Flight Delayed or Cancelled? How to Claim Compensation Without a Lawyer

You know the feeling. The gate has changed twice, the board says "delayed" with no new time, and the one member of staff has stopped making eye contact. Eventually you land, three and a half hours late, and you go to bed.

Under European rules, that evening was probably worth money. Not a voucher or an apology, cash, and often more than the ticket cost. The airline is not going to mention it. This guide is what they would tell you if they had to.

Who actually qualifies

The rule is EU261, and the version in force today has three parts.

The flight has to count. Any flight leaving an airport in the EU, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland or the UK is covered, whoever flies it. A flight into Europe from outside is covered only when a European airline operates it. A Delta flight from New York to Paris is not covered. The Air France one is.

The disruption has to be big enough. You landed at least three hours later than scheduled, or the flight was cancelled with less than two weeks' notice, or you were bumped from an overbooked flight. Landed is the word that matters. A flight that pushes back late and makes up the time in the air pays nothing.

The cause has to be the airline's. This is the part that decides most claims. Weather, air traffic control strikes, a security incident and other "extraordinary circumstances" pay nothing. A technical fault on the plane usually does count. A strike by the airline's own crew usually counts too. You cannot see the cause from your seat, and neither can we, which matters later.

What it pays

At the time of writing, per passenger, not per booking:

The UK runs its own copy of the rule with amounts in pounds: 220, 350 and 520. A family of four on a cancelled London to Lisbon flight is looking at over a thousand pounds. The airline may also owe you meals, a hotel and a refund or a new flight, separately from the compensation.

Old flights still count. The time limit depends on the country whose court would hear it, and it runs from two years to six. The flight you have already forgotten about from two summers ago may still be live.

Claim it yourself, or pay someone

You can claim directly. Every airline has a form, usually buried, and you keep everything. Budget for a form letter that says "extraordinary circumstances", a second email quoting the rule back at them, and a wait. If they still refuse, each country has a dispute body that will take it further for free. If you have the patience, this is the best deal there is.

Or you hand it to a claim company. AirHelp is the biggest, and their pricing is at least plain. At the time of writing they take 35 percent of what they win, VAT included, and nothing if they lose. If the airline forces it into court, another 15 percent comes off. Their membership, from about 33 dollars a year, drops the fee to zero for the flights it covers.

Thirty-five percent is a lot of a 600 euro claim. It is also the difference between a 390 euro payout and the zero euros that most people collect by never claiming. Pick based on how much you enjoy arguing with an airline.

The problem nobody solves: knowing

The reason most compensation goes unclaimed is not the fee or the form. It is that nobody was watching. You landed, you were tired, you went on with the trip, and the fact that it was 187 minutes rather than 170 never got checked.

This is the part Dreamfare does. When a flight on your trip is marked as booked, with its flight number, Dreamfare looks up what actually happened about a day after it was due to land. Any delay over an hour gets a plain note, "AF1180 landed 74 minutes late", so you are not guessing. If the route is one the rule covers and the flight was cancelled or landed three hours or more late, a second note arrives a few days later: you may be able to claim.

Tap it and you get a one-screen summary of why, then a button that checks the flight with AirHelp for free. Their check takes about a minute and it is where the cause gets assessed, because that is the one thing neither you nor we can see. If a claim succeeds through that link, Dreamfare earns a share, at no cost to you, and we say so because you would find out anyway.

Two honest limits. Dreamfare only watches for the clearest case, a flight leaving a European airport. If your flight into Europe was on a European airline, it may still qualify, but you will have to check it yourself. And "you may be able to claim" means exactly that. A three hour delay caused by a storm pays nothing, and the note will never pretend otherwise.

The five minute version

1. Landed three hours late, cancelled at short notice, or bumped? Departing Europe, or arriving on a European airline? You are in the running.
2. Check the cause honestly. Storms and ATC strikes pay nothing. Technical faults and crew strikes usually do.
3. Claim directly if you can stand the back and forth. Use a claim company if you cannot, and read the fee first.
4. Go back through old flights. Two to six years of them may still be claimable.
5. Put your flights on a trip with the flight number, so next time somebody is watching.

The short version

A late European flight is often worth 250 to 600 euros a person, the airline will not tell you, and the fee for someone else claiming it is real but smaller than the zero you get by forgetting. Mark the flight as booked on your trip and Dreamfare will tell you when one was disrupted enough to be worth a look.

Sort the rest of the trip in one evening, get data abroad without roaming charges, or start the trip first.