz Air canceled flights due to supply chain issues. The airline said it had told customers they could rebook, get a refund or apply for compensation in line with regulations.
Some easyJet passengers said they had not been compensated. Ben Brabyn and his family were due to fly from Gatwick to Pisa in Italy in the afternoon of May 27th for a family reunion that had been planned before the Pandemic. The flight was canceled because it wouldn't get to Pisa before the curfew. The Brabyns found a flight to Naples after EasyJet rebooking them for a different flight.
Brabyn was left out of pocket by the extra costs for last-minute plane tickets and car hire that were all wasted.
He thought he'd get a refund and compensation of around $260 per person. He was told last week that he was ineligible.
Brabyn said that he hadn't received any compensation. It is not possible to challenge it. They didn't explain why. It is a difficult thing to manage. Not right now.
Passengers on social media said they had also been denied compensation.
The family will be reimbursed for their alternative flight and other expenses, but no compensation will be given due to events beyond our control.
Some passengers said on social media that they were denied compensation because they were not listed on the website. Some people said they had tried to lodge a claim.
The problems which were caused by the technical error on the flight manifest system have now been fixed. A few passengers were affected.
Passengers have been waiting for a response. The British Airways flight that Laurie O'Brien and John Turville were going to take was canceled when they were at the airport. They were delayed for 13 hours on a replacement journey.
They only got a generic email two months later. She thinks they should get $520 for the cancellation and delay. They are hoping that people will forget about their claims.
British Airways apologized for the delay in responding to the couple.
Many carriers fail to inform passengers of their rights and take weeks to respond to claims, only to invite them to apply again because of technical errors. Consumers shouldn't have to go through a lot to get their refunds and compensation.
Direct fining powers for the Civil Aviation Authority are needed to prevent further abuse of passenger rights as the summer holiday season approaches.
The average number of complaints per month last summer was less than 1,000. It was an extraordinary number and he had been flooded with inquiries.
No one should be told that they don't qualify unless there's a specific reason that excludes a claim, the fault has to be that of the airline or foreseeable by them Storm action is over. The air traffic control strike has ended.
It is possible for passengers of most British airlines to escalate the matter to a mediation service.
According to the Observer, airlines and airports paid out over 13 million dollars in compensation in the last year.
When fewer people were flying, the number of complaints dropped and the number of successful claims dropped as well. Figures for complaints resolved or rejected by airlines and airports are not published by theCAA.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has proposed changing the rules to a system similar to the train delay compensation scheme, which some analysts say would mean lower compensation payments for travelers, but this would only apply to internal UK flights.
The airports have been quiet since half-term, but are likely to be busy in July with possible strike action by pilots in Sweden and France. In the UK, airlines and airports are having a hard time finding replacements for workers who were laid off during the Pandemic. Industry leaders say recruits are taking other jobs because of delays in getting security clearance for new airport staff.
July and August bookings were already more than double the levels of the previous year. The vice-president for insights said that Turkey is currently performing the best, with bookings ahead of the equivalent moment in 2019. It's followed by Greece and India.
The number of people who have booked a holiday for the next year has increased.
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