U.S airlines to fly over 25 million passengers worldwide over Thanksgiving. refund.me advises on passenger rights under EU 261 legislation when booked on ‘code-share’ flights to and from the UK and Europe
(TRAVPR.COM) US - November 27th, 2015 – Thanksgiving is the busiest travel season for Americans, and this year a predicted 47 million Americans are taking to the roads, rails and skies to visit friends and family. Of this record number, Airlines for America (A4A) projects a three percent rise over 2014 volumes in air travel on U.S. airlines during the extended 12-day Thanksgiving travel period, with an estimated 25.3 million airline passengers travelling to destinations worldwide, the highest in eight years.
The overall increase in travel is due to a ten percent decline in airline ticket prices for the top 40 destination routes and domestic hotel rates remaining relatively flat according to the AAA. Lower gasoline prices are also a factor for motorists.
Airlines are expected to gain 65,000 more passengers each day over last year’s holiday season, adding additional capacity to meet demand.
A strong US dollar and weaker Euro has made travel more affordable, boosting travel from the US to Europe and the UK. The European Travel Commission estimates that tourist arrivals to European destinations has grown by 11% in 2015 compared to the same period a year ago (Q3). Much of the travel over the Thanksgiving period will be VFR – or Visiting Friends and Relatives – travel.
Navigating the difference in passenger rights in the EU vs the US
“Only ten percent of travellers are aware of their rights to claim compensation for flight delays and cancellations,” said Eve Buechner, founder and CEO of refund.me (https://www.refund.me). “And even fewer are aware that travelling on many code-share flights operated by EU and UK based airlines to and from the US translates into greater consumer protection as these flights are covered by EU 261 legislation, which affords higher levels of compensation from airlines.”
European Union regulation (EC) 261/2004 applies to all worldwide airlines departing from an airport located in the territory of a European Union Member State (Norway, Iceland and Switzerland included) regardless of whether the airline is or is not an EU Community carrier airline. For flights from outside the EU to a destination within the EU, passengers are protected if flying with an EU-based airline.
If a flight entering the EU is operated by a ‘code-share’, for example a passenger books an American Airlines code-share flight that is operated by an EU airline, then that flight would also be covered under EU 261/2004.
This year’s Thanksgiving holiday period runs from November 25 through November 29. Figures for predicted air travel during Thanksgiving are for the period of November 20 through December 1 as many travellers extend the holiday weekend.
ENDS
About refund.me (https://www.refund.me)
refund.me is a globally operating and award-winning passenger rights service provider that helps airline passengers easily obtain compensation for flight delays, cancelations, missed connections and re-routings covered under European Union regulation (EC) 261/2004. Thanks to its highly precise and specialised proprietary Advanced Business Logic (ABL) technology, passengers can file claims directly from the refund.me website or by way of a free app for iOS and Android. refund.me has the lowest commission rate in the industry, which a passenger pays only when a claim against an airline has been successfully processed.
Established in 2012 the start-up aims to ensure that passenger rights are transparent and more easily enforceable on a worldwide scale. refund.me has clients from 140 countries across five continents, filing claims against more than 350 airlines. In 2014 the Financial Times praised refund.me as a “legal industry pioneer” in its Innovative Lawyers Report. Company headquarters are located in Potsdam, Germany and Palo Alto, CA.
Press contact:
Michele McDermott-Fox
michele@refund.me
+44 (0)7729 501 369
+1 905 379 1893
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