In Banjul, as across The Gambia, a very common story goes like this. A son in London, a sister in Barcelona or a cousin in Brussels buys a ticket online and sends the booking to a relative in Banjul. The flight out of Banjul Airport is cancelled, or it arrives in Europe hours late. Then comes the question: who has the right to claim, the person who paid or the person who flew?
The short answer is the passenger. The compensation set by the European rule, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, belongs to the person who was booked to travel, not to the person who paid for the ticket. The payer does not become the claimant just because the money left his or her bank account.
That has three practical consequences.
First, the passenger needs a confirmed booking. The ticket or booking reference in the passenger’s name is the key document. A screenshot of the e-ticket, or of the boarding pass, is enough to start.
Second, the payer is not left with nothing. If the family member who paid also lost money, for example a replacement ticket bought at the last minute, that cost should be kept with its receipt. The refund of an unused ticket, however, goes back to the person who paid it, which is why both people should keep their papers.
Third, the amount does not depend on who paid. The compensation is fixed per passenger by the distance of the flight: 250 euros up to 1,500 km, 400 euros up to 3,500 km, 600 euros beyond. Most routes between The Gambia and Europe are longer than 3,000 km, so 400 or 600 euros per passenger are the usual figures, if the flight is covered and the delay or cancellation is not caused by extraordinary circumstances.
Is a flight from Banjul covered? A flight to Europe on a European airline is, in principle. Brussels Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and Vueling are European airlines, so a delay of three hours or more on arrival, a cancellation announced too late, or a denied boarding can open this right, even when the flight leaves from Banjul.
There is also an imbalance that families in Banjul know well. The airline asks for the full fare upfront, on a fixed date, under strict rules: change fees, no-show penalties, non-refundable fares. But when the airline is the one that owes money, the European regulation sets no deadline for it to answer a claim. The Commission recommends two months, but does not impose them. Silence is not an offence, and for many passengers it is the only reply they ever get.
One reminder for families: send the claim in the name of the person who travelled, keep the booking reference, and write down the real arrival time. Those three items answer most of the questions an airline will ask.
More detail: https://robindesairs.eu/en/
Saint-Yves Kodjo is a former cabin crew chief and the founder of Robin des Airs, a service that helps passengers between Europe and Africa claim flight compensation. The name is a play on “Robin des Bois”, French for Robin Hood: we take from the airlines, and give back to the families. robindes
