Commission for Aviation Regulation issues H1 report on APR
Ireland's Commission for Aviation Regulation today issued its report on Air Passenger Rights complaints for the first half of 2009. Under EU law each member state is required to investigate complaints received under the remit of EC Regulation 261/2004 which sets out common rules on compensation for passengers who suffer cancelled or long-delayed flights or who are denied boarding. During H1 of 2009 approximately 1,300 complaints were received by the CAR but just 242 were deemed to fall under the EC261 heading. The number of valid complaints was up 140% YoY on 2008.
The majority, 129 (53%) of valid complaints related to departure from an airport in another member state while 101 (42%) related to departures from an Irish airport. 12 (5%) of complaints originated from flights into Ireland from non member states on an EU licenced carrier.
Of the total 242 valid complaints, 70% resulted from cancelled flights, 19% due to long delay and 11% where a passenger was denied boarding.
The distribution of complaints by carrier for flights originating at an Irish airport shows Aer Lingus originated 32, Ryanair 43, BMI Baby 14, Centralwings 12 and others 12. When viewing this particular set of statistics it is worth bearing in mind the number of passengers each airline carried during the time frame.
Of the 113 complaints relating to Irish airport departure, 71 had been investigated and brought to a conclusion by the end of October.
- In just 2 of the 71 resolved cases the carrier paid out compensation to the passenger.
- In 24 cases the passenger was refunded their ticket or reimbursement of expenses.
- In 14 cases the carrier successfully demonstrated "extraordinary circumstances" which allowed them to avoid a payout.
- In 5 cases the CAR determined that the passengers rights had been infringed although no redress was applied due to the nature of the infringement.
- 1 complaint was withdrawn.
- In 25 cases the complaint was determined to be invalid.