Russian tourists can neither fly to Turkey nor return

Flight delays are always unpleasant surprises that can really mess up plans. Last weekend, this phenomenon became massive: at least three flights of the same airline, one way or another connected with Antalya (flying to the coast of Turkey or from there), were delayed for a long time. The comfort of passengers was not taken care of everywhere: some of the tourists had to while away the night in the airport waiting room, and some were even kept for a couple of hours in a stuffy plane. What happened and who is to blame, understood “MK”.

The resort towns of Turkey are one of the most popular destinations this summer: the phrase “foreign holidays” today almost certainly means Turkey. On Sunday, August 13, in Antalya, Turkey, a flight to Yekaterinburg was delayed for almost a day. “It is interesting that there were two flights of this airline with a difference of 15 minutes, on one flight 4 people left me on time, but not on this one. Until 3:00 they were waiting at the airport, then they were placed in a hotel. In the morning, the information on leaving the hotel was constantly changing: 8:40, 10:30, 14:00. As a result, the airline said that the flight would take place today at 19:30, but they promised to pick up tourists from the hotel only at 17:00, and then the flight was completely postponed to 22:30, ”one of the travel agents shared on social networks.

The situation could not be resolved on Monday either: people are waiting for departure for more than a day and a half, and we are talking about 400 people.

As Dmitry Gorin, vice-president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, said in an interview with an MK correspondent, a backup board was promised for the passengers of this flight, which should deliver tourists to Yekaterinburg.

Meanwhile, this is not the only problematic flight. One of the aircraft, which was also delayed for a long time, landed in Moscow on the night from Sunday to Monday. Before that, tourists were waiting for their fate on the plane, which was on the runway in Antalya.

“It was very stuffy on the plane, and the pilot announced a malfunction, but the doors were not opened. People panicked and fainted. Some passengers refused to fly, ”one of the travelers wrote on the social network.

Another tourist who was supposed to fly from Zhukovsky airport to Antalya, a Muscovite named Olga, shared her unpleasant experience with MK.

“Our plane stood for an hour and a half on the runway and returned back. They said there was some kind of malfunction. It turned out that the engine of the plane was dismantled, the problem was being repaired. Then the landing was announced. One bus was filled, brought back, boarding was canceled. All this time we were given only water. Then they finally took off. They were supposed to take off at 5 am, and eventually took off at 13:50. The most comical thing is that the status of the flight “Landed in Antalya” was on the site all this time.

Olga also told MK that already while waiting at the airport she studied the statistics on her flight – and found that in 58% of cases it turns out to be canceled, and only 24% takes off exactly on schedule. Why the travel agent did not warn about this at the time of booking the ticket is an open question.

Meanwhile, PCT expert Dmitry Gorin gave a possible explanation for this series of problems.

– Recently, we are faced with the so-called effect of the fan delay. The fact is that due to sanctions, not all aircraft can fly abroad, so it has become much more difficult to replace it with a reserve aircraft. For comparison: before, 800 Russian aircraft were “exit”, and now only 200, – explains Dmitry Gorin.

What should tourists do in this situation? If the flight is delayed, you should demand an explanation from the airline or from the tour operator (if a “package” tour is purchased). The airline is obliged to provide an alternative flight – still deliver passengers to their destination within a reasonable time – and also offer drinking water, food and a hotel (depending on the length of the delay). All other compensation – only in court. Georgy Mokhov, head of the PCT Legal Committee, gave an explanation in an interview with a correspondent of MK:

This question has come up before the courts many times. Everything rests on Article 120 of the Air Code of the Russian Federation, according to which the carrier is released from liability if the flight was delayed due to technical objective reasons (if this affects flight safety). In this case, the airline is obliged to ensure the comfort of passengers, but there is no question of fines and damages. However, there is another side – the tour operator. By law, if it is a package tour, he is responsible for all services. Therefore, there were court decisions in which the tour operator was charged with the difference in the cost of the tour due to the reduction in rest time. And here, too, there is a nuance: this is relevant only if there was a transition to the next date – let’s say the tourists were supposed to check into the hotel on August 10, but they checked in on the 11th. If all delays are within a day, then there will be no compensation.

According to Mokhov, most often the success of such lawsuits was associated with additional high costs: for example, if, when a flight was delayed during the New Year holidays, tourists lost their gala dinner on December 31 (and in general they celebrated the New Year on an airplane). True, there is a downside to the coin: then the tour operators could not recover losses from the air carrier if he delayed the flight for technical reasons.

– If the reasons for the delay are different, then the solutions are different. For example, if the plane does not have fuel or a flight permit, if there is commercial negligence, then compensation can be claimed. In my practice, there was an episode when the airline charged the cost of a cruise, which the passenger did not have time for due to a flight delay: the ship simply sailed away without him, ”Mokhov added.