Canceled flights, delayed planes, queues on the streets: flying is not fun at the moment. Philipp Kadelbach, founder of the passenger consumer portal Flightright, expects the crisis to last into next year.
For Flightright founder Philipp Kadelbach, the chaos at airports is “mismanagement at all levels”. After the two Corona years, the airports and airlines had failed to start processes and staff up again in good time. "Probably the chaos in the sky that we are experiencing is the new normal," he said on the podcast "The Zero Hour". Kadelbach does not expect the situation to relax until 2023. "That also has something to do with machines, with maintenance cycles," he says. "In some cases, appropriate training and education for the staff is necessary."
Flightright enforces compensation claims for delays or cancellations for a fee. The basis: If a flight is canceled or postponed, passengers must be informed at least two weeks in advance, otherwise they are entitled to compensation. Anyone who is more than three hours late at the final destination can claim at least 250 euros in compensation - even if the ticket was cheaper. For long-distance journeys it is even 600 euros.
The situation is currently "extremely stressful" for passengers, says Kadelbach. The number of cases reported to Flightright is increasing significantly, Kadelbach speaks of an exponential curve. In June, the cases would have doubled compared to May. "What amplifies the effect is that airlines are not only producing high levels of delays and cancellations, but their payment history has also gotten extremely bad," he says.
In order to fly into the summer vacation as stress-free as possible, Kadelbach recommends observing whether the airline you want to fly with is currently canceling many flights. "If an airline has resource problems, they probably won't solve them in the short term," he says. Another tip: as soon as you get the message that a flight is being cancelled, look for alternative connections as quickly as possible. "If I'm the first there, I probably have the best chance of getting the few available slots," said Kadelbach.
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