apf has summarized the most important points of the European Commission's interpretation guidelines for passengers, as well as current special regulations of ÖBB-Personenverkehr for passengers. (as of 28.05.2020)

In its judgment of 30.04.2020 (Case C-191/19), the European Court of Justice ruled on the question of whether passengers are entitled to compensation if they are rebooked from a partial flight - the feeder flight - against their will and therefore arrive later at their intermediate destination, but are able to board the booked connecting flight and reach the last final destination on time according to the booking...

The measures and recommendations issued by the federal government also apply to the experts at apf. In line with the federal government's recommendation, apf employees have been enabled and recommended to telework as far as possible. A journal service will be maintained in the office until further notice.

The Passenger Rights Regulation governs, among other things, the rights of passengers in the event of delays and cancellations. However, certain claims only exist if a single contract of carriage has been concluded. For a multi-segment flight (flight with connecting flight or connecting flights), a consistent reservation number or booking code must be available. This is guaranteed when booking directly with an airline or via a travel agency, but not always when booking via an online portal.

Unfortunately, there are always cases where passengers are affected twice by flight irregularities, i.e., for example, their original flight was canceled and the alternative flight was also subject to cancellation. There is disagreement as to whether passengers are entitled to compensation again in the event of irregularities on alternative flights. In today's blog post, we explain the legal opinion of the apf in this case.

In addition to problems with cancellation, delays, etc., apf also supports passengers with disabilities if something goes wrong. This is because passengers with disabilities are entitled to free assistance from the respective train, bus, ship or flight company or infrastructure operator. This includes assistance with transportation to the means of transport, boarding and alighting, luggage transport and getting to the seat and toilets. In principle, the company must be notified of the need 48 hours in advance.

Whether it's a longer winter vacation, a short city break or a business trip - passengers should keep this in mind!

Sample letters for complaints to airlines are available on the homepage of Agency for Passenger Rights . The sample letters were created on the basis of the EU Passenger Rights Regulation (Regulation (EC) 261/2004) and inform the airline of your rights in the following cases:

• Flight delay
• Flight cancellation
• Flight overbooking / denied boarding
• Downgrade/downgrading