Signing a Power of Attorney costs you more than the commission

Every commission claim service shares one core element in their process: you sign a Power of Attorney ("Authorisation Form" / "Assignment of Rights"). What that legally entails — and what you give away — is rarely clear in their marketing.

What you give away by signing:

1. The right to negotiate your claim yourself. From that point on, the airline only talks to them. If a lower settlement is offered along the way? You may not even know — they decide.
2. The right to payout to your own account. The claim goes to THEIR account, they retain commission, then remit the balance to you. International transfer sometimes with conversion margin.
3. Cession of rights (in some contracts). Not just a Power of Attorney but a transfer of the claim right. Legally irreversible without their cooperation.
4. Personal data rights. Many PoAs contain broad privacy clauses — consent for data aggregation, marketing, transfer to partners.

What you get for it? They run the claim. That's real work and for complex international claims or notoriously resistant carriers (Ryanair, Wizz Air) it sometimes genuinely yields more than a DIY letter. For typical EU 261 delays: not really — a well-structured letter gets a response just as well.

The alternative — FFCheck. No Power of Attorney. We only draft the letter. You stay the owner of your claim. You receive the payout directly. €9.99 flat. Still in doubt? You can always hand over to a commission service later — but if you do that now without trying DIY first, you give away 25-35% without a test phase.