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One of the most common questions I hear when it comes to AirHelp is “Is AirHelp legit?” If I’m being honest, I wondered about it at first, too. When it comes to flight compensation, you can’t be too careful. There are tons of companies that have really tricky terms that will make it, so they can get out of compensating for any flight delays or cancellations.
Yet, when I was given the option for Lisa and my flights, I thought, “What the hell. It’s cheap. Might as well.” Boy am I ever glad that I did. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though.
What Is AirHelp?
AirHelp is a company whose sole focus is the rights of air passengers. They are quite possibly the largest air passenger rights advocate in the world with a staff of over 350 people including, as they claim, the world’s largest team of lawyers specialized in air passenger rights.
Yet, why should that matter to you? What they offer to you is really what matters. Who really cares if they are standing up to airlines in court and campaigning for national governments to introduce fair air travel rights? How does it help you?
Well, I’m glad you asked. The service that AirHelp provides is flight compensation. In essence, they are an insurance company that fights on your behalf if you need to file for compensation.
What Types of Flight Compensation Does AirHelp Offer?
Would reasonably be the first question anyone would ask. They themselves don’t offer compensation. What they do is take your eligible claims and fight the airline on your behalf, so that you don’t have to. They know all the tricks airlines try to pull, as well as what you are entitled to. Therefore, instead of you spending hours, days, or weeks on hold with whatever airline just to get a bull shit offer, they do it for you and they get everything you are entitled to.
Now you should know your rights as an air passenger. Everyone should. Yet, it’s quite clear that more often than not, people have no idea what rights they have and what compensation they are entitled to. On AirHelp’s website, they break down your rights and what you are entitled to based on different criteria.
Yikes, Sounds Expensive.
I thought it would be. After all, it was somewhere between 6-15 € per person per flight (connecting flights are not charged extra). It’s gotta be at least 100 bucks a year, right? Wrong. Cheapness is an absolute essential when keeping cheap flights affordable. They have two plans available. AirHelp Plus Essential for 20€ a year and AirHelp Plus Complete for 50€ a year.
Plus, they have also announced they will be coming out with AirPayout insurance. With that they will send €100 directly to your bank account when your flight gets cancelled at late notice, delayed over 3 hours, or diverted. Completely hassle-free. Exciting, eh?
What Do Their Plans Offer?
As stated before, they have two plans. AirHelp Plus Essential and Complete.
AirHelp Plus Essential is their cheap plan at 20€ a year per passenger and offers:
- Compensation claims up to 600€
- Expenses claims up to 6000€
- Luggage claims up to 1400€
- Assistance with flight refunds
- Live chat support
The “expensive” plan is AirHelp Plus Complete is a bit pricier at 50€ a year per passenger. Its offer directly reflects why, as the offer is:
- Everything in AirHelp Essential
- Airport lounge access.*
- Range of lounge amenities included in the standard access fee.**
*You will receive a voucher for free airport lounge access when a flight delay of over 1 hour or a flight cancellation 6 hours before departure is detected. Valid for almost 1,200 lounges at over 600 airports worldwide
**Lounge amenities vary. AirHelp Plus Complete applies to those amenities included in the standard access fee.
Honestly, with how often we’ve had flight delays, I wish we had this years ago.
How Does Someone File A Claim For Flight Compensation With AirHelp?
It’s incredibly simple. You go to their page, type your flight information in to check if it’s eligible, follow the steps as directed, wait a couple of months, and they put the money directly into your account.
Lisa actually had a cancelled flight from London to Vienna at the end of September. In less than 30 minutes, she went through the process. By mid-February, she had her claim deposited in her account. No fighting with airlines or any frustration. It just takes a bit of waiting.
Where All Does AirHelp Cover?
I initially believed it was the European Union only that was covered based on what I had read. Yet I was uncertain and therefore contacted their live support to ask. This is what they said:
“We also handle UK and some test claims in the USA, Canada and Brazil.
In some jurisdictions, it’s not possible to take legal action yet.”
I had to ask for further clarification as that was a bit vague. Their response?
“If you purchased AirHelp Plus, either as a one-off policy for the flight in question, or as an annual membership, you are entitled to our free of charge assistance in the following areas:
European Regulation EC 261— which deals with compensation for delayed, canceled, or overbooked European flights.
US Code of Federal Regulations — which deals with compensation for overbooked US flights.
Montreal Convention — which deals with issues concerning lost, damaged, or delayed luggage, as well as reimbursement for any expenses incurred during an international flight disruption.
If your case does not fall within the scope of the regulations above, as part of your AirHelp Plus membership, AirHelp will attempt to obtain a goodwill claim with the airline on your behalf, in the form of vouchers or air miles.
As for our main scope of the services, please be informed that AirHelp is a company that assists air passengers in claiming compensation when their flights are disrupted cancelled, delayed or overbooked by the airline under EC261 Regulation, UK261 Regulation, DOT Regulation, Montreal Convention Nr 99, APR Canada, and ANAC 400 Regulation, USA goodwill regulation and United Emirates goodwill regulation.
We also promote general knowledge on air passenger rights.
Please be aware in order to be eligible for all these regulations, it’s required to be a Plus member.
For the non-member claims, we can handle EC261 Regulation, UK261 Regulation, APR Canada and USA goodwill.”
I was shocked by how much they covered. Honestly, I’m not sure what half of those are and, even though I’ll probably look them up, now I don’t have to. Airhelp has me covered when it comes to my flight compensation.
Will A Claim With AirHelp Interfere With Travel Insurance Claims Such As World Nomads Or SafetyWing?
I wondered this myself. Therefore, I asked that as well. Their answer was superb.
“No, they don’t. AirHelp would be considered more of a legal/law company.
AirHelp’s different from insurance as we can’t guarantee the outcome, we can submit claims in accordance with the regulations and take the airlines to court if necessary, the motto for AirHelp is We win if you win, as to clarify there would be no AirHelp fees if your claim with is unsuccessful.”
So according to them, no. It doesn’t interfere with insurance claims. These are two very different things when it comes to flight compensation. Yet they fit together so well. So, if you do end up getting Airhelp, make sure to keep getting World Nomads, N 26, SafetyWing, or whatever your travel insurance of choice is. Travel Insurance is vital.
Our Recommendation
Given that I initially thought that AirHelp only covered flight compensation with flights in and out of the EU, I was only going to recommend it to people within the EU.
However, after getting the answer to everything they cover, I would recommend it to anyone who travels in, to, or from the EU, Canada, the US, and Brazil.
How can you go wrong, spending 20€ to make your life easier when dealing with airline flight compensation? You can’t! So you should get AirHelp today.
As always, we believe we should live with intention, travel with purpose, and let the world inscribe its stories upon us.
So until next time, stay authentic, stay Nomadic, and let the world inscribe its stories upon you more than you do so upon it.
