When we have problems with a schedule change on a flight we have scheduled, they are normally due to a delay or change to a later date. But, what happens when the company chooses to bring it forward and we have no option to attend?
Despite the efforts made by most of the airlines and airports to comply with the scheduling your flights, There are many situations in which delays or cancellations occur. These can be due to different reasons: from a meteorological problem to a technical incident, through countless other scenarios.
We all know that in these types of situations, we have a series of rights that allow us to receive compensation to compensate for the damages that may be caused to us. But what happens in a reverse situation where they advance our flight without prior notice and we don’t have time to come?
As if it were a cancellation
We go to the website of Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to find the answer. In it, it confirms that according to Regulation (EC) 261/2004, the concept of “cancellation” also refers to the early alternation in the scheduling of a flight, as long as the new schedule advances the departure time in more than an hour. And, therefore, the rights that we would have are the same:
- Right to information: The airline has to give us a form with all the rights we have. If they do not deliver it, we have to request it.
- Right to care: Passengers also have to be cared for while waiting for an alternative flight. That is, they must offer us food and drink, two phone calls, hotel accommodation if it is necessary to spend the night, and transportation between the airport and the accommodation.
- Right of refund: The company must offer us the possibility of choosing between a refund or alternative transportation.
- Right of compensation: Finally, we are also entitled to receive financial compensation that varies between €250 and €600 depending on a series of details such as the distance of the flight or the delay with respect to the expected arrival time.
Justice confirms it
Furthermore, what is stipulated in the regulations to which we have previously mentioned has also been reiterated by the Court of First Instance number 61 of Madrid, when it sentenced Tap Portugal to compensate with 750 euros to a couple who bought two tickets to travel from Madrid to New York and were surprised that their flights had been advanced 10 hours for her and six hours for him.
This change had been communicated with three days in advancebut this was not enough for the couple to reorganize again, since they had a stopover in Lisbon and it was impossible for them to adapt the trip that was already planned to the instructions that the company had unilaterally dictated.
At first, the company did not take charge of said claim, opting for silence in the face of the demands of those affected. It was finally the Justice that decided the compensation, taking into account the little margin who had left the company to try to adapt the trip to the new reality.
