A Guide to Your Flight Cancellation Rights

Things to consider

• You must meet certain conditions to be eligible for compensation
• Delayed passengers may need to choose between a refund or a replacement flight

• Airlines are not obliged to compensate for delays caused by 'exceptional circumstances'.

Criteria for Claiming Your Rights

Before you can go about claiming your legal rights to compensation or assistance in the event of a flight being cancelled, you need to make sure you are eligible for this. Under the European Union's Denied Boarding Regulations, passengers have a legal case to protection should they have a confirmed booking, have checked-in on time and if they are flying either to or from an EU airport.

Assistance at the Airport

Once it has been confirmed that a flight has been cancelled, the airline in question is legally obliged to provide passengers with written details of their rights under the Denied Boarding Regulation. Also at the airport, all passengers are entitled to claim two free phone calls or emails from their airline, as well as free meals and refreshments appropriate to the length of any delay, and, if appropriate, free hotel accommodation and transfers.

Alternative Flights

Passengers booked onto a delayed flight will be given the choice of re-routing to their planned destination at the earliest-possible opportunity, or else at a later time that is convenient to them, with most airports offering the facilities to compare flights online before making a decision. In the case of connecting net flights being cancelled, then passengers will be offered the chance to fly back to their point of departure as soon as possible and to receive a full refund on their ticket.

Refund and compensation

Alternatively, passengers may also claim a full refund on a flight that is cancelled, with airlines duty-bound to provide this within seven days of a claim being made.

On top of the choice between a new flight or a refund, passengers may also be entitled to compensation from the airline. This is largely dependant on the length of any delay and how far an individual passenger is travelling. Should a carrier offer a replacement flight that will incur a delayed arrival time of less than two hours, then no compensation will be paid.

However, the Denied Boarding Regulation does set out minimum compensation amounts for passengers hit by delays of more than two hours, with these levels rising according to length of total delay and distance due to be travelled.

Exceptional Circumstances

Airlines do not, however, have to offer compensation of any sort for 'exceptional circumstances', or things that are outside of their control. For example, should a flight be cancelled due to severe weather or a workers' strike, then the above regulations do not apply. Furthermore, even when a delay is their fault, airlines do not have an obligation to refund related losses, such as missed connections, hotel costs or stress and emotional distress.

Further sources of information

Further information on airline passenger rights can be found on the website of the Civil Aviation Authority, which is the UK's specialist aviation regulator, while details of the Denied Boarding Regulation can be found on the European Union's website. Search for the best night flights at UK Net Guide's travel shop.