Cancelled or delayed flights: What are my rights to a refund?

Here are the obligations each airline has and what you can expect if your journey is disrupted The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, Here are the obligations each airline has and what you can expect if your journey is disrupted As hundreds of thousands of travellers head off on their summer holidays, it’s important to know your rights as an air passenger in the event of flight cancellations and delays.

Flights from the UK and EU airports (as well as those in the wider EEA) are subject to European rules. They were devised to require airlines to do the right thing for their passengers. They specify the care and compensation you can expect when your plane is cancelled or heavily delayed.

These rules also apply to flights on EU and British airlines departing from outside the European Union and the UK. A cancellation, or even a delay of hours rather than minutes, could trigger the obligation for an airline to provide a hotel room and meals as appropriate. If the airline is to blame, it will also owe hundreds of pounds in cash.

Conversely, when flying on a non-EU/UK carrier from outside Europe, you may just have to put a dismal aviation episode down to an expensive experience, and see if your travel insurer can help. If your flight is cancelled or delayed, these are the passenger’s rights rules you need to know. For delays of under two hours, you have no rights (unless a short delay in the UK triggers a missed connection and much later arrival at your final ticketed destination – see below).

For longer delays, the airline should provide refreshments as appropriate after a specified length of time. This applies regardless of the cause of the delay. The time at which the duty of care kicks in depends on the distance you are flying: Note that if the airline believes providing the care would further delay the flight, it need not deliver.

If the delay extends overnight, the airline is obliged to find and pay for a hotel room. In practice, carriers often say, “too difficult”, and invite the passenger to book their own and reclaim later. While this attitude does not comply fully with the rules, aviation authorities tend to turn a blind eye to it.

The duty of care applies regardless of the cause of a delay or cancellation. Under air passengers’ rights rules, travellers whose flights are departing from the UK or the EU – or on British or European airlines from anywhere in the world – have strong rights. They are entitled to be flown to their destination as close to the original schedule as possible, on any airline with seats available, and to be provided with meals and hotels if there is a significant delay.

If you are informed about a cancellation less than two weeks ahead, and the airline cannot find an alternative close to the original timing, the presumption is that you should be given between £220 and £520 in cash compensation. But carriers may argue that the aviation fuel situation constitutes “extraordinary circumstances” because the root cause is political instability, and refuse a payout. If you are flying from a UK/EU airport or on a British/ European airline and have your flight cancelled – or are delayed in arrival by at least three hours – the presumption is that you are owed hundreds of pounds in compensation.

The only way the airline can avoid paying out is by demonstrating “extraordinary circumstances” were responsible. The rules provide only a partial answer: “political instability, meteorological conditions incompatible with the operation of the flight concerned, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings and strikes”. Court cases have gradually refined the concept of “extraordinary circumstances” to exclude technical problems.

In other words: if a mechanical failure caused the delay, you are due compensation. A judge ruled such issues are “inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier”. Official strikes by the airline’s own staff are regarded as within the carrier’s control, but oddly “wildcat” walkouts not sanctioned by a trade union are not.

Crew sickness is a grey area, with no legal certainty. Ryanair says: “Only a small number of claims will be eligible for compensation. Most delays/cancellations are out of Ryanair’s control.

Each airline should enable you to fill out an online form, but these are sometimes difficult to track down. The pages for leading airlines are here: Compensation must be paid by bank transfer (or cheque), except if the airline obtains the prior signed agreement of the passenger to pay with vouchers for future travel.”