Flying over a nest of trouble 

For the Easter holidays, I'd planned to head south in search of the sun, but I decided against it for fear of being stranded due to the disruption to air traffic caused by the situation in the Gulf. Next time I'd like to know what I'm entitled to if my flight is delayed or cancelled? 

Thierry, Carouge 

On flights departing from Geneva, your rights derive mainly from European Regulation no. 261/2004, which is also applicable in Switzerland. This regulation provides fairly robust protection for passengers in the event of long delays, cancellations or even overbooking. The idea is simple: if your journey goes wrong, the airline must assist you and sometimes even pay.

Assistance

The first thing to remember: assistance. As soon as you are a little late (2 to 4 hours depending on the distance), the company must (or at least should!) offer you refreshments, meals and, if necessary, hotel and transport. You also have the right to means of communication, if only to warn or reassure the appropriate people.

Then, if your flight is cancelled, you have the choice of requesting a refund of your ticket or re-routing to your destination. A refund must be made promptly, in principle within 7 days.

In addition, you may be entitled to compensation: barring extraordinary circumstances (such as dangerous weather, external strikes or armed conflict), you can receive between €250 and €600 depending on the distance of the flight.

If you are delayed, the logic is slightly different: there is no automatic compensation unless you arrive more than 3 hours late at your destination, in which case European case law treats such a delay as cancellation.

In the case of your next holiday, if your flight leaves Geneva and is seriously delayed or cancelled for no valid reason, you will be entitled to immediate assistance, either a refund or a new flight, and possibly a lump-sum payment. On the other hand, if the problem is due to a storm or an extraordinary event, the airline may be able to avoid compensation, but not assistance.

This is obviously where the problem lies, because the situation in the Middle East is a source of disruption that airlines can avoid; however, the closure of airspace must catch them unawares and have an unforeseeable and direct effect on the flights concerned, because it is up to each carrier to organise itself to avoid disruption, even in times of crisis.

It should also be noted that the regulation applies to all flights departing from a Swiss airport, regardless of the nationality of the airline or its business model, even low-cost!

Read Pascal Rytz's columns on Tribune de Genève