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In the event of long delay and cancellation of flights or denied boarding, passengers may be entitled to a compensation, a reimbursement of their ticket and/or one or another kind of assistance by the operating airline.
These rights are set out in Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights. This Regulation has come into force on February 17th, 2005.
If you are of the opinion that your rights as a passenger have been violated, you have to address your complaint to the operating airline at a first stage.
If you are not satisfied with the answer of the airline, please read carefully the information below.
The Regulation does not specify what is meant by delay, but one can reasonably deduce from the plain text of the Regulation that a flight is delayed when the plane departs beyond its scheduled time of departure.
A cancellation is the non-operation of a flight which was previously planned and on which at least one place was reserved. A flight may generally be considered as cancelled when the flight number changes for the same route for which the passenger has a contract on a specific day and time schedule.
A denied boarding is a refusal to carry passengers on a flight although they have presented themselves on time for boarding (see the terms and conditions of the air carrier), except where there are reasonable grounds to deny them boarding, such as reasons of health, safety or security, or inadequate travel documentation.
You are entitled to a refund of your ticket only if :
Not under Regulation (EC) Nr. 261/2004. On the other hand, you might be entitled to a compensation in case of :
Extraordinary circumstances are circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Such circumstances may, in particular, occur in cases of political instability, meteorological conditions incompatible with the operation of the flight concerned, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings and strikes that affect the operation of an operating air carrier.
Not under Regulation (EC) Nr. 261/2004. The Belgian body charged with the enforcement of this Regulation only deals with complaints about cancellations, denied boarding and delays of more than 2 hours.
Consequently, it is useless to send us a complaint concerning one of the abovementioned cases. Try to settle your complaint by mutual agreement with the airline. If you are not satisfied, you still have the right to go to court to seek redress.
The table hereunder sums up your rights as a passenger:
| Denied boarding | Cancellation | Delay > 5 hrs | Delay < 5 hrs | |
| Compensation | yes | yes (1) | no | no |
| Re-routing or reimbursement (2) | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Right to care (meals, drinks, hotel, ...) | yes | yes | yes | yes |
(1) Except extraordinary circumstances
(2) Reimbursement for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan
Should you wish to lodge a complaint against the airline, please fill in and send the form below.
The Belgian Civil Aviation Authority is responsible for the enforcement of the Regulation as regards:
Contact details:
FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE MOBILITY AND TRANSPORT
Denied Boarding Authority
Cellule Communication Externe
City Atrium – Rue du Progrès 56
1210 Brussels
Fax : + 32 2 277 40 73
passenger.rights@mobilit.fgov.be
In case you have had problems concerning a flight departing from an airport located in another EU member state, you have to file your complaint to the complaint center/enforcement body of that member state.
Here you will find the contact details of the enforcement bodies of the other EU member states.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, before or after our intercession, you still have the right to go to court to seek redress.
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