From a two-hour delay, the airline must provide refreshments, a prepaid phone card and possibly accommodation.
The amount of compensation for the ticket depends on the distance traveled or planned.
A full or partial refund of the entrance fee is only possible after a three-hour delay.
Whether low-cost, premium or high-end airlines, they are obliged to compensate their customers in case of flight delays of more than three hours. Please note that compensation will not be granted if the damage is due to exceptional circumstances (eg health crisis, weather conditions, air traffic controller strike). However, refunds are possible in the event of a strike by the company’s employees or technical problems. The amount of compensation then varies depending on the flight distance. The further you are from your home, the higher the amount. Please note that these amounts may be reduced by 50% if the airline offers another flight with an arrival time of no more than two, three or four hours from the original schedule, depending on the flight distance. From a five-hour delay, the ticket can be refunded in full.
According to a report produced by the Authority for Quality Transport (AQST) in July 2023, the previous year reached its record number of delays and disruptions. For domestic flights, the average delay per flight in 2019 was 44 minutes. In 2021 it increased to 41 minutes, in 2022 it increased to 46 minutes. For long-haul flights, the average delay was 47 minutes in 2021, eventually increasing to 51 minutes in 2022. Paradoxically, if the quality of air travel declines, it seems that reimbursements from companies are increasingly difficult to obtain. How do they avoid compensating customers while respecting Article 7 of European Regulation No. 261/2004 of 11 February 2004?
Airlines sometimes have their own way of calculating delays
As you can see, you need to be at least three hours late on your journey to receive financial compensation. Except that some companies play for minutes and may consider the delay time over once the plane’s wheels touch the tarmac. However, as Raphaël Lacroix, a lawyer at the European Consumer Center, pointed out, Figaro “European texts consider the effective time of arrival to be the moment when the aircraft door opens and the passenger regains freedom of action”. It sometimes takes another ten to twenty minutes to get off the plane. When making an online complaint, be sure to rely on specific elements of the dispute, such as photos of timetabled bulletin boards documenting your delay.