Flight cancellations and delays are increasing worldwide. While the delay rate before the pandemic was around 23,7 percent, by 2024 28,8 percent of passengers were already struggling with flight problems. In view of this development, the importance of passenger rights is becoming ever greater.
Since its founding in 2013, the travel tech company AirHelp has made it its mission to enforce compensation and refund claims for affected passengers. On its twelfth birthday, the company looks back on a successful history and shows how compensation practices have developed in recent years.
Since its inception, AirHelp has helped more than 20 million passengers to pursue compensation or refund claims. By 2024, around 2,7 million compensations had been paid out. In Germany, compensation was implemented for 228.000 passengers. Even though the increase in compensation claims is noticeable, many passengers do not exercise their right to compensation. This is a challenge, as in Germany alone around 2024 million passengers were entitled to compensation in 2,5.
In addition to supporting passengers in court, AirHelp has also helped improve passenger rights legislation. Most notably, a 2021 ruling by the European Court of Justice grants passengers compensation even in the event of airline staff strikes. AirHelp had sued the airline SAS on behalf of 370.000 affected passengers, which caused delays due to a pilot strike. This ruling strengthened passengers' rights and confirmed the right to compensation even in such exceptional cases.
With over 400 employees, AirHelp has established itself as the world's leading provider of air passenger rights. The service is offered in 19 languages and enforces the air passenger rights not only of the EU, but also of countries such as the UK, Brazil and Turkey. Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO of AirHelp, stresses that the company continues to work to protect and strengthen the rights of air travelers - both for customers and for all passengers worldwide.
and 