In the summer of 2022, many flights were delayed or even canceled completely. Passengers are often entitled to compensation. bluecinema/Getty Images
Summertime is travel time – but things don’t always go smoothly. When flights are delayed or cancelled, passengers may be entitled to compensation.
But some airlines are trying to avoid paying, according to an evaluation by Flightright, a portal for air passenger rights. These include, above all, British Airways and Turkish Airlines.
On the other hand, German airlines don’t cover themselves with much glory when it comes to punctuality: Lufthansa and its subsidiaries occupy three places in the top 5. Cancellations range from 1.99 to 2.62 percent.
“Flight delayed” or “Flight cancelled”: These are words that nobody wants to read at the beginning of their summer vacation – and that can spoil your mood before you even get on the plane. Flight delays and cancellations are annoying. But German airlines in particular are among the sad frontrunners, as an evaluation by Flightright, a portal for air passenger rights, shows. The evaluation is available to Business Insider in advance. Some airlines also cause trouble when it comes to paying statutory compensation. According to Flightright, the culprits here are not necessarily the low-cost airlines.
Three German airlines in the sad top 5 for cancellations
One number in the evaluation is particularly discouraging: 20 percent of all flights started late in the first half of 2023. “After a chaotic flight year in 2022, air travelers were hoping for a significant improvement in the situation at German airports,” says Claudia Brosche, an expert on passenger rights at Flightright. “A look at the data evaluations of the last few months, however, shows that air travelers have to struggle with long waiting times and flight cancellations this year as well.” A delay of 15 minutes or more counts as a delay.
read too
Luxury trips for 500,000 euros: The rich have these special requests on vacation
British Airways is the undisputed leader in the ranking of cancellations and delays. Around 3.3 percent of their flights were canceled in the first half of the year, and 36.6 percent reached their destination at least 15 minutes late. According to Flightright, only Turkish Airlines achieved a higher value for delays, with 38.3 percent of flights in the first half of 2023 being delayed.
However, German airlines do not fare well in the ranking either: the Lufthansa subsidiary Cityline takes second place, the Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings takes third place, and Lufthansa itself takes fifth place with between 2.6 and two percent cancellations. These are – especially at Eurowings – partly due to strikes. According to Brosche, there is also room for improvement in the internal processes.
Flightright
While Lufthansa, with 28.9 percent delays, does not give a good picture in the second category either, Eurowings is the queen of punctuality: only 2.6 percent of Eurowings flights were delayed in the first half of the year. This is the lowest value in the ranking. The low-cost airline Ryanair, on the other hand, did comparatively well in the ranking: only 0.6 percent cancellations, there were delays in 17 percent of the approximately 455,000 flights.
Lufthansa just barely made it out of the group of non-payers
But what happens if your flight is delayed or cancelled? According to applicable EU law, you are then entitled to compensation in addition to a refund of the ticket price. Namely if your flight is delayed at least three hours or your flight was canceled less than 14 days before departure. Between 250 and 600 euros are then in it – regardless of the ticket price.
read too
Overcrowded holiday destinations: These are the five largest tourist strongholds in Europe
Not all airlines are always willing to pay this compensation, as the Flightright evaluation shows. TAP Portugal, Eurowings, Airfrance and KLM handle the process particularly reliably. They pay a relevant percentage of cases within a “reasonable amount of time” of about three months, according to Flighright.
Some airlines are much slower there, according to Flightright. These include Easyjet, Ryanair and Wizzair – and with Lufthansa and Condor again two German airlines. “Especially at Lufthansa, we still see a clear need for improvement,” comments Flightright expert Claudia Brosche. “Last year she was one of those who refused to pay and only just made it into the group of slow payers.” As a rule, however, these airlines adhere to the required compensation.
It can be difficult with three airlines in particular, according to Flightright: British Airways, Turkish Airlines and Vueling. The latter is a Spanish low-cost airline that, together with British Airways, belongs to the Holding International Airlines Group. According to Flightright, these airlines sometimes do not pay at all.