Algeria — Ministère des Transports, Direction de l'Aviation Civile

The clocks it starts

• Two years for a Warsaw Convention claim (Art. 29)Art. 29 extinguishes the right to damages if an action is not brought within two years of arrival, of the date the aircraft ought to have arrived, or of the date carriage stopped. Courts treat it as extinguishing the right rather than barring the remedy, so unlike an ordinary limitation period it is not suspended by correspondence and cannot be waived by the carrier.Warsaw Convention 1929, Art. 29 — Art. 29Limitation period

What it entitles you to, beyond money

• Algeria is in the Warsaw system, not the Montreal ConventionAlgeria is not a party to the Montreal Convention 1999. International carriage with a place of departure or destination in Algeria falls into the older Warsaw system, where the carrier's liability limits are markedly lower and the written-notice periods for baggage claims are shorter. That is a real difference on an Algiers–Paris ticket and it is not something a carrier will point out. Note separately that a flight from an EU airport to Algiers does engage Regulation 261/2004, even though the return leg does not.
• Ask whether the African Union consumer regulation has been domesticatedThe Yamoussoukro Decision is implemented through a set of regulations that includes one on the protection of consumers of air transport services, administered through the African Civil Aviation Commission. Whether it gives you an enforceable right depends on whether your state has brought it into domestic law, which varies across the continent and which we have not verified state by state. It is worth one line in your complaint to the national authority: ask whether the African Union consumer protection regulation applies to your flight and, if so, what it provides. The answer is either a right you did not know you had or a clear statement that the national regulation is the only one in play.
• Warsaw Convention damages for delay (international carriage)Art. 19 of the Warsaw Convention makes the carrier liable for damage occasioned by delay in the carriage of passengers and baggage, and Art. 20 gives it a defence where it proves it took all necessary measures to avoid the damage or that it was impossible to take them. Like the Montreal claim it pays the loss the delay actually caused you rather than a fixed sum, so it lives on receipts. The ceiling depends on which Warsaw-system instrument the two States have in common — the 1929 Convention, the Hague Protocol of 1955, or the Montreal Additional Protocols of 1975 — and the figures differ between them, so we state none. The action is extinguished two years after arrival under Art. 29, and that period is a hard extinction rather than an ordinary limitation.Art. 19, Art. 20

Where to take it next

1. 01Written claim to the airlineComplain to the carrier in writing first, naming the flight, the disruption and the loss it caused, and asking which provision of the national civil aviation regulations it says applies. The regulator will ask whether you did this and the carrier's written answer is your evidence.Claim direct·typically 30 days
2. 02Direction de l'Aviation Civile, Ministère des TransportsThe civil aviation directorate within the Ministry of Transport regulates carriers operating to, from and within Algeria.Regulator·typically 90 days·official page
3. 03Direction du commerce — protection du consommateurThe consumer protection route under Loi n° 09-03, administered through the Ministry of Commerce and its wilaya directorates.Regulator·typically 90 days·official page
4. 04Civil or small claims courtBinding on themAvailable where the carrier refuses. Proportionate where several passengers on the same booking claim together, or where the disruption caused substantial out-of-pocket loss you can document.Small claims·typically 180 days