(14 Jan 2010)
The cold weather spell which prevailed over Ireland, the UK and many parts of Europe during recent weeks, resulted in widespread disruption to many flights. Indeed some Irish airports had to temporarily suspend operations as a result of the heavy snowfalls and frosty conditions.
If your flight was cancelled or delayed as a result of these weather conditions, you may not have known that you had significant rights and entitlements under EC Regulation No. 261/ 2004. For a brief summary of these rights and entitlements please see below.
Where a flight is cancelled with no prior notice, the passengers are entitled to:
- Be informed of their legal rights by the airline;
- Access to telephone, fax, telex or other forms of communication;
- A refund or an alternative flight to their destination subject to availability, and;
- Food, refreshments and accommodation offered by the airline free of charge (if necessary and in reasonable relation to the waiting time) while waiting on an alternative flight.
Where a flight is delayed for certain prescribed timeframes (i.e. at least 2 hours for short haul flights and 3 hours for medium haul flights), passengers are entitled to:
- Be informed of their legal entitlements by the airline;
- Food and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time;
- Two phone calls, telex or fax messages, or emails;
- Accommodation if a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary;
- Transport between the airport and place of accommodation.
It is important to note that these rights and entitlements applied even though the cause of the flight cancellation/ delay was weather related!
For more comprehensive information regarding your rights and entitlements under EC Regulation No. 261/ 2004 (including information about the applicability of compensation in these situations) please click here. Alternatively please contact us on 1890 787 787.