Flight Cancellation and Compensation: What You Need To Know?

It is not uncommon to land in a sticky situation or have your holidays ruined because of the cancellation and delay of flights. While your precious hours or a holiday experience cannot be replaced, airlines are now dictated by law to fairly compensate passengers, when flights are inexcusably cancelled or delayed.

Studies show that only one in three passengers, who are adversely affected by cancellation or delays, claim flight delay compensation from errant airlines. For the most part, customers remain in the dark about their rights to be compensated. Continue reading to explore the scenarios in which you can make a flight cancellation refund claims.

When can you claim compensation for a cancelled flight?

In October 2012, a diktat by the Supreme Court of Justice stated that a cancellation or a delay of more than three hours had to be compensated. According to the rule, you are eligible for compensation if your claim meets the criteria.

First, passengers who make a flight cancellation compensation claim can only do so if your flight took off from an EU airport. Additionally, if you have flown in from outside of the EU, but have landed at an EU airport in an EU-based carrier, you still qualify for the compensation. Apart from the regular airports, the ones at Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland also come under the ruling’s purview.

A flight cancellation or delay refund claim is binding only when the airlines has delayed or cancelled the flight due to their own oversight. For example, if the carrier is under booked or if the flight is delayed due to a technical issue that could have been taken care of in a routine maintenance run, you can claim. However, if the cause for delay or cancellation is due to reasons like a security threat or bad weather it’s unlikely that you will be compensated.

Does a flight have to be delayed a certain number of hours?

Your flight will have to be delayed for at least three hours for you to claim compensation. But there is a catch to it. You have to land more than three hours late instead of taking off after three hours. For example, if your flight departs around 4 hours late but still manages to land at your destination with a delay of two and half hours you will not qualify for the compensation.

The amount of compensation also depends on the hours of delay and the distance travelled and is given on per person basis. It is paid in Euros so the compensation that you get in hand will depend on the exchange rates.

What is the claim period?

The Supreme Court’s order mandated that flight cancellation refund claims from February 2005 are all eligible for compensation. However in the UK, statute of limitations does apply. So, if you drag the airline concerned to court to obtain your compensation, only claims that are lesser than six years old are valid.

Stephen Godden, am the author of this article for Flight Delay Refunds and Blueway Limited is the main resources of Flight Delay Refunds company provide a full service of delayed or cancelled flights.