Flight Cancelled?
Get Compensated.

Flight Compensation Explained in Five Minutes

Most passengers have heard that "you can get money for a delayed flight" without knowing the rules that decide whether they actually can. Under EU Regulation 261/2004 — and its UK copy, UK261 — the answer depends on four questions, and none of them is the price of your ticket. Where did the flight depart from? Which airline operated it? How late did you arrive, or how much notice did you get of the cancellation? And was the cause within the airline's control? Get all four right and the airline owes you a fixed sum of €250, €400 or €600 per passenger, whether you paid €19 or €1,900 for the seat.

1. Where the flight departed

Every flight leaving an airport in the EU, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland or the United Kingdom is covered — on any airline in the world. Flights into Europe are covered only when a European or UK airline operates them. Lufthansa from Chicago to Frankfurt: covered. United on the same route: not covered, unless the disruption started on a covered leg of the same booking.

2. How late you arrived

Arrival time is measured at the final destination on your booking, at the moment the aircraft door opens. Three hours is the threshold; 2 h 59 min earns nothing, 3 h 01 min earns the full amount. A short delay on the first leg that snowballs into a missed connection and a next-day arrival is measured against the final destination, not the first stop.

3. How much notice you got

A cancellation announced 14 or more days before departure pays no compensation, although you keep the right to a refund or re-routing. Inside 14 days, compensation is due unless the airline puts you on an alternative flight close to the original times. The airline has to prove when it told you; an email that never reached you doesn't count.

4. Whether the cause was in the airline's control

Weather, air-traffic-control restrictions, third-party strikes, bird strikes and security risks are "extraordinary circumstances" and excuse compensation. Technical faults, crew problems, the airline's own strikes, IT failures and late inbound aircraft are not — even though airlines describe all of them as "operational reasons". The airline must prove the extraordinary circumstance for your specific flight; a general statement about the weather is not proof.

What You Are Owed Besides Compensation

Compensation is the headline, but the regulation gives you three more rights that apply even when compensation does not — for example during a storm.

• Care (Article 9): meals and drinks once the delay reaches two to four hours depending on distance, two phone calls or emails, and a hotel with transfers if you have to stay overnight. If the airline does nothing, buy what you need and keep the receipts; reasonable costs are refundable.
• Refund or re-routing (Article 8): when a flight is cancelled or delayed five hours or more, you choose between a full refund within seven days and re-routing to your destination as soon as possible — on another airline if necessary — or on a later date that suits you.
• Downgrading (Article 10): if you are moved from business to economy, the airline refunds 30–75% of the fare for that flight within seven days.

How a Claim Actually Unfolds

The process is slower than the "two-minute check" suggests, and it helps to know the stages. After you submit your flight details we verify the operational data — actual departure and arrival times, the reason logged for the disruption, and whether other flights from the same airport operated normally. If the case is strong, we send you an authorisation to sign and file a written claim with the airline, quoting the regulation, the amount and the evidence. Airlines answer in two to eight weeks. About half accept at this stage. The other half reject, usually with a one-line reference to "extraordinary circumstances"; we then request the operational proof, escalate to the national enforcement body or ADR scheme, and, where the airline still refuses, file in the appropriate court. Court is where most reluctant airlines settle — often the week before the hearing. Payment reaches your account within days of the airline paying us, less the 35% service fee. Nothing is charged if we lose.

Why Passengers Use a Claims Service

You can claim on your own, and for a straightforward case with a cooperative airline you should. People come to us for the cases that are not straightforward: the airline has already refused, the flight was a connection through a hub in another country, the airline demands the claim be filed in its home jurisdiction, or the passenger simply does not want to spend months writing letters. We handle the correspondence, the ADR procedures and the litigation in the relevant country, and we only get paid when you do.