More and more holidaymakers are going away by train and by plane. Short flights are frowned on, but what in such cases are your rights?
Book a long-haul flight with KLM and most likely you’ll be flying out from Amsterdam-Schiphol. To get to the airport KLM offers you a combi-ticket that includes rail travel from Brussels or Antwerp straight to Schiphol Airport where you can take your flight.
If your flight is cancelled or incurs a delay of more than 3 hours thanks to euro laws you enjoy good protection: There’s compensation of between 250 and 600 euros per passenger depending on the distance of your fight. You can also get compensation for expenditure on meals and an overnight stay if that proves necessary.
Euro laws also protect rail travellers, but the rules are different. You can count on compensation if your journey is delayed by more than one hour. If you get stuck overnight, you also qualify for a hotel bed and meals.
The compensation is smaller though. Delays of between one hour and two will get you compensation worth a quarter of your ticket. Experience a longer delay and the compensation rises to half the fare.
Get seriously delayed on Thalys between Brussels and Paris and you could qualify for 75 euros compensation at most. Delays on air travel can trigger compensation worth 600 euros.
Are you travelling by rail in Belgium, then in serious cases delays can get your ticket entirely refunded.
VRT aviation expert Nico Cardone hasn’t been able to track down clear European rules on combination tickets involving rail and plane travel. If your train is delayed and you miss your flight, your air ticket will be refunded and you can qualify for compensation up to 600 euros.
If you land on time, but then get delayed on the train compensation rules for rail travel apply. This means up to 50% of your ticket may be refunded.
Nico says that if you just look at the compensation and ignore environmental concerns then air travel is more interesting and you can count on greater compensation if you make the entire journey by plane. However, take on board environmental concerns and rail travel to replace a short haul flight is more interesting. CO2 emissions on short haul flights are far greater than those of a train trip. The journey on many short haul flights can often just as easily be made by rail.
International rail travel is booming. Operators Thalys and Eurostar are merging and plan to offer far larger capacity soon. By 2030 they want to increase passenger numbers to 30 million travellers. That’s up by a third.