Summer did not bring only pleasant vacation experience, but also problems with airlines. Unpaid compensations for cancelled flights or damaged luggage have made some Czech consumers suffer. And they ask the European Consumer Centre for help.

They give up trying to resolve their summer problem on their own because no direct solution with the carrier from another EU country is possible. Our centre can help them out-of-court and free-of-charge. Mostly we are successful,” says Tomáš Večl, the director of the European Consumer Centre CZ.

“These are not mass cases, we speak about individual cases, but the passengers require amounts in terms of thousands and in cases of families in terms of tens of thousands Czech Crowns.” A passanger might, for example, have the right for compensation in the amount of 250 to 600 euro for a cancelled flight. “In such extraordinary circumstance, the carrier is obliged to especially take care of the passengers, provide them with refreshments or if necessary also a hotel accommodation for one or more nights and offer them re-routing at the earliest opportunity or withdrawal from the contract and reimbursement,” Večl introduces the carriers’ obligations defined by the European Regulation No 261/2004 and spotlights: “And if the reason for the flight cancellation is on the carrier’s side, the carries is obliged to pay a compensation in the amount of 250 to 600 depending on the flight distance.”

These rights, the same as other passenger rights, are included in the new information brochure of the European Consumer Centre Czech Republic. The brochure is available on www.coi.cz/esc, particularly on http://www.coi.cz/en/esc-1/news/your-air-passenger-rights-ecc-cz-leaflet.html. The centre can help in disputes with carriers from other European countries. In case of disputes with Czech carriers, people should turn to the Civil Aviation Administration or Consumer Defence Association (SOS).