Find out what to do if your flight is delayed or canceled

Delays and flight cancellations have been recorded since Monday (19), due to the aeronauts’ strike. The stoppage was planned at the airports of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Campinas, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Porto Alegre and Fortaleza.

Even though it is not the cause of the inconvenience, it is the duty of the airline or travel agency to provide all assistance to minimize the inconvenience that has occurred.

According to Procon-SP, in the event of delay or cancellation, the passenger has a series of rights, such as having priority on the next airline boarding with the same destination or being directed to another company (free of charge).

Those who still have a scheduled flight have the right to prior information regarding the cancellation of the flight in the service channels available from the airlines.

What passengers should expect from airlines

According to the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac), the company must immediately report the delay, cancellation or interruption of the service. After that, you must also:

• Keep the passenger informed every 30 minutes about the scheduled departure of delayed flights;
• Offer material assistance free of charge, according to the waiting time;
• Offer re-accommodation and full reimbursement, at the option of the passenger, when there is a flight delay of more than 4 hours or cancellation.

Material assistance is offered in cases of delay, cancellation, flight interruption or denied boarding, that is, when the passenger is denied boarding for various reasons, such as overbooking.

It must be offered free of charge by the airline, according to the waiting time, starting from the moment of the delay, cancellation or denied boarding:

• From 1 hour: communication (internet, telephone, etc.);
• From 2 hours: food (voucher, meal, snack, etc.);
• From 4 hours: accommodation (only if you are staying overnight at the airport) and round trip transportation. If the passenger is at their home location, the company may only offer transportation to their home and from their home to the airport.

The company failed to fulfill its obligations. And now?

Also according to Anac, if the airline does not offer the aforementioned assistance, that is, it fails to comply with the air transport contract, passengers are advised, at first, to seek the company’s own electronic, telephone or face-to-face service channels. airline to solve it.

If they are not satisfied with the service or the solution presented by the airline in its own channels, it is recommended that the passenger register a complaint on the Consumidor.gov.br platform.

The manifestations recorded on this channel are analyzed by the Agency at the collective level to identify the main problems faced by passengers and thus direct the regulation and inspection of the General Air Transport Conditions (ANAC Resolution No. 400/2016) and accessibility (Resolution No. 280/ 2013).

Procon-SP advises the consumer to look for the person responsible for civil aviation inside the airport or at the company’s departure counter to verify the solutions offered.

If you can’t resolve it directly with the company, you should look for the consumer protection agency in your city.

The consumer can still claim compensation from the judiciary if he understands that the delay caused him some moral damage, such as having been prevented from arriving on time for a work meeting, a wedding, among other reasons.

The body reinforces that the passenger is entitled to reimbursement or proportional reduction in the event of any material damage due to the delay, for example, loss of daily rates, tours and connections.

Recommendations

Procon-SP also recommends that the consumer, before heading to the airport, contact the company to check the status of the flight.

It also advises passengers to keep proof of any expenses incurred as a result of the delay and/or cancellation, such as telephone calls, meals, accommodation, among others.