US: Startups turn delayed flights into revenue

A league of startup companies is industrializing the process of claiming compensation from airlines, helping stranded passengers turn the table on carriers and transforming delayed flights into a fast-growing stream of revenue. Launched in Denmark, AirHelp offers to sift through your emails, check your booking information against effective takeoff and landing times for the past three years, and seek compensation you might not even know you were entitled to. The company promises to pick up all administrative and legal bills, and swiftly let customers know how much money they may collect—minus a cut of at least 25% it charges for fighting in their names. From lawyers to consumer-rights associations, compensation-claim intermediaries have been around for a long time but procedural costs typically exceeded potential rewards. “Airlines make it so difficult, that you will give up before you get reimbursed,” said Rune Knudsen, a New Yorker who relied on AirHelp to obtain compensation last year after his flight touched down behind schedule in Copenhagen. “They take away that headache.” By digitizing the claim procedure, the likes of AirHelp, Flightright, EUclaim and Gate28 are transforming the business into a mass-service that could tilt the balance of power between airlines and passengers.<br/>