How to claim compensation for delayed and cancelled flights

By lovemoney.com , Feb 4, 2013
Filed under: Holidays

Passengers hit by long flight delays can now claim compensation, even if the disruption occurred up to six years ago, following a court ruling.

Last week, Jeff and Joyce Halsall from Staffordshire successfully won £680 in compensation from Thomas Cook for a flight from Tenerife in 2009 that was delayed by 22 hours. That has potentially opened the floodgates for other retrospective claims.

Holiday tips

Know your rights

Compensation for delays

An EU regulation created back in 2005 – EU261 – means that airlines flying out of the EU and EU airlines flying into the EU have to pay compensation for delays of more than three hours. That aspect of the ruling was upheld by the European Court of Justice last October.

The compensation levels are set as:

€250 (£215) for inter-EU flights of 930 miles or less (eg London-Paris);
€400 (£345) for flights between 930 and 1,860 miles (eg London-Istanbul);
€600 (£517) for longer flights (eg London-New York).

This applies to all delays except for those caused by 'extraordinary circumstances' such as the Icelandic ash clouds of 2010 and 2011 or industrial action.

Compensation for cancellations

If your flight has been cancelled, your airline must get you to your destination or offer you a full refund. If your flight is delayed by more than five hours and you no longer want to travel you are entitled to a full refund.

Your airline may have recommended you make your own travel arrangements. If that's the case, you need to have kept the relevant receipts to claim your money back.

Duty of care

However, if you are delayed for a long time then you have rights to 'a duty of care' from the airline while you can't travel.

You should be offered:

meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time;
hotel accommodation in cases where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary;
transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).

Plus two telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or emails.

There are qualifying times for this 'duty of care' to kick in, which are:

two hours for flights of 930 miles or less;
three hours for all flights of between 930 and 1,860 miles;
four hours for longer flights than the above.

Ryanair recently lost a test case where it had refused to pay the expenses incurred by a passenger who had to stay on in Portugal for a week after the 2010 Icelandic ash cloud.

She claimed expenses of €1,130 for a hotel, meals and drinks, which the airline had refused to reimburse. It was ordered to pay them in full, as there is no cap on expenses.

However, the court ruled that the airline industry could pass on the potential cost of such claims in the form of higher air fares.

If you were stuck and the airline refused to help you with accommodation and/or food, you should be able to claim the costs, providing they were reasonable (ie you didn't stay in a five-star hotel) and you have receipts for all your expenses.

How to claim

If you believe you have a legitimate claim for reimbursement and/or compensation, you should contact the airline concerned first.

Regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has a letter template you can use for your claim (opens as a Word document).

You should provide as much information and evidence as you can, including flight numbers, booking/reservation references and copies of receipts if relevant.

If the airline refuses your claim, you can raise it with the CAA. Keep copies of all correspondence you send. There's more advice on referring a complaint to the CAA on its website.

If the airline still refuses to pay, then you could pursue legal action through the County Court.

The five worst holiday disasters

Your travel plans fall through
If you are a victim of a strike, or any other event beyond the airline's control (including ash clouds!), they must offer you a refund (in which case it's up to you to find a way home) or an alternative flight. While you are waiting for the flight you have the right to food and refreshment and accommodation. If you are on a package holiday, your tour operator is entirely responsible for looking after you until you get back to the UK.
Your airline goes bust
This is more likely to happen due to the financial crisis, but in some situations you are covered.  If you pay by credit card and it's over £100, you'll get a refund from the card company.  Your travel insurance may well cover you too, but check before you go.
Your luggage goes astray
Talk to the airline, and if it is temporarily misplaced they should arrange for it to be sent to your accommodation, and you should be either given cash to cover the essentials in the interim. If it's completely lost you must wait 21 days and then make a claim for compensation. If you are travelling as part of a package you can claim costs from your operator.
You get sick
If you are travelling within the EU you need an EHIC card, which gives you access to public healthcare. However, this won't necessarily be free, and if you need extra services such as accommodation for a carer, a helicopter home or a delayed flight, you could end up seriously out of pocket. The only protection that will guarantee you will be looked after without running up a horrendous debt is by having travel insurance - which often covers up to £10 million of costs.
You are robbed
The most common form of theft is pick-pocketing, followed by theft from a car and bag snatching. Meanwhile, 752,000 of those surveyed had items stolen from their hotel room or villa. If you have anything stolen, your only protection is insurance. You need to tell the local police immediately and get a crime reference for your travel insurer.