On the day the European Court of Justice granted greater compensation rights to air passengers whose flights are delayed or cancelled, Bryan Coll found himself stranded overnight in Beauvais airport, outside Paris
I've always been a jammy passenger. Never been charged extra for my overweight rucksack. Never been sandwiched into an unpleasant middle seat on a long-distance flight. On my last long-haul trip I was even able to create a makeshift bed, using two vacant seats beside me, while my fellow passengers looked on in cramped envy. On arrival, my luggage is first onto the conveyor belt. But on a recent evening at Beauvais airport my flying fortune ran out. By coincidence, it was the very day that the European Court upheld new rules allowing airline passengers greater compensation for delays and cancellations.
The weekend in Paris had gone well. My partner and I had negotiated a 60 per cent discount on our hotel room and enjoyed a round of absinthe on the house in a Bastille bistro. In hindsight, the thin veil of grey mist that descended on the Oise countryside during our return coach transfer from Porte Maillot should have told us what lay in store.
Dealing with a planeload of disgruntled travellers is never an easy task. When faced with four sets of passengers whose late-night flights to Milan, Barcelona, Glasgow and Dublin had been cancelled, after check-in, because of fog, reinforcements are needed.
So, as the decibel level in the check-in area approached fever pitch, extra policemen and security guards came through the sliding doors and assumed various positions in the building. Bringing up the rear was an overawed-looking German shepherd dog that, while struggling to get to grips with the slippery sheen of the vinyl flooring, was stationed inconspicuously close to the Italians.
The reaction of these four nationalities to the same frustrating news made for an amusing display of cultural stereotypes. The Irish and the Scots hung their heads in stoic acceptance, although they allowed themselves a grumble while forming two orderly queues at the refunds desk. The Italians were having none of it, however. After mounting the weighing scales next to the Milan check-in desk - and, in doing so, testing their springs to the full - one portly Italian man launched into an impassioned tirade against the lone airline representative, winning rapturous applause from his fellow passengers.
The German shepherd, which had meanwhile become overly familiar with a set of Louis Vuitton luggage, was then pressed into service. Shoved loosely in the direction of the exuberant ringleader, who was by now leading his audience in slow clapping from his conveyor-belt perch, the dog resolutely failed to emit even the slightest whisper of a bark and was tugged away in disgust by the disgruntled policemen at the other end of its lead.
The Spaniards, after an initial period of confused silence, then became the most animated of all, whipping out digital cameras and camera phones to send images of the chaos back to Barcelona.
While their Mediterranean counterparts vented their frustration, the Irish passengers busied themselves with waiting. Those quick enough to the front of the queue (I was fortunate to be among them) were transferred to flights at 1pm the following day. The remainder boarded a fleet of unmarked white coaches back to Paris, to find a bed for the night. There were no beds to be had in Beauvais, except in the home of an enterprising local who, on hearing of the unfolding drama, popped up at the airport door and offered rooms in his family home to the highest bidder.
The hard core of us that remained after the departure of the final bus were initially resigned to spending the night on some impossibly uncomfortable airport seats. Despite the series of ingenious sleeping positions I came up with, the angles, size and temperature of these perforated metal creations all seemed designed to prevent sleep. Just as I had nestled my head between a metal armrest and my neighbour's shoe, bemoaning our collective victimhood, in stepped a band of individuals to restore my faith in the ultimate good of humanity.
Within a matter of minutes, French firemen had distributed beds and blankets to every passenger in the airport. Soon the irate yelling of earlier was replaced by a faint hum of snoring and one spluttering cough (provided by my middle-aged Hungarian dorm partner in the bed behind me).
The next morning it was business as usual. The staff and proprietors of the handful of shops and cafes deftly stepped over strewn luggage and dozing children to open up. Still peckish after the complimentary croissant and coffee I received along with my fellow delayed passengers, and reluctant to pay €6.90 for a grisly-looking ham sandwich, I wandered into the neighbouring village of Tillé for nourishment and my first breath of fresh air in more than 12 hours.
During my brief conversation with the teenage shop assistant in Tillé's only grocery store, we struggled to hear one another over the prolonged hum of aircraft engines, which seemed to reverberate off every wall in the village. When the flight eventually took off, the deafening roar hung in the air long after the aircraft had disappeared from view.
Despite the dramatic increase in the number of routes to and from Beauvais airport in recent years, local people have seen few benefits from the increased traffic. As visitors are bussed straight into central Paris, the towns and villages of the Oise area receive few, if any, of the euro spent by the passengers on their visits to France. The only tangible effects on Tillé appear to be a slump in the value of local property and a village full of ringing ears.
Touching down 14 hours after my scheduled arrival in Dublin, I vowed to find a hassle-free way of making any future trips to the Gallic capital. Having now given up budget airlines as a belated New Year's resolution, however, and lacking the patience and stomach for a ferry crossing, there are few options left for my next visit to l'Hexagone. So let's scrap those plans for an underground in Dublin and build something much more useful: Rosslare to Cherbourg on the Eurostar?
What to do when things go wrong
Air passengers who miss their flights because of overbooking, or suffer delays or cancellation of their flights, can claim compensation, or appropriate levels of care, including refreshments, under EU regulations.
Their right to claim refunds, payments of up to €600, meals, accommodation and phone calls was upheld earlier this month by the European Court of Justice.
The level of compensation, care, or both, to which they are entitled depends on the length of the delay and the length of their flight.
The rules are clear for passengers who are "bumped" off overbooked flights. Compensation ranges from €250 for flights up to 1,500km to €600 for flights of more than 3,500km. In addition, airlines must offer these passengers the choice of a refund of their ticket (plus a flight back to their original point of departure if continuing with the journey is no longer viable) or an alternative flight to continue their journey. Meals, and accommodation if an overnight stay is required, must also be provided.
If a flight is cancelled and the reason for the cancellation is within the airline's control, passengers are entitled to the same benefits as those denied boarding because of overbooking, unless the airline has given them at least two weeks' notice of the cancellation or has provided alternative flights at a similar time and given seven days' notice of the change.
An airline is not compelled to offer financial compensation, however, "if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have
been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken". Airlines must still offer "care" (meals
and refreshments, telephone calls and, in some circumstances, hotel accommodation).
Delays of five hours or more, whatever the cause, entitle passengers to a refund or an alternative flight, plus refreshments, and accommodation if an overnight stay is necessary. Passengers delayed for more than two hours but less than five hours must be given refreshments and are entitled to two free phone calls, faxes or e-mails.
In the event of a with an airline about denied boarding, delay or cancellation, passengers should first ask a representative of the airline operating the flight to address the problem.
If the outcome is not satisfactory, they should complain to the Commission for Aviation Regulation, 3rd Floor, Alexandra House, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 (01-6611700, www.aviationreg.ie).
Bryan Coll is a student of French and German at Cambridge University