Delayed flight at Malmö: compensation

If you travel from Malmö Airport, Article 3(1)(a) applies: the regulation covers passengers leaving an airport in the territory of a Member State. That is why even an airline from outside the EU can be liable for a departure from here.

If the flight is to land at Malmö, it normally has to come from an airport outside the EU and the airline has to be EU-registered (Article 3(1)(b), according to the Swedish Consumer Agency). A flight from another EU airport is assessed by its place of departure. It is the route and the airline that actually operated the flight that decide.

Seven example destinations have been chosen to show the range: Berlin is nearest (353 km) and New York furthest away (6,234 km). The Article 7 levels are 250 € for Berlin (353 km), Stockholm (531 km) and London (1,018 km), 400 € for Málaga (2,493 km) and Larnaca (2,770 km) and 600 € for Dubai (4,774 km) and New York (6,234 km).

The distances are measured in a straight line and the levels are worked out by the same rules engine as the check on this site. The amounts apply per passenger if the other conditions are met. The destinations are distance examples and say nothing about which carriers fly there. They do not mean that any carrier does.

Start with the airline. Article 16 provides that each Member State is to designate a body for the implementation of the regulation and that passengers may complain to such a body.

Swedish law (section 14 of the Air Transport Act (2010:510)) gives the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket) supervision of whether airlines, their agents, tour operators and ticket sellers comply with Regulation (EC) No 261/2004. The wording does not expressly say that the Consumer Agency is the Article 16 body, so we do not claim that.

The Consumer Agency does not assess individual cases, decide disputes or contact companies for you, but it receives reports about airlines that break the rules and uses them in its supervision. For compensation claims the Swedish Transport Agency points to the National Board for Consumer Disputes. Advice is available from Konsument Europa (the European Consumer Centre) if you live in Sweden and the airline is registered in another EU, EEA or UK country.

Malmö Airport is owned, operated and developed by Swedavia. Swedavia's pages do not cover compensation for delays, so you put the claim to the airline. Questions about the booking and delayed baggage also belong with the airline, and in the Swedavia app you can subscribe to your flight to receive notifications about changes.

Under Articles 6 and 9 the airline must offer meals and refreshments in reasonable proportion to the waiting time when it reasonably expects a delay of two hours or more (flights of 1,500 km or less), three hours or more (flights within the EU of more than 1,500 km) or four hours or more (all other flights). If an overnight stay becomes necessary, a hotel room and transport between the airport and the hotel must be offered free of charge.

Travellers with a disability or reduced mobility pre-book assistance through the airline at least 48 hours before departure, and the same goes for arrival. The airline passes the details on to the airport. According to Swedavia the assistance is free and available around the clock, and assistance dogs are welcome. Report to the check-in desk at least one hour before departure and meet the staff at the designated meeting point; if you need help getting in, a Help-point outside the entrance is used no later than 2 hours before departure. The airport's wheelchairs can be borrowed if you have none of your own, and people with impaired vision are given guidance. Assistance on board and medical or sanitary help are not included, and airport staff do not prepare electric wheelchairs for air transport. For pre-booked assistance the aim is a meeting within 30 minutes on departure; on arrival within 5 minutes of the aircraft reaching the gate and never more than 20 minutes. Without a booking Swedavia gives up to 45 minutes, with a risk that nobody has time to help you.

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