Passenger rights in the
case of a flight cancellation

Flight cancellation occurs when:

• your original flight schedule is abandoned and you’re transferred to a different regular flight
• the aircraft took off but, was forced to return to the airport of departure and you were transferred to another flight
• your flight arrives at an airport which is not the final destination of your trip, indicated in your ticket, unless:
• You accepted re-routing (under comparable transport conditions at the earliest opportunity) to the airport of your original final destination or to any other destination agreed by you. In this case it is considered as a flight delay, but not a flight cancellation.
• The airport of arrival and the airport of the original final destination serve the same town, city or region. In this case it is considered as flight delay, but not a flight cancellation.

If your flight is cancelled you have the right to reimbursement, re-routing or return, as well as the right to assistance and a right to compensation. Compensation is due if you were informed less than 14 days prior to the scheduled departure date. The airline has the obligation to prove if and when you were personally informed that the flight was cancelled. If this is not the case you can contact your local national authority for further assistance.

However, compensation is not due if the carrier can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances. The airline has to prove this by providing, for example, extracts from logbooks or incident reports. The air carrier should give this evidence to the relevant national enforcement body as well as to the passengers concerned in line with national provisions on access to documents.

When you have chosen one of these three options, you no longer have rights in relation to the other two options. However, the airline may still have to provide compensation depending on the distance of your flight and the length of the delay past your original planned arrival time.

• If the airline does not comply with its obligationto offer re-routing or return under comparable transport conditions at the earliest opportunity, it has to reimburse your flight costs.
• If the airline does not offer you the choice between reimbursement and re-routing but decides unilaterally to reimburse your original ticket, you are entitled to an additional reimbursement of the price difference with the new ticket (under comparable transport conditions).
• If you booked an outbound and a return flight separately with different airlines and the outbound flight is cancelled, reimbursement is only due for the cancelled flight.

If the outbound and return flights are operated by different airlines, but were part of a single reservation, in the event that the outbound flight was cancelled, you have the following rights:

• Compensation

A choice between the reimbursement of your entire ticket (outbound and return flights) or re-routing on another flight for the outbound flight

Assistance (care services) in case of flight cancellation

It’s obligatory to every Airline company to offer and provide passenger with assistance, free of charge, while passenger is waiting. In the event of travel disruption, you must make yourself identified to the airline, to avoid a scenario wherever you have arrange care services by yourself. Airline company should additionally guarantee, wherever obtainable, that accommodation is accessible for people with disabilities and their service dogs. Assistance (care services) includes:

• Rights to have Food and drinks during waiting period.
• Rights to make 2 Telephone calls & use Internet.
• Rights to have Accommodation during waiting time in case of overnight stay and transfers to and from the airport.

If assistance is not offered and you’ve paid by yourself for meals and refreshments etc., the airline company should reimburse you, provided the expenses were necessary, reasonable and appropriate, according to receipts for this purpose, which you should keep and represent to airline company to confirm your expenses. You only have the right to assistance as long as you have to wait for re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to your final destination at the earliest opportunity or a return flight. In exceptional cases, the airline may decide to limit or decline assistance if it would cause further delay to passengers waiting for an alternative or a delayed flight.

As soon as you have chosen one of these three options, you no longer have rights in relation to the other two options. However, the airline carrier may still have to provide compensation

• if you choose to have your ticket reimbursed – the compensation will depend on the type of flight
• if you choose re-routing – compensation will depend on the type of flight and the delay in reaching your final destination, past the original scheduled arrival time.

Cases when you are not entitled to compensation:

• if you are informed by the airline company more than 14 daysbefore the flight
• if you are informed by the airline company between 2 weeks and 7 daysbefore the scheduled departure and you are offered re-routing which would allow you:
• to depart no more than 2 hoursbefore the original scheduled time of departure and
• to reach your final destination less than 4 hoursafter the original scheduled time of arrival
• if you are informed less than 7 daysbefore the scheduled departure and are offered re-routing which would allow you:
• to depart no more than 1 hourbefore the original scheduled time of departure and
• to reach your final destination less than 2 hours afterthe original scheduled time of arrival.