Cash compensation for plane flight delay. Time limit for consideration of the complaint. Compensation payments for flight delays on Russian territory

Unfortunately, not all trips go smoothly. Flight delays occupy a special place on the list of popular difficulties among travelers. This happens not only on charter routes, but also on regular ones. What to do if there is a flight delay, what are airline passengers entitled to? What free services and compensation should they expect?

Possible reasons for delays

There is no need to explain that the reasons can be very different. Sometimes these data may differ even between airline and airport employees. To establish the cause, the courts make inquiries to various airport services. So these could be:

Aircraft malfunctions.
Weather.
Vessel delay, etc.

Are you trying to figure out what passengers are entitled to if their flight is delayed? When the flight is delayed due to circumstances beyond the airline's control, then it will not be possible to claim financial compensation. But it should provide certain conveniences during the waiting process.

This is where the first difficulties await travelers; not many of them understand their rights, for example, what passengers are entitled to if their flight is delayed by 3 hours, and what airlines themselves are not profitable to offer. Therefore, the flag is in your hands, or, more precisely, FAP (Federal aviation regulations).

Obligations of the carrier in the event of a flight delay

The first thing the airport/carrier must do in the event of a delay is to inform travelers about the schedule amendments and the reasons for them.

If passengers do not receive information, and it is impossible to find a company agent, then the Federal Air Transport Service and tour operators should be notified about the situation. The former manage the airline, and the latter are responsible to travelers for the services provided, since they have entered into an agreement with the carrier.

Ticket return

If, due to the fact that your flight is behind schedule, you decide not to wait for the ship to depart, but to take another airline or go home, then accordingly you have decided to terminate the agreement for air transportation. It is forced, therefore, you can count on compensation in the amount of 100%.

Such refusals also include:

Reorganization of the route by the carrier.
The flight is not on schedule.
Failed departure of a traveler due to the lack of a seat in the cabin corresponding to the date and flight indicated on the boarding ticket, due to a lengthy search by an airport employee, as a result of which no prohibited items and substances were found.
Sudden illness of a passenger or his close relative with confirmation of this fact by a medical certificate.
Failure to provide the traveler with a class of service corresponding to the purchased ticket.

In the event of a forced refusal, the airline puts a corresponding note on the ticket or issues a document explaining the circumstances of this refusal.

Travelers' rights when their flight is delayed

So, what do passengers have to do if their flight is delayed? Even if you don’t have to wait long, about 1 hour, you still shouldn’t leave the situation to chance. Immediately after receiving information about the delay, you should go to the reception desk and ask for detailed explanations. With such a slight delay, you are unlikely to receive an answer, since the employees themselves do not know what is going on, but the main purpose of the conversation is to put a stamp on the delay. It will become irrefutable evidence in subsequent proceedings.

The reasons for a delay may vary, but every traveler should have information about what passengers are entitled to in the event of a flight delay. The list of airline obligations includes:

Travelers with children under 7 years of age must be provided with a pass to the mother and child room.
Storage of luggage until departure.

Agree that it is much more convenient to wait for a rescheduled flight, freeing your hands from luggage, and settling in comfortable conditions with your children. The list of subsequent services included in the carrier's responsibilities depends on the duration of the delay.

Delay time

Depending on the waiting time, the passenger is provided with the following services:

So, what do passengers have to do if their flight is delayed by 2 hours or more? An air passenger has the right to demand from the company the opportunity to make 2 phone calls at his expense to any city in the world and send 2 SMS.
What else are entitled to passengers if their flight is delayed by 2 hours or more? The carrier must provide them with drinks of their choice in the required quantity.
Hot meals are provided to passengers if their flight is delayed by 5 hours or more. After this, feeding is carried out every 6 hours during the day and 8 at night.
The flight was delayed for 6 hours, what do passengers have to do? After this time, all travelers must be provided with the following:

Hotel room before departure. Rest room is provided after 8 hours of flight delay during the day, after 6 hours - at night.
By car to the hotel and back.

Other compensation

All announced services must be provided to the passenger completely free of charge. There can be no justification in this case, since the air carrier must take care of passengers under all conditions. Well, if the flight was delayed due to the fault of the organization, then she will not be able to get away with a hot lunch and a hotel room. In addition to this, passengers are entitled to:

Cash payment in the amount of 3% of the ticket price, multiplied by the number of hours of delay.
Compensation in the amount of 0.25% of the minimum wage multiplied by the number of delayed departure hours.

In total, for a delayed flight, an air passenger will be able to return up to 50% of the ticket price (depending on the length of the wait). If the flight was never completed, then, without any doubt, it will be returned full price ticket in addition to other compensation. All these amounts are valid on Russian territory; in EU countries the amount of payments is much higher. Depending on the departure time and distance, an air passenger who received a flight cancellation message from the carrier less than 2 weeks in advance can expect compensation in the amount of 600 euros.

Important information

If a flight is delayed for 14 hours, what do passengers have to do? With such a long-term flight delay, you should not wait long for the airline to pay for food and hotel. You can do everything yourself, the main thing is to save all payment documents (receipts, checks, etc.), since all the funds spent will then be returned, but, however, this will be done through the court.

Don’t know what passengers are entitled to if their flight is delayed by 5 hours or more? What to do if docking was expected? There is no need to worry about transplants. If you were supposed to connecting flight, then the carrier will in any case have to provide a seat on another aircraft en route to your destination. You won't have to pay a penny extra for your ticket, even if you are placed in business class. But if you purchased a business class ticket and free places is in economy, then it is imperative to insist on the return of the difference!

The flight delay time is calculated based on the data indicated on the boarding ticket. The carrier, at its own discretion, may provide Additional services during the cool-down, but they do not cancel the mandatory ones.

What to do if your charter flight is delayed

If you are going to make a claim, you will definitely need a certificate of flight delay/cancellation. The boarding receipt must be handwritten and stamped with the current departure time.

If mandatory services are not provided while waiting for a flight, purchase them yourself, but be sure to keep all receipts. Upon arrival, present them to the tour operator, his task is to deal with the charter carrier and demand compensation.

What you need to know about charter flight delays

Air carriers of scheduled and charter flights separate different types responsibility. In the latter case, all responsibility lies with the tour operator who chartered the ship, and not with the carrier itself.

If there is a flight delay, what do passengers have to do? The law states that, regardless of the reasons for changing the schedule, the carrier is obliged to provide the passenger with the necessary services specified above within the established time limits.

The main thing you need to do is get a stamp at the check-in counter about the delay of your flight. If there is one, then you will be able to return your own funds that could have been spent due to the fact that the carrier did not provide the necessary services or did so in violation of the established time frame.

Disputes regarding reimbursement of funds may go to court, but most often this does not happen; all claims are considered pre-trial. You can submit an application for compensation within 6 months from the date of the flight; the carrier/tour operator is obliged to consider it within 30 days.

Compensation payments for flight delays on Russian territory

The obligations of air carriers and the rights of travelers regarding the issue of receiving compensation for changing the departure time of a ship of a Russian carrier or a foreign organization that delayed a flight in Russia are regulated by the Air Code of the Russian Federation.

To receive payment for changing your flight, you need to put a stamp at the check-in counter and also obtain a corresponding certificate from an airline representative. Claims are accepted within six months from the date of flight delay.

The claim statement must be accompanied by a stamped plane ticket and a certificate confirming this fact. In addition, if you paid for the services yourself, all payment documents must be attached (receipts for food, hotel, transportation, etc. during the delay). The claim must be sent by registered mail with an inventory by mail or delivered personally to the airline's agents. Be sure to make a copy of the letter for yourself. If the request will be delivered to the representative personally, do not forget to take a receipt from him. A response should be expected within a month from the date of sending.

If the flight is delayed by a European airline or within the EU

If the flight schedule of an airline registered in the EU or at an airport in EU countries has changed, then what do passengers have to do if the flight is delayed by 3 hours, for example? In this case, passengers are paid compensation, which can only be refused for several reasons:

Terrorist act.
Synoptic conditions.
Strike.
Sabotage.

Atmospheric conditions are considered a reason for refusal only if all flights originating from that airport have been delayed.

To receive compensation, you need to study the regulations, and if your situation fits the provisions described there, then you can safely write a statement of claim addressed to the air carrier. You send a letter and wait for a response. If the carrier refuses to provide compensation, you can send a letter to the consumer protection society of the country from which the flight took place. If there is a refusal there, then file a claim in the court of the same country.

The amount of payment will depend on the duration of the delay, as well as the distance between the departure and arrival airports.

Another way

The second way to receive compensation is to seek help from the Compensair organization, which completely takes care of all the paperwork for collecting payment from the air carrier, from filling out the initial application to pre-trial work with local consumer protection authorities in EU countries and court proceedings. By the way, you can check the possibility of receiving compensation for a specific delayed flight on their website completely free of charge.

The service only charges a fee for the work done if the result is positive. You don’t have to pay anything, Compensair will transfer the amount to you minus the commission, usually its size is 25%.

A flight delay is an unpleasant but relatively common situation that can happen at the very beginning of a trip. The reasons are quite varied: bad weather, technical problems on the plane, heavy load airspace airport, internal problems of the airline, etc. Regardless of what caused the plane to be delayed, there is no need to be scared or confused. Below we will look at what to do if your flight is delayed.

Passenger rights in case of flight delay

Are you flying charter or regular flight, a major air carrier, or - the rights of a passenger in case of a flight delay are the same.

It must be remembered that all issues during a flight delay must be resolved with representatives of the airline, and not with airport services. In turn, if problems arise with departure at the scheduled time, the airline is obliged to immediately notify you of the reasons and timing of the delay of the aircraft flight.

Where to contact?

Unfortunately, when it comes to respecting all the rights of passengers, airlines do not always demonstrate their proactivity, so you must know all the rules yourself and do not hesitate to remind the carrier representatives at the airport about them.

Where can I find an airline representative? The right person may be at your flight check-in counter, at your airline's sales office at the airport, or at the gate itself. If your search is unsuccessful, feel free to call the airline phone number indicated on your ticket.

Keep an eye on the clock

Families with small passengers under 7 years old are entitled to access to an equipped and comfortable mother and child room, even if the flight delay is minor.
If your flight is delayed for 2 hours, you can make 2 free calls or send 2 emails. In addition, you should have access to cold drinks.
A flight delay of more than 4 hours already means that the airline will provide hot meals. Usually this is a coupon for a certain amount to order food at one of the airport restaurants. You should receive this service every 6 hours during the day and every 8 hours at night.
If the flight delay reaches 8 hours (or 6 hours at night), the airline is obliged to accommodate you in a hotel, organize transport there and back, and also provide free luggage storage at the airport. If for some reason you are not satisfied with the conditions of hotel accommodation (for example, it is unacceptable for strangers to stay in the same room), you can find a hotel room yourself, remembering to save all documents confirming personal expenses. This will help you later claim compensation for plane delays.

Filing a claim and compensation for flight delay

Airplane delays are not only unpleasant due to the unplanned wait, but can also lead to certain losses: a missed business meeting, a missed connecting flight with another airline, a paid but unused hotel reservation. In this case, any victim has the right to file a flight delay claim and receive compensation. However, it should be borne in mind that this rule only applies when the flight delay is due to the fault of the airline itself. For example, bad weather conditions or excessive congestion at the airport will not be a reason to claim compensation.

In order to competently file a claim, you need to collect as many documents as possible confirming the fact that the plane was delayed. Immediately after the delay is announced, ask the company representatives to make a note about this on your ticket, and when boarding the plane, the actual departure time. Keep all receipts indicating your personal expenses during the flight delay.

To receive compensation for an aircraft flight delay, a claim with all attached evidence must be submitted to the airline within 6 months after arrival. If there is no response within 30 days, you can immediately go to court.

The amount of compensation is 25% of the minimum wage for each hour of delay, but not more than 50% of the cost of your air ticket.

Now you know everything about what to do if your flight is delayed. We wish you pleasant travels!

Problems with air transportation often affect the quality of rest of our tourists. More and more often you can hear about blatant cases of delays or cancellations of flights, seemingly quite large and famous airlines. For example, the recent problem that arose among tourists with VIM-Avia caused a lot of noise. Of course, you can talk a lot about who is to blame for this, speaking on lengthy topics, but it is worth remembering that first of all, living people suffer from this, who have planned their vacation or are forced to fly to another city or country due to some family circumstances . And these people may be hoping that they will get on another connecting flight to continue their onward journey. But suddenly they find out that their flight is canceled or delayed, and it doesn’t matter whether it is direct or charter. What should they do in this case, what steps should they take? How to get compensation for a ruined vacation?

It is difficult not to get confused in such a situation, especially if it happened to you for the first time, or your flight was a connecting flight, or you were tied to the time of your arrival. But it is worth remembering that your plane ticket is nothing more than an agreement with this airline, which has undertaken to deliver you, as a passenger, to the point of the planet you need and at the time you need, otherwise, it undertakes to take care of its passenger, if circumstances did not go according to plan.

Every passenger should know that the Civil Code of the Russian Federation stipulates cases when the air carrier is not responsible for cancellation or delay of a flight, these are: various natural phenomena - fires, snow drifts, hurricanes, floods; bad weather conditions; sudden military action; complete cessation or restriction of cargo transportation in a number of directions; in some cases, during a strike by airline or airport personnel, in the presence of malfunctions that pose a threat to the life and health of air passengers. In all other cases, the fault lies with the airline that violated its obligations under the contract.

First, let's take a closer look at what happens when a direct or charter flight is canceled by an airline.

- The flight may be canceled several days before the plane departs for its destination.

In this case, the airline traditionally offers passengers several ways to solve the problem of canceled flights: an alternative to flying on another route of the same air carrier or a flight from another company, but the destination remains the same.

The passenger has the right to demand a full refund of the cost of his air ticket. For example, if you purchased one air ticket for a flight with transfers, then you are required to refund the amount for the entire route. If a passenger bought two tickets, for example, Moscow-Barcelona and separately Barcelona-Valencia, and the first flight to Barcelona was cancelled, then you will only be refunded the amount spent on the air ticket from Moscow to Barcelona, and you will need to return the ticket from Barcelona to Valencia at normal rates. If the cancellation of the flight affected the second part of the air travel - Barcelona-Valencia, and no alternative options were provided to you, but the trip has lost its meaning, then the air carrier is obliged by law not only to refund the money for the air ticket to Valencia, but also to fly you back to Moscow for free . Regarding the refund for round trip tickets, you will be able to get a refund of their full cost if the flight is canceled and if you purchased them not separately, but as a “round trip”, that is, two tickets on a single form.

- The flight may be canceled or delayed when the tourist is already at the airport.

The airline is required to give you clear information about the reason and time for which the flight was delayed. You have the right to demand this information from an employee of your airline, and he is obliged to offer tourists options for their further actions. Often, an airline employee makes a proposal to transport tourists to their destination on another aircraft or on a flight from another carrier. And provided that the air carrier is at fault, this flight will be free for the tourist.

Not all passengers who have suffered moral and financial problems due to canceled or delayed flights are aware of their rights to receive compensation. This compensation varies depending on the timing of the transfer and cancellation of the flight, as well as the distance to the desired point. If the airline is at fault, it is legally obligated to give the passenger three percent of the cost of his air ticket for every hour he spent waiting, as compensation for the flight delay. This is stipulated in Article 28, paragraph 5 of the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”. In addition, pay as a fine twenty-five percent of the minimum wage for each hour of waiting, but this amount cannot exceed half the price of the air ticket. No other additional compensation is given to canceled passengers when flights are cancelled, but every tourist has the right to have the amount of their tickets refunded or exchanged for a similar flight.

Rights of a tourist passenger when a flight is delayed for more than two hours:

Making two phone calls or sending two emails; - you are required to provide free drinks; - if you have children under seven years of age with you, then you must be given free access to the mother and child room.

Tourist rights when a flight is delayed for more than four hours:

The passenger must be fed a free hot meal, and fed every six hours during the day and every eight hours at night.

Rights of tourist passengers when rescheduling a flight by more than eight hours during the daytime and more than six hours at night:

The airline must bring you and check you into a hotel at its own expense, and provide you with a free transfer there and back. According to the law, tourists do not have the right to be placed in the same room with strangers. If the passenger does not like the room provided or the hotel offered, then he can find a suitable option, and the airline must pay an amount that will be equal in price to the initial accommodation option offered to it. A tourist can pay the price difference for the more expensive room he has chosen or pay for his stay in full, but in this case we recommend that you keep the payment receipt in order to thus return part of the money spent, if available objective reasons refusal to stay according to the option offered by the air carrier. But, it is worth knowing that if you refuse the room offered by the airline, you lose the right to a free round-trip transfer, but the air carrier is obliged to store your luggage at its own expense.

Where can tourist passengers complain to receive compensation for a canceled or delayed flight?

If there was a cancellation or delay of a domestic direct or charter flight Russian company, then claims are considered in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. Passenger complaints against foreign airlines that have not fulfilled their obligations to them on the territory of the Russian Federation are also considered in Russia. But when an airline postpones or cancels a flight abroad, litigation is conducted in the country and according to the laws where this happened, and the place where the air carrier is registered will not play a role.

Claims are submitted by the passenger personally at the airport of departure or upon arrival. When there is no representative office of your airline at the airport or its employees are not on site, the claim is submitted through the airline’s website. Although emails can often be ignored, it is better to send your claim by registered mail to the airline, make a detailed list of the enclosed documents and keep a copy of your statement, confirmation of dispatch, as this can be used in legal proceedings if the air carrier ignores you or refuses you compensation. According to our Russian legislation, a passenger has the right to present his claims to the air carrier within six months from the date of cancellation or delay of the flight.

I would like to touch on another important point for tourists, which is very topical for Moscow airports. Very often, passengers are taken to an airport different from the one indicated on their ticket. In this case, the airline is obliged to deliver the tourist-passenger to his desired destination using free transport. AND this rule valid at all airports in the Russian Federation.

It is impossible to foresee everything in the world. You can buy the best plane tickets, but at the same time you won’t be able to fly, because already in the arrival hall it turns out that the flight has been delayed. This trouble is almost always associated with a whole avalanche of related problems for the traveler, starting from where and how much money to eat during a long wait, and ending with how to still get to the desired point of arrival, since a hotel has been booked there, something important happens event, there must be a transfer to another flight, etc.

And since few of us have clairvoyant abilities, it will be useful to find out at your leisure what to do if your flight is delayed, since panic and anger in such a situation are the worst advisers. First of all, the procedure depends on how long the delay occurred.

What should a passenger do if their flight is delayed?

Even if the waiting time for a flight is short, say, 1 hour or a little more, you should not leave things to chance. You need to immediately go to the information desk after the announcement and ask the employee to give an explanation. There is usually no response to such delays, but the main objective This approach is to put a mark on the tickets about the delay. This will serve as indisputable evidence in any future proceedings.

The delay time and its reasons can be anything, but every passenger should know what to do if their flight is delayed. This list includes:

Providing space in the mother and child room for passengers with children under 7 years of age.
Baggage storage until departure.

Having freed your hands from your suitcases and settled down with your children in comfortable conditions, waiting for a delayed flight is incomparably more convenient. The carrier provides further services depending on the delay time.

If the flight is delayed by 2 hours or more, the passenger has the right to demand:

Opportunities to make 2 free phone calls anywhere in the world, as well as send 2 free messages via the Internet.
Drinks (water, tea, coffee, juices) in the required quantity.

If the flight is delayed by 4 hours and more, then the list of requirements can safely include:

Hot meals immediately, and then every 6 hours during the day and 8 hours at night.

If your flight is delayed by 6 hours or more, all passengers of the flight by the carrier must be provided with:

A place in the hotel until the moment of departure. Hotel room is provided to all flight passengers during the day after a delay of more than 8 hours, and at night after a delay of more than 6 hours. It doesn’t matter how many times delay announcements are extended at the airport, the countdown is based on the time on the tickets.
Transportation from the airport building to the hotel by airport transport.

Passengers have the right to receive all of the above services absolutely free of charge. However, any excuses do not matter, since the rules oblige the carrier to take care of customers under all circumstances. In cases where the flight is delayed due to the fault of the airline, then she will no longer get away with a hotel room and a hot lunch. All flight passengers are additionally entitled to:

3% of the ticket price, multiplied by the number of hours of flight delay (Clause 5, Article 28 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On Protection of Consumer Rights”).
0.25% of the minimum wage based on the number of hours of flight delay.

In total, due to compensation, the passenger will be able to return up to half of the cost of the air ticket (Article 120 of the Air Code of the Russian Federation). Of course, if the flight never took place, the passenger will receive the cost of the tickets back, in addition to the compensation due. All of the compensation amounts listed are valid in Russia, but in EU countries they are much higher. Proportional to the flight time and distance, a passenger who receives a flight cancellation notice from the airline less than 14 days before the departure date may receive compensation of up to 600 euros.

Important: do not wait too long if your plane flight is delayed until the carrier pays for a hotel or a hot lunch. Pay for everything yourself, but keep all payment documents: checks, receipts, since later the money will be returned, but, however, through the court.

Also, don't worry about transfers. If you had to transfer to another plane at the landing point, the carrier is obliged to provide a seat on the plane for another flight with the same point of arrival. Pay extra for new ticket You won't have to pay a penny, even if you are placed in business class instead of economy. But if the ticket was originally purchased for business class, and the new one is offered only in economy, then you must demand your money back!

How to get money from the carrier if your plane flight is delayed?

To get everything spent back, you need to write a statement on your behalf to the airline and ask to reimburse all costs, as well as pay the due compensation for the delay in departure. Please attach to this application:

checks for payment of hotel and meals;
a certificate from the airport information desk about the flight delay;
air ticket.

This claim does not have to be urgently sent somewhere; it can be sent to the carrier’s legal address by mail, but no later than 6 months from the date of the delayed flight. Usually such a claim is enough to get money back to your bank account specified in the letter. If there is no answer, you can safely go to court, because the law is on your side!

If you were to fly on a tour package, part of the cost of which was air tickets, then you can additionally request a refund from the tour operator for those paid days that you spent waiting for departure. You must hurry up and submit this claim to the tour operator’s office within 20 days from the date on which the signed contract for the provision of services expires.

Where to complain?

For a passenger, it matters which airline he is dealing with. Domestic flight cancellations and delays Russian airlines are considered under Russian legislation. Passenger complaints against foreign carriers who have violated their obligations to Russian travelers are also considered in the same way. It is worth noting that when going on a trip, you need not only to buy plane tickets, but also.

Tell friends:

My flight from Antalya was delayed by 13 hours. Six months later, the tour operator paid me 36,500 RUR for this. Despite the fact that it was a charter and there seemed to be “no guarantees.”

Sergey Boldin

received compensation from the tour operator

Last fall I bought package tour and flew with his family to Turkey. While we were relaxing, our airline went bankrupt. Our charter departed home with a delay, so I wrote to the tour operator and asked to compensate for the lost time. The operator replied that this should be done by the airline.

The tour operator did not take into account that I am a lawyer and know my rights. I didn’t start a scandal, but collected evidence and filed a lawsuit against him.

Certificates, checks, call details

Problems with our airline began even before we flew on vacation. The day before departure, the travel agent sent us tickets for chartered flight. The departure time was known, the flight appeared in the airport schedule. But when we arrived at the airport, it turned out that the flight was delayed.

By law, if a flight is delayed for more than two hours, the carrier is obliged to provide passengers with free refreshments and organize communication: two phone calls or two emails. If the flight is delayed for more than four hours, he is obliged to feed everyone a hot meal. If it is longer than six at night or eight during the day, stay in a hotel.

Our flight was delayed by more than four hours, but no one offered us food or drinks. We bought them with our own money, I kept the receipts.

While we were on vacation in Turkey, the airline's problems worsened. Compatriots on the beach were discussing the news: some were unable to fly on vacation on a vacation package, others were unable to return home. The day before departure I asked hotel guide to be on the safe side, extend our stay. The guide replied that the flight would be on schedule and there was no need to pay for accommodation.

On the morning of our departure, it became obvious that the plane would not arrive for us on time: our flight was not on the airport’s schedule. We didn’t want to wait outside, so we had to arrange a late check-out so that we wouldn’t be evicted from our room. The tour operator's representative was not there, so I paid for everything myself and asked for a check.

The rest of the day we sat on our suitcases and waited for the tour operator representative to take us to the airport. The departure was postponed several times. After the late check-out time from the hotel had expired, the tour operator still extended our stay - but did not provide the two required phone calls. I called at my own expense and after returning I ordered details of these calls from the telecom operator.

They only came for us in the morning. We were supposed to fly out of Antalya at 8pm but instead left at 9am the next day - with a 13 hour delay.

Upon arrival at the Moscow airport, I went to the information desk and asked to mark the delay of both flights. Such marks are usually placed on back side boarding pass or on printout itinerary receipt.

Then I collected all the documents about violations of our rights and turned to the tour operator for compensation.

Tour operator answers

What's special about a charter

Roughly speaking, the tour operator tells the airline: “I want to rent a plane from you to take 200 people to Antalya on September 9, and return them back on September 23.” The airline replies: “Okay, on the 9th and 23rd the plane is yours for three hours, along with the pilots and flight attendants.”

While the plane is rented from a tour operator, flight delays are his responsibility, which is why he pays compensation. The only exception is if the flight is delayed for safety reasons, for example, if the plane breaks down and it is dangerous to fly. Judicial practice shows that in this case it will not be possible to receive compensation.

The reason for the delay of our flight was not announced at the airport, but it was found on the delay stamps that were placed upon arrival home. The marks “PPS” and “U05” mean “late arrival of the vessel” and “change in departure time by decision of the dispatch service.” Not a word about security.

How to make a claim

The claim must be submitted to the tour operator within 20 days from the end of the trip. The tour operator has 10 days to check everything and respond.

In my claim, I described the situation and demanded that all expenses be reimbursed, as well as compensation for moral damages for the flight delay. In addition, I indicated the account details to which I expect to receive money.

I attached copies of receipts and certificates to the claim and sent all this to the legal address of the tour operator by registered mail. Postal receipts for sending were later useful in court.

Which court to file a claim in?

While the tour operator was thinking about how to respond to my claim, I studied judicial practice on similar disputes. I needed to decide which court to file a claim in if my claim was denied.

By general rule the claim must be filed in court at the location of the defendant. But the law protects the consumer as weak side legal relations, therefore gives him a choice: to sue where the defendant is located or where he himself lives.

If the defendant is big company, most likely, she has already been sued. To find out how it all ended, it is useful to study the judicial practice on the website of the court that has jurisdiction over the legal address of the company. If decisions are often made not in favor of consumers, it makes sense to file a lawsuit in your place of residence. And if you find a court decision in a similar case in favor of the consumer, you can use it to draw up your claim.

Another option is to search through the official websites of city courts of general jurisdiction and magistrates' courts. For example, on the Moscow website there is a section “Territorial Jurisdiction”, where you can determine his court by the address of the defendant. Decisions on claims are usually published in the “Judicial Proceedings” section.

In my case, decisions were often made in favor of tourists, so I did not exercise the right to choose a court. I waited until the tour operator ignored my claim and filed a claim in court at its location.

Statement of claim

In the statement of claim you need to write in which court you are filing it, who the plaintiff and defendant are, at what address they can be found, the price of the claim, what the violation of rights is and what you want to achieve. Also, list documents that support your position. All this information is required; without it, the claim will not be accepted. When drawing up a claim, you should check the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.

It would not be amiss to cite judicial practice in favor of consumers in similar cases. Consumers do not need to pay state duty.

Before filing a claim, you need to calculate the amount of compensation and the cost of the claim. These are different things. To put it simply, the amount of compensation is all the money you want to receive from the defendant through the court. The cost of the claim is only the money that you lost due to his actions and the penalty provided for by law. The price of the claim does not include compensation for moral damage and a fine for the fact that the defendant did not pay you without a trial.

For example, in my case, the cost of the claim includes the cost of hotel, food, drinks and phone calls. In addition, it includes a penalty for violation of travel dates. In total, I demanded almost 130 thousand rubles from the tour operator, and the price of my claim was 5,123 rubles.

The cost of the claim determines which court will hear your case. If it is less than 50 thousand rubles, then it is global, if it is more, then it is regional. It does not affect anything else in disputes involving service consumers.

In my statement of claim, I demanded from the tour operator:

Compensate for the costs of everything that a passenger is entitled to in case of a flight delay: drinks, food, two phone calls and accommodation.
Compensate for moral damage to all family members, including two children.
Pay a penalty for violation of the terms of service provision - 3% of the cost of the tour package for one day of delay in departure.
Pay a fine for refusing to voluntarily satisfy my claim - 50% of the awarded amount of compensation.

I attached two copies of it to the claim - for the tour operator and the travel agency that sold me his ticket. The tour operator is responsible for paying compensation, so there is no point in involving the agency as another defendant. But he can be brought in as a third party - if the judge approves it. A representative of the agency will come to the meeting, and if any questions arise, he will be able to answer them immediately.

So that the trial would not be postponed if I could not come, I asked to consider the claim without me.

This is what my application looked like:

To the statement of claim I attached certificates about flight delays, copies of receipts for food and hotel, call details that I took from the telecom operator, a copy of the complaint against the tour operator, as well as a press release from Rospotrebnadzor that an administrative case was opened against the tour operator due to flight delays.

Complaint to Rospotrebnadzor

Before going to court, you can complain to Rospotrebnadzor. This will not help you achieve compensation without going to court: Rospotrebnadzor does not have the right to oblige the tour operator to pay you money. But he can fine him based on your complaint, and this will strengthen your position in court. In addition, Rospotrebnadzor specialists will tell you how to file a claim and, perhaps, help protect your interests in court.

But all this is in theory. In my practice, the quality of assistance from Rospotrebnadzor depends on the case and it is dangerous to completely trust it with your work.

Therefore, I filed my claim myself.

The court's decision

The court decided that the charter flight was included in the tour package, so the tour operator was responsible for its delay. In December, three months after returning from vacation, the court partially satisfied my demands and recovered from the tour operator:

The cost of living at the hotel is 1153 RUR.
Penalty for violation of travel dates - 3215 RUR.
Moral damage - 20,000 RUR, 5,000 RUR for each family member.
The fine for refusing to satisfy a claim is RUB 12,184.

The court refused compensation for expenses for food at the airport and reduced compensation for moral damages. But even taking this into account, the amount of compensation was 36,552 RUR - this is 34% of the cost of the tour.

Receiving compensation

In February, two months after the court decision, I received writs of execution. Now I had to get the money. To do this, it was necessary to send the sheets to the bailiffs, and then wait until they initiate enforcement proceedings and forcefully collect compensation from the tour operator. The law allows two months for this, but the period can be extended. In practice, receiving money greatly depends on the efficiency of the bailiffs and the perseverance of the claimant.

Another option is to receive compensation yourself through the defendant’s bank, but to do this you need to know what kind of bank it is. Sometimes the details of a tour operator’s account can be found on its website or in the contract for the sale of a tour.

My tour operator did not publish its details publicly, but I was lucky. Already when the claim was in court, he responded to my claim and transferred compensation for telephone calls to my account. He rejected the rest of the demands and stated that the carrier was responsible for the flight delay, but this was no longer important: having transferred the money to my bank account, he exposed his own, and when I received writs of execution, I did not send them to the bailiffs, but simply took them to his bank.

A day after receiving the writs of execution, the bank transferred the money to me.

How to receive compensation from a tour operator

Keep all receipts, invoices and call details. All requests and refusals must be in writing. If your flight is delayed, ask the airport to make a note about it.
Demand compensation from the tour operator - you have 20 days to do this after the end of your trip. He must answer something in 10 days.
If the tour operator is silent or refuses to pay, sue him or complain to Rospotrebnadzor.
Look for the tour operator's account details on its website or in the contract. If the court sides with you, they will help you get your money faster.

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