Airline Volotea

Founded in 2012, Volotea is a Spanish low-cost airline. Although it is relatively new, it has quickly made its mark in the European skies.

In 2012, the inaugural flight was between Venice and Palermo, Italy. From the outset, the Spanish airline intended to provide air connections to other European countries. Ten years later, Volotea serves 80 destinations, including 22 in France alone.

While most of its flights are within Europe, it also offers a route to the Maghreb (Algeria and Morocco).

Refunds with Volotea

Volotea is a low-cost airline, but it offers satisfactory refund solutions.

The standard offer allows you to reclaim airport taxes if you cancel your flight or miss it. Refunds are only possible in cases of force majeure, such as a death.

However, Volotea now offers the Flex plan. It provides advantageous options to change or cancel your flight. You can now modify it without penalties and receive a refund in case of cancellation.

Note! Volotea issues refunds as Volotea credit, not cash.

There is one exception: in the event of death, if it is the ticket holder who has passed away.

Most importantly, you can claim a refund in the event of a flight cancellation, denied boarding due to overbooking, or a delay of more than 5 hours. All these provisions are covered by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004.

Regulation (EC) No 261/2004: Which flights are covered?

The flights subject to this European regulation are as follows:

All flights departing from an airport within the European Community area (including Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland)
All flights to the European Community area, operated by an airline based within that community area.

Airline Volotea

Volotea is a Spanish airline, thus based within the European Community area. If you travel with Volotea, your flight is covered.

What are your rights when travelling with Volotea?

European regulations aim to protect air travellers within the limits of the airline's liability.

The airline must take care of you until you reach your destination. Therefore, you are entitled to:

re-routing at the earliest opportunity in the event of cancellation or overbooking
coverage of your expenses (meals, accommodation, phone calls)
and of course, if no re-routing solution suits you or if your delay exceeds 5 hours, you have the right to a refund.

Note! If you accept the refund, you waive any further assistance from the airline. You will need to arrange another flight yourself, and you cannot claim any additional compensation.

Indeed, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 provides for a fixed compensation scheme. The amount varies between €125 and €600.

Compensation with Volotea: How does it work?

As a European airline, Volotea is subject to this compensation scheme. If your flight has been significantly delayed, cancelled or if you were denied boarding due to overbooking, you are eligible.

The compensation system is based on a standard scale.

Compensation for delays

If your flight has been delayed, compensation is not automatic. It is due after a certain delay period. Thus, you can claim a compensation of:

€250 for a flight of less than 1500 km with a delay of 2 hours or more
€400 for a non-community flight between 1500 and 3500 km or a community flight of more than 1500 km with a delay of 3 hours or more
€600 for a non-community flight of more than 3500 km with a delay of 4 hours or more.

Compensation for flight cancellations

If your flight is cancelled, the airline must offer you re-routing at the earliest opportunity. You are entitled to compensation in all cases, but the amount varies depending on the delay compared to your original flight.

If your compensation falls below certain thresholds, it may be reduced by half. Thus, it changes from:

€250 to €125 for a flight of less than 1500 km with less than 2 hours of delay
€400 to €200 for a non-community flight between 1500 and 3500 km or a community flight of more than 1500 km with less than 3 hours of delay
€600 for a non-community flight of more than 3500 km with less than 4 hours of delay.

Compensation for overbooking

An overbooking (or over-reservation) means that the airline has sold more tickets than there are seats available on the aircraft. In this case, they may deny you boarding.

The airline has the right to do this, but must re-route you at the earliest opportunity.

Additionally, they must compensate you based on the same calculation as for a flight cancellation.

Which situations do not entitle you to compensation?

In certain cases, Volotea is not obliged to compensate you:

the airline informed you at least 15 days before your departure
they re-route you at the same departure and arrival times as originally planned
they face exceptional circumstances (bad weather, strike, risks to crew or passengers).

How to react in case of a staff strike at Volotea?

In the event of a staff strike, Volotea must compensate you. This is the exception.

Although a strike is considered an exceptional and unforeseeable circumstance, this only applies to external staff.

Volotea can anticipate a strike by its own staff. Therefore, it assumes responsibility in case of disruption.

Advice in case of a problem with your Volotea flight

In case of a problem with your flight, Volotea is your primary contact. They are the ones who can answer your questions and offer solutions.

To prevent any difficulties, we advise you to do several things:

find out the reason for the disruption
request coverage of your expenses, if applicable*
do not sign any document that waives your rights
note the actual departure and arrival times
keep all your travel documents (boarding pass, emails, etc.)

If you are entitled to compensation, you have up to two years to claim it. Also, wait until you arrive to assess the extent of the delay. This will significantly affect the amount of compensation.

Want to claim compensation from Volotea? Get support from the Delayed team!

Have you recently travelled with Volotea and experienced a delay, cancellation, or overbooking? You may be entitled to compensation, as provided by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004.

But even knowing your rights, it is not always easy to assert them. The process can be time-consuming and stressful.

Why not entrust it to a specialist? Delayed, an expert in air passenger compensation, assists you in your claims.