If you are a passenger with special needs and you have engaged an assistance service that has not fulfilled the service. You may claim compensation which will depend on the severity of the case and whether it is accompanied by a flight delay or cancellation.
There are 2 main types of passenger assistance:
1- Assistance for passengers with disabilities or Reduced Mobility
Disabled or reduced mobility passengers (PRMs): These are individuals whose mobility to use transport is reduced due to physical (sensory or locomotor, permanent or temporary) disability, intellectual disability, or any other cause of disability, or due to age, and whose situation requires adequate attention and adaptation to their specific needs from the service provided to other passengers.
2- Assistance for minors passengers
In summary, this is an accompanying service which, once engaged, obliges the airline to take care of the minor during the journey until they are handed over to the person responsible for picking them up at the destination.
The age may vary depending on the country.
At Lexority, we have already resolved dozens of cases involving passengers with special needs. Here are two examples:
Examples of claims for assistance service:
Claim for assistance service for a reduced mobility passenger with Iberia
Last October, an elderly person with reduced mobility. Her accompanying children arrived at Barcelona-El Prat airport with the intention of taking a direct flight to Badajoz with Iberia. Due to this person’s situation, the flight was booked with a special service for passengers with reduced mobility, also with Iberia.
Once at the airport, this person, accompanied by her children, went to the Iberia counter to check in her luggage. Once there, the airline agent, after verifying that this person had engaged a special service due to her circumstances. Contacted the engaged reduced mobility service to properly take care of the passenger.
Shortly after, a representative from Iberia’s reduced mobility service arrived at the counter and explained to the children that from that moment on, the service would take care of transporting the person to the plane, including through special security checks. The passenger was placed in a wheelchair to be transported more comfortably through the terminal, and then into a special vehicle to be taken to a waiting area for boarding. The children, seeing that Iberia was taking care of everything, decided to leave the airport.
A Distressing Oversight
In this waiting area, there were other people with reduced mobility, who were called one by one while an Iberia assistant took them in a wheelchair to the assigned plane. This person knew perfectly well the departure time of her flight and, noticing that time was passing and she was not being called, began to worry. She correctly addressed the present representative to ask for information about her situation, and the Iberia agent abruptly replied not to bother, that someone would come for her. This situation repeated two more times, increasing her concern.
Time continued to pass until the departure time of the flight booked by this person. It was then that she demanded to be informed of the situation. It was already too late, her direct flight to Badajoz had already departed with her luggage on board. After noting this negligence on the part of Iberia, she decided to call the person who was waiting for her in Badajoz to inform them of the situation. After contacting her relative, a representative from Iberia’s reduced mobility service contacted the passenger to inform her that the only way to reach Badajoz with Iberia was by a flight with a layover in Madrid.
Naturally, this person, feeling alone in a hostile environment like a large city airport, without any close family and in a distressing situation, decided to accept Iberia’s proposal and take the flight to Madrid. The layover in Madrid was over three hours, so the cost of the meal at Barajas had to be assumed. The passenger’s luggage was another problem, as if it was not retrieved at Badajoz airport, it would be sent back to Barcelona.
Seeking Resolution and Compensation
After lunch, Iberia’s reduced mobility service boarded the passenger onto the plane to Badajoz on time. At the time of boarding, this service contacted the passenger’s relative who was waiting in Badajoz. Was the first and only time throughout the day that they contacted someone to explain or try to resolve the situation. At the same time, one of the children who had initially accompanied the passenger to Barcelona-El Prat airport returned there to ask for information about this situation. The son was properly informed and persuaded not to file a complaint, arguing that this is not something that usually happens with the reduced mobility service.
Finally, the passenger arrived at the destination and was picked up by the person waiting at the airport. The next day, the family decided to claim this incident and contacted the claims platform at Iberia and other airlines. They contact to Lexority, to claim for the horrible experience they had put the passenger through, in addition to the delay of over 6 hours.
At lexority.com, you can claim for assistance service, after studying the case and faced with Iberia’s refusal to pay what legally corresponds to the passenger, they resorted to legal action against the airline.
In accordance with EU Regulation 261, lexority.com requests from Iberia a sum of 250 euros. For the flight delay (which the law objectively provides for) + the moral damages caused and the expenses incurred by this delay. A complaint was filed against Iberia with the Barcelona Commercial Court and a favorable resolution for the passenger is awaited today.
Claim for assistance service for a minor passenger with Delta Airlines:
Last year, a minor was traveling unaccompanied with Delta Airlines from Louisville (USA) to Madrid, with a layover in Atlanta. The journey, which was supposed to be joyful due to her return home, turned into a traumatic episode for her.
The first flight from Louisville to Atlanta proceeded without incident. However, the flight from Atlanta to Madrid did not board until three hours after the scheduled time. Once on the plane, the captain asked the passengers to disembark without any explanation. Hours later, boarding was again conducted, this time successfully. Once the flight had taken off, the captain again spoke to explain to the passengers that he had to return to Atlanta, again, without giving a reason.
