Flight Delay Compensation Explained

Compensation for a delayed flight depends on where the flight started, which carrier operated it, and the law of the country involved. There is no single worldwide figure and no rule that applies everywhere. This explains how to work out which framework covers your flight and how to pursue a claim rather than guessing.

Why The Route Decides Everything

Compensation schemes are national or regional. They attach to flights departing from the territory in question, and to flights arriving there when the operating carrier is based in that territory. Two passengers on the same aircraft can therefore hold different rights depending on where the flight began and who sold the ticket.

The European rules, the United Kingdom version of them, and separate schemes in Canada, Brazil and elsewhere each set their own delay threshold, distance bands and amounts. Nothing here is a figure you can rely on. Look up the regulation for the country the flight departed from, then confirm the carrier falls inside it.

Distance matters where a scheme separates flights into bands, since longer routes carry a higher threshold before any payment is due. Short hops and long hauls are treated differently under the same regulation, so the length of the flight is part of the calculation rather than a detail.

Duty Of Care And Compensation Are Different

These are two separate obligations and airlines often blur them. Duty of care covers food, drink, communication and accommodation when a delay forces an overnight stay, and it usually applies whatever the cause. Compensation is money for the disruption itself and is normally owed only when the cause was within the carrier's control.

Ask for the written reason for the delay at the airport rather than a verbal summary. That stated reason decides whether a claim is payable, and it is much harder to pin down weeks later. Keep boarding passes, booking references and receipts for anything the delay forced you to buy.

• Duty of care - Meals, calls and a hotel when a delay strands you overnight.
• Compensation - Fixed payment tied to delay length and distance, cause dependent.
• Delay certificate - Written cause from the airline, the key document for a claim.
• Receipts - Proof of what the disruption cost you, needed for both routes.

What Counts As Extraordinary

Severe weather, air traffic control restrictions, security alerts, a strike by airport staff who are not the airline's employees, and political unrest are usually treated as extraordinary, which removes the compensation obligation. A technical fault with the aircraft normally is not, since maintenance sits with the carrier, though the edges of this have been interpreted differently by courts and enforcement bodies.

An airline that blames weather when the real cause was a late inbound aircraft or a crew shortage is the most common dispute. Ask for the reason in writing with the flight number, then check the weather records for that airport on that date if you decide to escalate.

Keep the delay certificate even if you do not intend to claim straight away. Enforcement bodies and small claims procedures ask for it, and carriers are usually far more willing to state a cause in the days after the flight than months later. If the airline refuses to put the reason in writing, record that refusal with the date.

How To File A Claim

Start with the carrier's own claim form. Some publish a dedicated page, others bury it behind a general contact form, and most set a deadline measured in weeks or months from the flight date. Submit inside that window and keep a copy of everything you sent.

If the airline refuses or ignores you, many jurisdictions have a national enforcement body that handles complaints, and some allow a small claims procedure against a carrier based in the country. Time limits vary widely, so check the limit that applies before treating the matter as closed.

Using A Claims Firm

Claims firms take a share of whatever they recover, and some charge whether or not the claim succeeds. What they bring is familiarity with the escalation route and the deadlines. What they cannot do is manufacture evidence: the documents you already hold are the same ones they will ask for.

Do not sign anything assigning the whole claim to a third party before you know what the airline has offered. A settlement that is accepted and paid can end the matter for good, so read the terms of an offer rather than treating an email from the airline as the final stage.

Check the fee structure before signing, including whether a charge applies when nothing is recovered and whether the firm adds interest or expenses on top. Most cases recover nothing at all, which is why the ones that reach a firm tend to be the ones with a clear written cause.

• No win no fee - Usually means a larger share taken from a successful payout.
• Assignment - Signs the claim over, so only the firm can settle it.
• Enforcement body - National regulator handling complaints an airline has ignored.