Airlines hit back against accusations of compensation dodging

Airlines have hit back against a flight compensation company that has accused them of using ‘dirty tactics’ to avoid reimbursing customers for delays and cancellations.

EUclaim said it asked university graduates to go through the claims process on the websites of major airlines and alleged that in some cases it took them up to 15 minutes to even find the correct form.

It specifically criticised British Airways, Jet2, Thomson, Virgin Atlantic, Ryanair, and Monarch and accused them of trying to shirk their responsibilities.

It accused BA of trying to confuse passengers with ‘legal gibberish’ and said other airlines don’t make it easy for customers to find compensation information.

It claims it took three graduates an average of 13.21 minutes to find the claims form on the Thomson website. However, it took three TravelMole editors (also graduates) an average of two minutes.

Tjitze Noorderhaven, manager of EUclaim, also criticised Thomson’s claim response time of up to 56 days.

"It beggars belief," he said. "Passengers who have been delayed by three hours or more, or worse had their flight cancelled are then forced to wait eight weeks for a response!"

EUclaim said its researchers tried to process a claim with Monarch but were met with a ‘server error’ when the relevant claim form was ‘eventually’ found.

TravelMole tried yesterday afternoon and found the form within a few minutes and it was working fine.

However, Jet2 came under the fiercest criticism from the claims company.

EUclaim said after taking a ‘grand tour’ of the airline’s website, its research team eventually gave up after 24.29 minutes.

"A further 7.04 minute call to the customer service centre was needed (not including the first time we were disconnected) before being informed that the only way to actually claim directly with the airline was to either email a ‘complaint’ to the generic customer services email address or to write to them."

TravelMole editors also had trouble finding information on the Jet2 website and had to resort to emailing customer services.

Noorderhaven concluded: "Having to wait eight weeks for a response; illegal charges and restrictions as part of the terms and conditions; buried website pages and legal gibberish – even by most consumer standards, these dirty tactics make a mockery of the legislation and highlight the real contempt with which airlines hold the rights of passengers."

Responding to the accusations, a spokesperson for Virgin said: "Along with other airlines, we would strongly question the validity of this report.

"We do everything we can to respond as quickly, clearly stating how and where our customers can apply."

Thomson said it operates a fair and thorough process to deal with compensation claims in line with the EU Delay Claims Regulation.

"We also believe that any money due to customers should go in its entirety to them, therefore we will not process any claims submitted via unregulated third party delay claim management companies, who routinely take a large percentage of the payment as commission. In this situation we invite customers to submit their claim directly to us to be processed."

Ryanair, which was accused in the report of ‘changing its terms and conditions to illegally limit passengers’ rights to claim compensation’, said the claims were simply untrue.

“Ryanair’s terms and conditions are perfectly legal. We wish to ensure that all Ryanair customers will receive 100% of their EU261 compensation (€250) without deduction of claims chaser fees, which can amount to 50% of the compensation payable to the passenger.

“Since Ryanair customers can claim this compensation directly from us, with no fees, these ‘claims chasers’ provide no useful service whatsoever. Claims chasers don’t like our terms and conditions, because they are designed solely to protect our customers, and ensure they receive 100% of the compensation they are due."