The French authorities has printed a decree outlining a change within the technique of acquiring flight compensation by means of authorized motion.
In August, the French authorities handed a decree outlining the brand new process for contentious requests for flight or airline compensation. The adjustments will come into impact from February seventh, 2026.
They have an effect on folks taking authorized motion towards an airline or an airport for compensation, not those that undergo the common channels for getting a refund and/or compensation because of a delayed or cancelled flight, or misplaced baggage.
As issues stand, the European Union requires that passengers flying to or from EU airports be compensated for flight delays and cancellations – compensation funds are along with a refund of the price of a ticket and/or refunds of bills incurred by means of a delay.
You ought to be entitled to compensation in case your flight is cancelled lower than 14 days earlier than departure, or in case your flight arrives on the vacation spot over three hours after the scheduled arrival time.
Normally, step one could be to complain to the airline and request compensation. Most airways have a devoted type to fill out – right here is the one for Air France, and right here is data for Ryanair.
However, if issues turn out to be contentious and also you disagree with the airline’s view or discover their compensation provide unacceptable, then you possibly can file a free declare within the French equal of small claims courtroom (underneath €5,000).
However, this half is altering.
From February, if you wish to sue the airline, then you will need to first provoke a ‘mediation process’ with the Médiateur Tourisme et Voyage. The mediation course of can last as long as six months, in line with enterprise day by day Les Echos.
The objective is to alleviate the backlog within the courts, which has similarities to a separate provision permitting judges to require that {couples} divorcing search mediation.
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After the mediation process, you will need to file for a proper summons (une assignation formelle), which normally must be finished with the help of a lawyer to keep away from errors.Â
Unfortunately, this implies the method of suing the airline may very well be longer and dearer.
Anaïs Escudié, the founding father of the airline assist firm RetardVol instructed Capital FR: “The main distinction is that now folks should file for a proper summons, somewhat than utilizing the simplified process, which is free [for claims under €5,000].”
Escudié defined that the courtroom submitting charges are round €200 for a summons, which is perhaps across the identical that an individual might request from the airport. For instance, a short-haul flight (underneath 1,500km) delay or cancellation might quantity to €250 in compensation, barely above the price of submitting the summons.
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Is this the one change to flight compensation?
The precise compensation quantities will quickly change too – though this is because of adjustments in EU guidelines, somewhat than the courtroom course of change which is restricted to France.
In June, EU nations narrowly voted in favour of constructing it in order that the compensation threshold for delayed flights can be 4 hours, not three hours for flights beneath 3,500km.
For longer flights, airways would solely should compensate passengers for delays above six hours, somewhat than three hours.
READ MORE: Passenger compensation for flight delays set to lower in Europe
