AirHelp is killing two birds with one stone as it provides services to both airplane passengers and airlines in processing legal claims quickly and efficiently. AirHelp is a company that provides online legal services to travelers receive compensation for cancelled, delayed, or overbooked flights. The company’s CMO Nicolas Michaelsen told CNN Money on Wednesday, June 24 that airlines could save hundreds of millions of dollars per year if they used AirHelp.
AirHelp’s primary goals are to empower consumer rights and to raise the bar of customer service by airlines. According to The Code of Federal Regulations, Title 14, Aeronautics and Space, Part 250, passengers who are denied boarding must be paid by the airline by cash of check on the day of the occurrence. Denied boarding is when an airline overbooks a flight and denies boarding to a passenger if space is limited. It is illegal for U.S. airlines to sell more tickets than seats available on a plane. Usually those who check in to a flight last are denied boarding. The company encourages consumers to know their rights when traveling with an airline.
“If you've been on a delayed or cancelled flight or been denied boarding within the last three years you could be entitled up to €600 from the airline,” states the AirHelp website. “
The amount of money a passenger can receive from filing a claim depends on the length of the delay and the distance travelled en route. Consumers can check for eligibility in three easy minutes. AirHelp services are available on its official company website, Facebook page, smartphone app (Android & iOS), and Gmail. The company runs on a “no win, no fee” basis. If a client wins a claim, AirHelp deposits money directly into the client’s bank account minus a 25% contingent fee from the final compensation pay out. According to AirHelp, many airlines have years worth of backlogged legal claims since they are manually processing claims.
“Airlines could save an estimated $324 million a year if they used AirHelp to validate claims,” said Michaelsen.
The Danish company was founded on January 2013 by CEO Henrik Zilmer, CMO Nicolas Michaelsen, CTO Greg Roodt, and CFO Poul Oddershede. The company operates in 9 languages in 17 countries. 15 of its 70 company employees are lawyers. It won the 2014 Spark ‘Powered by Rackspace’ Award at Collision Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada and gained recognition as the Best Danish Startup of the Year at the Nordic Startup Awards.
According to a report by CNN Money, less than 2% of more than 26 million people who are “entitled to money back for grievances every year” file claims for delayed, cancelled, or overbooked flights. The reported also stated that many passengers settle for food vouchers when they could “be entitled to much more.” Danish Aviation, Denmark’s National Airline Association released a statement that trends in compensation claims could equate to a hike in traveller’s expenses on airline ticket fares.
