Flights and airports Cancelled flights

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Your rights

If you are at the airport and discover your flight is cancelled, your legal position depends on where you are flying to and from.

If you are travelling with an airline based in the EU or with a non-EU based airline flying from an EU airport, then you are protected by the Denied Boarding Regulation. The regulation states that the airline has an obligation to offer you assistance if you delay is expected to go beyond a certain point.

If you are travelling with a non-EU based airline flying from a non-EU destination, the airline doesn't have the same duty to look after you. Check the airline's Conditions of Carriage to see what you are entitled to.

The Denied Boarding Regulation

The Denied Boarding Regulation applies if:

• You have a confirmed booking
• You checked in on time, or if no check-in time was given, then at least 45 minutes before your flight was scheduled to depart
• You're departing from an EU airport, or from a non-EU airport and flying into an EU airport on a 'community carrier' (an airline with its headquarters and main place of business within the EU. That includes all European discount and no-frills airlines).

What you are entitled to

If you are protected by the Denied Boarding Regulations you are entitled to the same assistance as for delayed flights:

• Two free phone calls, faxes or emails; and
• Free meals and refreshments appropriate to the delay; and
• Free hotel accommodation and hotel transfers if an overnight stay is required.

On top of this you should be offered a choice of:

• A refund within seven days of the full cost of the flight. If your flight wasn't direct and was cancelled part-way through, you are entitled to a flight back to your original point of departure or to be refunded in full; or
• Re-routing to your final destination at the earliest opportunity; or
• Re-routing to your final destination at a later date convenient to you.

What to do

At the airport, ask your airline for written details of your rights under the Denied Boarding Regulation - they are obliged to provide this to you. Also take a photograph of the departure boards to prove the flight has been listed as cancelled (not delayed) as this may help you later if your airline does not treat you properly.

When your flight is cancelled, you may be entitled to additional compensation. The amount you're entitled to depends on how far you were going to fly and what (if any) alternative flights were offered to you by the airline.

The first thing to note is that you don't have a right to compensation if you're offered re-routing on a flight that leaves no more than one hour before the original flight booked and is scheduled to arrive no more than two hours later than the original flight. If you are not offered a flight that falls within these time frames, or if you're offered no alternative flight at all, you can claim compensation according to the table below.

There are exceptions, however. You don't have a right to compensation if the airline can show the cancellation was caused by 'extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures have been taken'. This, however, doesn't affect your other rights to a refund and assistance.

Compensation for cancellations

The airline must pay in cash, cheque or bank transfer. Sometimes the airlines will try to give you vouchers, which you can accept instead of cash if you prefer, but you don't have to accept these. The minimum amount the airline must give you is set out in the Denied Boarding Regulation. The amount you should get depends on the length of your flight and, if you are put on another flight, how late you are in getting to your final destination. Use this table as a guide.

Common excuses for cancellations

Some airlines have failed to pay compensation when they are supposed to, and you may be faced with any one of a number of common excuses. Examples include:

We experienced unforeseen technical problems   While it's possible that technical problems can sometimes be defined as 'extraordinary circumstances' that allow the airline to get out of compensating you, it's not always the case. The airline would have to show the problem was completely out of the ordinary and something they couldn't have taken steps to avoid. Even then a judge may look at whether they had made adequate arrangements for a substitute plane to be available.

The weather was bad   If you're told you can't take off because of fog when other airlines appear to be departing, it's worth challenging the airline. However, if the weather is genuinely awful, the airline may have a right to withhold compensation as they won't be expected to risk passengers' safety.

We had a problem with the crew roster   There are strict rules as to how many hours pilots and crew can fly. Airlines know this, and should design their rosters to take account for it.

Getting your compensation

The Denied Boarding Regulation says flight refunds and compensation payments should be made within seven days by cash, electronic bank transfers, bank orders or bank cheques, or, with the signed agreement of the passenger, in travel vouchers and/or other services.

Cancellations before the day of departure

If your flight is cancelled with up to seven days to go, it's the same position as if the flight was cancelled on the day. You don't have a right to fixed compensation if you are offered re-routing on a flight that leaves no more than one hour before the original flight, and is scheduled to arrive no more than two hours later than the original flight.

If your flight is cancelled between seven and 14 days before you were due to fly, you don't have a right to fixed compensation, as long as you are offered re-routing on a flight that leaves no more than two hours before the original flight booked, and you're scheduled to arrive no more than four hours later than the original flight.

If a flight is cancelled more than 14 days in advance you're only entitled to a refund and no compensation. Additional rights and/or remedies may arise under the Conditions of Carriage or common law.