Flight cancelled or delayed? Know your rights

Flight delays and cancellations are stressful, so if you’ve been held up at the airport or bumped off your flight, it’s worth knowing your rights.

Under the Denied Boarding Regulation, also known as EC 261/2004, you’re protected if your flight is delayed or cancelled. The rules cover all flights departing from the UK or EU with any airline, or arriving into the UK or EU with an airline that is based in the UK or EU.

What you are entitled to depends on the length of the flight and how long you’re delayed.

Flight delays

If your flight is delayed for long enough, you are entitled to food and drink, plus access to phone calls or emails. You’re also entitled to hotel accommodation if you are held up overnight. The distance of the flight determines how long you need to be delayed before this becomes the case.

Flight distance –> delay

Less than 1,500km (London to Barcelona is 1,150km) –> 2 hours

Between 1,500km and 3,500km (Manchester to Faro is 1,870km) –> 3 hours

More than 3,500km (Edinburgh to Larnaca is 3,640km) –> 4 hours

Airline staff should help with these, but if no one is available, keep receipts and claim these expenses later. Also bear in mind that airlines will only cover reasonable expenses.

Compensation for flight delays

You may also be entitled to compensation, providing the delay is the airline’s fault. This could be where they can’t get enough staff or where there is a technical fault on the plane, rather than things they can’t control such as bad weather or the airport’s baggage handlers going on strike. As above, the distance of the flight is the determining factor.

Flight distance –> compensation

Up to 1,500km –> £220

1,500km-3,500km –> £350

3,500km plus –> £520

Flight cancellation

If your flight is cancelled, you’re entitled to a replacement flight or a full refund, including any onward or return flights you won’t be able to take. These rules also apply if your flight is delayed by more than five hours.

Go for a replacement flight and if it means your arrival time is delayed by at least two hours (in line with the flight delay times above), you’ll be entitled to food and drink, phone calls and even a hotel if you have to wait overnight.

You’ll also be entitled to compensation if the cancellation is the airline’s fault, provided it was cancelled less than two weeks before you were due to fly. The compensation is the same as for delayed flights, as specified above.

If you’re offered a replacement flight that would arrive two, three or four hours (depending on the flight distance) later than the scheduled arrival time of your original flight, you can claim this compensation too.

How to claim

Whether you’re delayed for a few hours or your flight’s cancelled altogether, contact your airline to claim compensation. Details should be on the airline’s website or call the customer services department to find out how to submit your claim.

Having your holiday plans disrupted can be frustrating, but knowing what you’re entitled to can help to take some of the sting out of a delayed or cancelled flight.

Travel insurance can also help to ensure you have the best possible holiday. Policies can cover the cost of unexpected events such as illness, injury or losing your valuables.

Visit our travel insurance page to find out more and get a quote.