Aviation watchdog obtains €1.19m in compensation for airline passengers

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) last year obtained €1.197m in compensation for airline passengers in respect of 1,726 complaints upheld against airlines.

Aviation watchdog IAA also obtained €360,104 in refunds for passengers following the IAA’s intervention.

That is according to the IAA 2024 annual report, which shows 1,943 complaints against airlines were not upheld in favour of the complainant.

The report says the main reason was that the air carrier was able to prove a disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances and therefore would be exempt from paying compensation.

The report says of the 1,726 complaints upheld, 973 complaints related to flight cancellations, 677 complaints concerned long delays, while 64 complaints related to "denied boarding".

It said last year Aer Lingus accounted for 33% of all complaints, with Ryanair accounting for 31%.

The report says “Overall, complaints against Aer Lingus are down 6% year on year despite significant disruption in June and July 2024 due to industrial action which resulted in the cancellation of over 500 flights”.

The report also says the IAA handled 4,425 complaints against airlines in 2024 and this included complaints carried over from 2023 and 2,211 complaints submitted in 2024.

The report says the number of complaints submitted in 2024 was down 30% in comparison to the 2023 complaint levels.

Dublin Airport reports its service quality performance to the IAA monthly, with reference to the 22 metrics and the report says security queue times have improved markedly since 2023 — in 2024, security queue times exceeded 30 minutes on six separate days compared to 20 throughout 2023.

Of these six days, there was one occasion of the security queue waiting time exceeding 45 minutes.

The report says security queue times remained below 20 minutes more than 70% of the time in each month of the year.

The IAA also monitors quality of service at Dublin Airport across 15 different passenger satisfaction metrics where Dublin Airport achieved at least one bonus threshold in each quarter of the year. However, information on public transport on arrival was below minimum standards in each quarter of the year.

For performance in 2024, Dublin Airport incurred a passenger quality of service bonus of €4.5m and a penalty of €3.8m, resulting in a net bonus of €0.7m.

The IAA last year recorded a pre-tax profit of €2.57m, as revenues totalled €37.43m where IAA’s revenues are generated through charges and fees raised from regulated entities and the users of its services.

Numbers employed totalled 189, with 134 engaged in safety regulation. Staff costs totalled €22m and the report shows 91 employees earned more than €100,000 including five in the €175,000 to €200,000 pay range, 24 earning between €150,000 and €175,000 and 41 earning between €125,000 and €150,000.