I clicked the title hoping to understand whether my social media posts will get me arrested when flying to the uk.
To me that question sounds like it's less about rights and more about it being unlikely that the UK wants to antagonize the US in a way to arrest a minor American X user.
Practically, yes, but that's like doing tax fraud and getting away with it bc your income is low and they don't bother with you. Would be nice to understand the actual legalities.
If you have a government pass overly broad laws that criminalize something and you are in a common law country that has prosecutorial discretion, the limits of a law are ill-defined. The court case where a court sets the limits and creates case law might not happen.
It might be easy to technically violate the Logan Act in your social media as it says:
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
But the Logan Act does not get enforced as it's overly broad.
How does arbitration not just lead to the arbitrator favoring the airline most of the time, since the airlines are repeat customers of the arbitrator and you are not?
In all 3 cases I've done they've ruled in my favour, I believe because the case is blindingly clear. Also it's not like the airlines have much of an alternative, there are only a handful of arbitrators.
In my experience ombudsmen are indeed kind to the airlines companies. More than regular judges. However it's still worth trying if free.
When our flight back to the US was delayed 3 hours at Heathrow due to a mechanical issue, we ended up getting £520 cash each (about US$2700 for the four of us) because I kept pushing back on the UKCAA rules. Their initial offer was a $100 flight credit. So, do push back, relentlessly.
In the case of cancellation or severe delay, the airline will likely offer you a voucher for a specific hotel and for food. Ignore it. You will be covered for a full meal at a reasonable restaurant (think bistro, not Michelin nor McDonalds) without alcohol, transport costs to and from a hotel, and the hotel itself. You can choose a standard room at the nicest airport hotel. You will be covered.
Thanks for this good post.
However I would still recommend package holiday for a typical holiday travel in EU/UK with an european tour operator or travel agent. It has its own protection for the consumer (EU Directive 2302/2015). The flight is not the only service that can spoil your holidays if it goes wrong.
And most of the EU Regulation 261/2004 still applies to package holiday :
Whereas:
[...](5) Since the distinction between scheduled and non-scheduled air services is weakening, such protection should apply to passengers not only on scheduled but also on non-scheduled flights, including those forming part of package tours.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation:[...](d) "tour operator" means, with the exception of an air carrier, an organiser within the meaning of Article 2, point 2, of Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours(6);
Article 3
Scope3. This Regulation shall not apply to passengers travelling free of charge or at a reduced fare not available directly or indirectly to the public. However, it shall apply to passengers having tickets issued under a frequent flyer programme or other commercial programme by an air carrier or tour operator.
I agree that most travel agents and tour operators won't fight hard to get the full compensation for the customer. But the solution is that the customer makes the claim by himself or with legal assistance. The compensation is a right for the passenger, not a right for the person or the company that booked the flight. Some airline companies will oppose that the claim must pass through the travel agent or tour operator, but that's not mandatory. A refusal would be unfounded.
The main thing you lose as part of a package holiday is right to rerouting.
I agree this makes sense of you're booking a genuine package holiday, but if you're just booking a car or accommodation through the airline, both of which you can get at a similar price independently, and both of which can usually be cancelled for free, you lose protection for very little benefit.
How long can the company drag out the case before they have to pay compensation? What can you do if they just keep saying that they are working on it? On a previous occasion it took me more than 3 months to get the compensation, and I have a current case that has already taken a month.
After about 2 months you can go straight to arbitration (each arbitration scheme has its own rules). Arbitration can take a year, but each stage has a defined end time the company needs to reply by, so it won't be indefinite.
Europe (and the UK) have strong protections for flyers in the case of delayed or cancelled flights. However very few people are aware of these, and airlines will almost always try to wriggle out of paying up.
Even travel agents are often unaware of these laws, or unwilling to fight the airline for you.
Given the rollercoaster that flying to/from Israel has been in the last 3 years, I've had my share of experience forcing airlines to pay up what they owe, so I thought it might be valuable turning that into a post.
These regulations are enshrined in EU 261. You can see the full text here, and equally importantly the interpretive guidelines here that cover many edge cases.
TLDR
Which flights do these laws apply to?
So they apply to a Delta flight from Paris to New York, and to a Lufthansa flight from Dubai to London, but not a Delta flight from New York to Paris.
What are my rights?
You actually have quite a lot - go read EU 261 if you're interested. However I will focus on three main rights, because these are the most important ones:
In my experience airlines are fairly good about the right of care, so/so about compensation, and absolutely atrocious on rerouting.
How will airlines try to screw you over?
When airlines cancel a flight, they will offer you a refund, or to book an alternative flight with them or their partners. If they cancelled all flights to your destination, and only other carriers still fly, then they will simply shrug and offer you a refund.
If you mention EU-261, they will likely claim that it doesn't apply because they informed you about the cancellation more than 2 weeks ahead. This is an attempt to muddy the waters because that only applies to compensation, and you're requesting rerouting.
If you push they may say that you can book flights yourself, but only up to a maximum of X dollars per person. This is nonsense, there is no such provision in the law (with the exception where the flights are so expensive they threaten the operation of the airline, this is rarely applicable to large airlines).
If you booked via an online travel agent, they may tell you to talk to the travel agent. This is nonsense, the responsibility lies solely on them.
When claiming expenses from the airline, they will likely stonewall you, or deny your request.
When you get to arbitration they may make up spurious reasons it doesn't apply, or attempt to demand lots of proof from you, in the hope you give up the process.
Your playbook for flight cancellation
As soon as the airline cancels your flight, check if they offer you alternative flights in a reasonable timeframe (I don't know the exact limit, but not more than a few days). If so book them.
If they don't, talk to customer support, and ask them to book you an alternative flight. If you are worried that all alternative flights will disappear consider booking alternative flights immediately if your local law allows you to cancel them shortly after booking (Israel gives 48 hours). I have successfully received compensation for flights booked before the airline had yet refused my request.
Whenever you talk to customer support maintain records. The best way to do that is by talking via their chat based interface. If that doesn't take you to a human, repeatedly ask for "speak to agent" until it does. You can usually download the final transcript, but if not you can try saving as PDF, scraping the HTML, or ask an LLM for some script to extract the text via the browser console.
Ask for the customer agent to offer you rerouting in accordance to EU 261, and firmly but politely turn down any offers for refunds, flights under worse conditions, offers of flights in 3 months time, etc. Eventually say that as they refuse to abide by EU 261, you will book flights yourself.
Look for fairly priced flights under the same conditions, from/to the same source and destination. Don't try and be clever here and buy perks you didn't have on the original ticket. You don't necessarily need to find the cheapest possible tickets if they are at an inconvenient time, but the law isn't clear on this so do so at your own risk. Look for flights as close to the time of your original flight as possible, but if none are available then, you can go further out.
Keep your receipts.
Keep your boarding passes after the flights (for all passengers).
Once the flight has completed, ask the airline to pay for your alternative flights, using their claims portal. If they refuse, offer you partial payment, or do not reply within about 2 months, go to arbitration.
Most European airlines are a member of an arbitration scheme. For example British Airways is a member of https://www.aviationadr.org.uk/. Delta is apparently also a member when flying from the UK (but not Europe). This is a good reason to prefer European airlines even when flying from Europe, so consider checking before you fly. I don't have any experience dealing with an airline that wasn't part of an arbitration scheme.
The arbitration schemes are all rather similar (awful websites, slow to respond, get you your money eventually), so ask an LLM which one to use for your airline, open a case, do whatever they tell you too, and eventually get your money back.
Your playbook for compensation
If your looking for compensation for a flight cancelled or delayed at short notice, you can skip straight to filing a claim, and going to arbitration. Check first to see whether the law actually applies (you can ask an LLM to help).
Do Nots
What about...?
If you're unsure whether or how the law applies to your case, read the interpretive guidelines. They are pretty readable and well written.