Your flight has been delayed or cancelled? You can get compensation for up to 600€: what are the conditions, how do you get compensated, what the regulations say?
A cancelled or delayed flight can block you airport or put you late at the beginning or end of your vacation. But under certain conditions, you may be entitled to compensation from the airline. So, how to make one claim for flight delay and what amount of compensation can you receive for delayed or cancelled flights? We give you all the answers here.
The information in this article is valid as of 27/02/2018
What are the flight delay or cancellation rules?
If you leave from an EU airport on any airline, or if you arrive at an EU airport on an EU airline (including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), you are entitled to compensation under the EU airline. EU Regulation No. 261/2004 If your flight is delayed for more than three hours. If the flight has been cancelled and you take a replacement flight, the flight must be only two hours late compared to the arrival time of the original flight to obtain compensation.
The airline must provide you with a meal with drinks according to the time of day (often in the form of a voucher) and explain the conditions of your refund. You are also entitled to refund your past communications.
If the flight delay requires you to spend the night at the airport, the airline must pay you the hotel and the transport to the hotel (or the transport to bring you home). In case of major disruption, it is possible that airline staff may not help you to book your hotel. If this is the case, it is advisable to do it yourself and to make you reimburse the costs afterwards. Support receipts are essential.
Delayed or cancelled flight: What compensation are you entitled to?
For any delay of more than two hours, the airline must provide you with meals and drinks for free, the cost of telephone calls and an internet connection for your emails, as well as accommodation if the delay implies that you spend the night on site. Only “reasonable” expenses are paid, so unfortunately you will not have free beers or fancy dinners. The table below details the amount of the financial compensation to which you are entitled for your delayed or cancelled flight, which depends on the duration of your delay, the duration of the flight and whether or not your destination is in the EU.
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Are there any exceptions for a late or cancelled flight?
Yes, there are exceptions. You will not be compensated in case of "extraordinary circumstance". For example, when the delay is due to war or civil unrest, a security problem, a natural disaster, extreme weather conditions (including the failure of an airport to defrost the aircraft in time), restrictions on air traffic control, airport staff strikes, a medical emergency on board and certain crew problems.
Delayed or cancelled: How long to claim compensation?
Better to claim compensation for your flight delay as soon as possible. However, you can legally claim compensation for past delays or cancellations. In France, you have up to 5 years after the flight date to present your claim.
How do I claim compensation?
The best way to claim compensation to an airline is to do it immediately at the airport, especially if you need a replacement flight or if you are delayed for the night. If you cannot ask the airline to pay you immediately, keep all your receipts so that you can submit them on your refund request. To make an official claim, contact the airline customer service by telephone or email, indicating all reference numbers, codes and flight hours, and details of what happened.
However, doing so to get you back your delayed or cancelled flight is often discouraging. Airlines tend to drag files. If you don’t have time and energy for this, help with a specialized platform. Flightright For example, a team of experts gathered to help you recover your allowance. This service is paid, but very effective. The site holds a commission in case of success of 27% (+ VAT). If they do not get it, you have absolutely no costs. No compensation for you, no commission for them.
Photo credit: Pixabay – MichaelGaidah
What about travel insurance for flight delays?
Your travel insurance will probably offer you compensation in the event of a flight delay or cancellation, although in most cases it will be a derisory amount (about 20 to 30€) and even in this case it will only be paid after an extremely long period – usually 12 hours or more. Read the "small lines" of your contract.
The airline offered me a good in compensation, what should I do?
You have a choice to accept it or not. The regulations provide that the airline must pay compensation in cash.
And did you have to do at a delayed or cancelled flight? How did you get paid? Explain your experience to us in the comments!
Main Photo Credit: Flickr – Artform Canada
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