The recovery of tourism is a fact. Spain has posted the full sign this summer and the activity in stations and airports is frantic. There is a record in the number of passengers and in the number of flights… but it is also being an intense season in terms of strikes and delays.
Many passengers are unaware of the circumstances in which they are entitled to have their money refunded or compensated by their airline if they have been affected by delays, cancellations or any incident that can be attributed to the company. Compensation can reach, as established by European regulations, the 600 euros.
310 million of passengers have already had their flights delayed or canceled across the EU, according to data compiled by the claims management company Airhelp, which estimates that this summer there are 52 times more incidents at airports than in 2019, the last comparable year before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
But for a passenger to be entitled to financial compensation, specific conditions must be met. This is stipulated in the Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 of the European Commission, where rules on compensation and assistance to air passengers are established.
The State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) in charge of ensuring compliance with the rights of passengers explains that under the reimbursement that applies to all those passengers who have been affected by a delay of 5 hours or more, «the full cost of the ticket will be refunded during a 7 day period».