How to Document a Flight Disruption for Your Compensation Claim
A compensation claim is decided on facts: when you were told, when the doors opened, what the airline said the cause was. Ten minutes of evidence-gathering at the airport can be worth €600 later.
📷 5 min read · Published
The four things every claim needs
- Proof you had a confirmed booking — booking confirmation email, e-ticket or itinerary. A boarding pass helps but is not essential.
- The flight identity — airline, flight number, date, route.
- What happened — cancellation notice, or the actual departure and arrival times.
- What the airline said the cause was — in any form: SMS, app notification, gate announcement, email.
At the airport
- Photograph the departures board showing your flight's status, with the clock or a timestamp visible.
- Screenshot every notification from the airline's app and every SMS. Note the time you received the first one — it decides the 14-day rule for cancellations.
- Ask the gate or ticket desk staff for the reason and for written confirmation of the delay or cancellation. Airlines are required to provide a written notice of your rights (Article 14); ask for it.
- If you are re-routed, keep the new boarding pass. If you buy your own replacement ticket because the airline offered nothing acceptable, keep the invoice.
- Note the names of the passengers travelling with you on the same booking — each is owed compensation separately.
On the aircraft
When the doors finally open at your destination, check the time. Arrival for EU261 purposes is the door-open time (Germanwings v Henning), which can be 10–20 minutes after touchdown. If the flight-tracking apps show a 2 h 50 min delay at touchdown and the doors opened 15 minutes later, you have crossed the three-hour line.
Receipts that are refundable
| Expense | Refundable? |
|---|---|
| Meals and drinks during the wait (reasonable amounts) | Yes, if the airline provided no vouchers |
| Hotel and transport to it for an overnight delay | Yes |
| Replacement flight when the airline failed to re-route you | Yes, minus any refund already paid |
| Phone calls / data to rearrange plans | Yes (two communications) |
| Missed hotel night, tour or event at destination | Not under EU261; possibly under the Montreal Convention or travel insurance |
| Alcohol, upgrades, luxury meals | No |
After you get home
- Save everything in one folder: booking, boarding passes, screenshots, receipts, the airline's messages.
- Look up the actual times on a flight-tracking site and save a screenshot — these records disappear after a few months on free tiers.
- Write a one-paragraph timeline while it is fresh: scheduled times, when you were told, what you were told, actual times.
With that folder, a claim takes minutes to prepare. Send it through our free eligibility check and we do the rest — including obtaining the operational data airlines rarely volunteer.
Where to Find the Operational Facts Later
If you kept nothing at the airport, most of the facts can still be reconstructed. Free flight-tracking sites keep actual departure and arrival times for a few months; the airline's own app or booking page usually shows the final status; the airport's website often publishes daily operations notices (runway closures, security incidents); and national weather services keep METAR archives that show the conditions at the scheduled time. Reason codes filed by the airline are not public, but they can be requested in litigation — which is one of the practical reasons to escalate rather than argue by email.
A Simple Evidence File
| Item | Why it matters | Essential? |
|---|---|---|
| Booking confirmation / e-ticket | Proves the confirmed reservation and the passengers | Yes |
| Boarding passes | Prove you presented yourself for the flight | Helpful |
| Airline's cancellation / delay messages with timestamps | Fix the notice period and the airline's stated reason | Very helpful |
| Photos of departure boards | Independent record of the delay as announced | Helpful |
| Door-open time at arrival | Decides borderline 3-hour cases | Helpful |
| Receipts for meals, hotel, transport, replacement tickets | Recoverable expenses on top of compensation | Yes, for expenses |
| Names and contact details of fellow passengers | Witnesses; identical claims strengthen each other | Optional |
Digital Habits That Help
Turn on the airline app's notifications before you travel and take a screenshot of each one as it arrives; forward airline emails to a folder you will not delete; and photograph rather than pocket paper vouchers — they are proof that the airline acknowledged the disruption. If you travel often, a note in your phone with the flight number, scheduled and actual times and the reason given takes thirty seconds and settles most disputes before they start.
Documenting a Denied Boarding
Denied boarding needs one extra piece of evidence: proof that you presented yourself at the gate on time. Photograph the gate display with your boarding pass in the frame, note the time, and ask the agent for the written notice the airline is required to give (Article 14(2)). If the agent says the flight is "overbooked", "oversold" or "the aircraft was changed", write down those words — they confirm the airline's, not your, responsibility. Keep the new boarding pass for the replacement flight; its departure time proves the length of your delay.
Documenting Expenses
Expenses are only refunded against receipts, and only if reasonable. Keep card receipts and the itemised bill; a hotel invoice should show the date and the room rate; a taxi receipt should show the route. Photograph paper receipts immediately — thermal paper fades within weeks. Group the receipts by day and add a line explaining why each was necessary ("airline provided no hotel; next flight 09:40 following day"). Claims presented this way are paid; a bundle of unexplained receipts is queried for months.
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