Hanna Zlatkovskaya and her family spent more than a day at Vienna Airport. Will they be compensated?

Hanna Zlatkovskaya's family at Vienna Airport overnight. Photo: Hanna Zlatkovskaya's Facebook page

Columnist and personal assistant to democratic leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Hanna Zlatkovskaya, went to Vienna for a few days on holiday with her husband and son. But their return home to Vilnius turned out to be much more adventurous than planned: on her Facebook page, she described how, due to heavy snowfall and mass flight cancellations, the family was stranded at Vienna Airport for over a day. The journey back ultimately turned into a night on hard airport benches and an improvised route via Warsaw.

"Spending the night at Vienna Airport on hard benches – accomplished. It was an interesting experience," writes Hanna Zlatkovskaya.

According to her, the Vienna — Vilnius flight was supposed to depart at 13:15, but it was postponed to the evening — 21:15 — due to snowfall.

"We were upset. Until we saw the departure board, which showed nothing but the red inscription 'cancelled'. Well, we were still lucky, we breathed a sigh of relief and went to look for food with the four-euro vouchers they gave us. We bought cold sandwiches and coke. We still had eight hours of waiting ahead," Hanna recounts.

But after some time, their flight simply disappeared from the board.

"Ryanair was silent. Then it sent a message: sorry, cancelled. And that's when the panic started," writes Zlatkovskaya.

According to her, friends were the first to respond in this situation: "People immediately started writing, calling, and telling us what to do. It's so nice to know that in a crisis situation, you have people who will help."

Someone was looking for buses and trains, someone sent links to websites where one could apply for a refund, someone simply offered support.

"In general, they wrapped us in support, but I was still going through the denial stage. It quickly changed to the anger stage," the author admits.

Ultimately, the family decided not to wait and bought new plane tickets to Warsaw for 6 AM: "Tickets to Vilnius were only available on Sunday evening and at a completely different price. We had neither that kind of money nor the desire to spend two nights at the airport."

The queues of angry people due to cancelled flights at the airline counter, according to her story, stretched "for about three kilometers." Hanna's husband returned from there with news:

"Ryanair does not provide vouchers for a hotel or food and only refunds tickets the next day. And those refunds do not cover the cost of new plane tickets."

Then they decided to accept the situation: "So, we did everything correctly."

A night at the airport lay ahead, shops were already closed, and all they had for food were chips and coke. Soon they were the only ones left in the airport corridor: "We pushed the benches together, creating a cozy corner for ourselves. I told you, I'm one of those people who can make any cardboard box cozy."

Hanna describes the sound of suitcase wheels in the silence of the night airport: "They create such a pleasant noise, as if trains are moving or the sea is mechanically stirring." The quietest time, according to her, is "somewhere between half past two and three in the morning," when in the corridors there is "neither a rustle nor a sound (not counting the snoring and snorting of three Belarusians sleeping on hard benches)."

In the morning, the flight to Warsaw finally took place. There, the Belarusians spent a few hours with friends, and then returned to Vilnius by bus. Now they will try to get a refund for the bus tickets "just out of curiosity."

"We are home. We slept in our own beds — and oh my god, what a blessing that is! There are no other conclusions, actually. Oh yes, Vienna is wonderful!" — Hanna Zlatkovskaya concludes her story.

Can passengers receive compensation?

EU Regulation No. 261/2004 is in force, according to which passengers are entitled to fixed compensation (for short flights, this is usually about 250 euros per person regardless of the actual ticket price) if a flight is cancelled. This right does not apply in the case of "extraordinary circumstances," including heavy snowfall or airport closure due to weather.

It needs to be investigated – it is possible that Hanna Zlatkovskaya will still be entitled to compensation. If other airlines resumed flights after the snowfall, and only Ryanair cancelled the flight altogether, then it will be difficult to invoke the weather as an excuse.

But even if the weather is recognized as force majeure, some expenses can still be attempted to be reimbursed. Passengers are still entitled to a refund for tickets and rebooking, and in some cases, coverage of part of additional expenses. Therefore, applying for a refund is worthwhile in any case.

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