Blocking truck drivers: see rights in case of delay or cancellation of trip

In protest of the result of the 2022 presidential elections, numerous demonstrations and roadblocks by truck drivers are taking place in Brazil this Tuesday (1st).

With some of the country’s main roads blocked, consumers with flights and bus tickets purchased could be harmed by the shutdowns.

Check your rights regarding delays and cancellations if you have purchased a ticket and are affected by the demonstrations:

Airline tickets

According to Procon-SP, between 1 and 2 hours of delay, the airline is obliged to offer material assistance to the consumer. Are they:

• From 1 hour: communication (internet, telephone, etc.);
• After 2 hours: food (voucher, meal, snack, etc.).

In case of delays of more than 4 hours or when the flight is cancelled, the consumer is entitled to accommodation (in case of an overnight stay) and transfer service. You still need to have options for rebooking your flight, performing the service using another mode of transport or a full refund of your ticket.

In these situations, however, the airline is not obliged to maintain material assistance.

If you are at home, the company can only offer transportation to your residence and from there to the airport.

Passengers in need of Special Assistance (Pnae) and their companions will always be entitled to accommodation, regardless of the requirement to stay overnight at the airport.

In addition to these rights, it is the airline’s duty to provide information clearly and accurately to consumers, according to Procon-SP. The passenger needs to be informed every 30 minutes about the estimated departure time of delayed flights.

This person should look for the company’s boarding desk or the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) service desk inside the airport to seek information about the problem.

Indemnity

If the consumer feels that the damage from the delay or cancellation was serious — whether because he missed an important event such as a job interview or wedding, for example — he may receive some compensation in addition to reimbursement. To obtain it, it is necessary to enter an application through the Procon body.

“Procon-SP has seen with concern the consequences of the protests, especially in relation to consumers who are being impacted in the exercise of their rights”, says the executive director of Procon-SP, Guilherme Farid.

bus tickets

In the case of intercity buses, when the delay exceeds 1 hour, the consumer may demand boarding in another company that provides equivalent service to the same destination. You can also request an immediate refund of the ticket price.

If transported in a vehicle with characteristics inferior to the one contracted, you must receive the difference in the ticket price.

In case of delays longer than 3 hours, the bus company will have to offer food to passengers. If the trip cannot continue on the same day, you will also have to pay for the consumer’s accommodation.

If the company does not provide the services correctly, the consumer should seek electronic, telephone or face-to-face channels to try to solve the problem. If this method does not work, the recommendation is to contact Procon, or file a complaint on the “Consumidor” platform of the federal government (https://consumidor.gov.br/pages/principal/).

Consumer’s own delay

If you have been affected by the stoppages, but your flight has not been canceled or postponed, Procon recommends that the passenger try to negotiate with the company in question. If there is no agreement, you may seek the judiciary.

In any case, the companies are not obliged to reimburse the total value of the ticket, as it has nothing to do with the delay and consequent non-boarding. In the case of airline tickets, there are still fines for non-attendance – which can be charged even if there are external factors that justify the passenger’s delay.

In the case of road tickets, it remains valid for one year, even if the date and time have already been set. Thus, if the consumer misses the bus, the ticket is still valid. This will have a period of 12 months to reschedule the trip, counting from the date of issue of the ticket.

If you wish to cancel, that is also possible. However, the customer will only receive a full refund of the ticket value if he has communicated it within three hours before the trip. The company has the right to withhold 5% of the price paid, as a way of covering operational expenses resulting from the cancellation of the ticket. The deadline for her to return the money is 30 days.

*Under supervision of Thamara Kaoru