NWIFlyer

A3 does indeed only fly from MXP, not LIN, so this may be one of the few points we can be certain of amongst all the other confusion!

geo290

I too volunteered for an overbooking on a flight from ATH to IST about a month ago. What I was told is the following: Anyone who volunteers to be rebooked on a later flight receives EUR 250 in compensation (I actually received it on the spot from the Aegean counter in Athens in cash!), a free meal at the airport (and it was worth EUR 30 - once of the best meals I had all summer), and a free ticket to rebook on any route that Aegean operates to or from any of its bases as long as it isn't used during the high season (Again great for me because I live in Athens and am not constrained by summer travel months). I was under the impression that the rebooking compensation was a set EUR 250 per person for everyone, regardless of the distance. I didn't inquire too much into it because I was surprised that I was given anything at all after having lived in the U.S.A. for so many years and having gotten used to the poor standards there.

Often1

Just to be clear, if you volunteer, it is what you and the carrier agree to. Despite the suggestion that the EUR 500 offer was a mistake because the EC 261/2004 compensation would have been only EUR 400, there are many occasions when carriers will pay more than they must in order to find volunteers rather than create ill will by denying boarding to passengers who must travel.

Bottom line is that if OP was offered EUR 500 to give up his seat and accepted on that basis, that is what A3 owes him. It has nothing to do with EC 261/2004. Passengers need not be EC 261/2004 experts. When offered EUR 500 to give up one's confirmed seat, the question to ask oneself is not whether that is more than is required under the Regulation, but it is a sufficient amount to act.

DELLAS

Correct ^^

Palal

Using expertflyer ATH-MXP:

923 miles is 1485 km which is probably where they're getting that from.

milano09

Thank you all for your help! Unfortunately right after I agreed to 500 euro and gave up my seat, they told me "oops, actually it's 250 euro each." So I don't have anything signed by the company saying 500 euro. When I asked if they could give us cash immediately, they said we had to go to the gate then do everything with the customer service center by phone/email.

This was a really unpleasant and unprofessional experience from the beginning, as you can see.

As I said, they continue to say in their emails as per "article 7, paragraph 2b of the European Legislation, EC 261/2004", so according to Aegean I am covered under this regulation. The same regulation that says if the flight is more than 1.500km the passenger is entitled to 400 euro.

milano09

Surely they would then be checking from MXP, as that is the airport we departed from? Milan has 3 airports!

irishguy28

As has been explained above, EC261/2004 is irrelevant to your case. That A3 keeps referring to it does not change this fact.


It is precisely because Milan has 3 airports that they are allowed to use "MIL" for Milan. MIL-ATH is below 1500km. (And, again, the distance is not relevant, as EC261/2004 does not apply to your case, due to your voluntary acceptance of offloading)

NWIFlyer

I believe EC261 refers to flights rather than city pairs, and therefore the actual airports for the journey should be used.

There are some bizarre exceptions written in to legislation, such as the UK's APD which only measures to the capital of the country flown to, not the actual place, but as far as I know this is not one of the exceptions that proves the rule.

There again, I'm also willing to bet there hasn't yet been a court case on it to establish precedent ...

irishguy28

Indeed...but I thought we had established that EC261/2004 was of no relevance here.

(I realise that A3's continued reference to it is part of the confusion. However, when a passenger and airline agree on compensation for taking a later flight, clearly EC261/2004 is no longer in play. That A3 appear to be guided by the mandated amounts is, I think, admirable - but confusing in the present case).

Nonetheless, the fact that Milan has 3 airports allows Aegean to use "MIL" as the base for calculating distance. And this is clearly what they have done, as the 100% mileage earning classes are set at 923 miles (1485 kilometres) rather than the actual 946 miles (1523 kilometres) reported by gcmap.com for MXP-ATH.

It would be an interesting case, though, if the OP had not consented to being deboarded, and then was due compensation under EC261/2004, in which case the variation between MIL/MXP *would* become an issue.

However, A3 consider MXP to be MIL and therefore explains why they have the value of 923 miles for the route.

(Again, the distance doesn't actually matter, as the agreement concluded was not bound by EC261/2004. The only "worrying" thing here was if there was an actual attempt to mislead the OP on the amount of cash that was to be paid out. As I have explained above, €500 per person would have sounded an unreasonably large amount, per person, so I think rather that an unfortunate misunderstanding arose - it seems that the OP was travelling as a couple and a mention of a total €500 figure may have been unfortunately misunderstood as a per-person figure)

milano09

Thanks for your feedback! We were indeed a couple traveling together, and when were approached to volunteer we said yes because we were told we'd be paid 500 euro each (for a total of 1000 euro, the person at the check in desk confirmed). A few minutes later after agreeing, she said oops 250 euro each.

Therefore, what was agreed upon was 500 euro. Whether it was a way to mislead or just an error, they now say 250 euro as per EC261/2004 which you are saying does not factor in even though they seem to believe it does...

Any advice on how to proceed? I haven't received a response in over a week from A3.

ExpatSomchai

I don't think you have a case as you have nothing in writing and it's all verbal. Take the €250 and move on.

NWIFlyer

I would tend to agree with this, with the proviso that EC261 probably does entitle you to more and A3 are the ones who keep mentioning it even though you were a VDB and so it doesn't actually apply ...

I doubt you have any chance of getting the 500 Euros each, frankly. It sounds like the agent came back to you before the plane left, and at that stage you probably still had the opportunity to decline. The fact that you chose to still accept the revised offer won't help your cause.

frenchft

Website claiming for compensation can be very useful in this case. Even if they take a commission can be worth it.

jbfield

Sounds like the change in compensation came a week after the flight and OP's original post suggests this may have been un writing (email) rather than verbal.