Flight Delays? Know Your Rights This Summer!

As the summer hol­id­ay season ap­proaches, trav­el­lers are eagerly plan­ning their get­aways. However, with the in­crease in travel comes the heightened risk of flight delays and can­cel­la­tions. It's es­sen­tial for UK trav­el­lers to un­der­stand their rights re­garding flight com­pens­a­tion to ensure a smooth and stress-free hol­id­ay ex­per­i­ence.

Catrin Le Rendu, a UK so­li­citor at the lead­ing Nordic legal tech com­pany Aatos, shares tips on when you are en­titled to com­pens­a­tion from air­lines and what you can expect to re­ceive.

Even after Brexit, UK pas­sen­gers are af­forded the same pro­tec­tions given to EU pas­sen­gers under EU Reg­u­la­tion 261/2004, as a result of the UK’s own UK261 reg­u­la­tion. This means that pas­sen­gers flying from a UK or EU air­port, or on a UK or EU air­line, are en­titled to com­pens­a­tion for delays, can­cel­la­tions, or in­vol­un­tary denied boarding.

“For UK pas­sen­gers, the law ap­plies if your flight is delayed by more than three hours, less than 14 days before de­par­ture or you are denied boarding due to over­book­ing,” Le Rendu ex­plains.

The com­pens­a­tion amount varies based on the dis­tance of your flight and the length of the delay:

*Amount based on UK261

If the flight is late or can­celled, pas­sen­gers are gen­er­ally also en­titled to:

1. Meals and re­fresh­ments in a reas­on­able re­la­tion to the wait­ing time
2. Ac­com­mod­a­tion if a stay of one or more nights is ne­ces­sary
3. Transport between the air­port and the ac­com­mod­a­tion
4. Two free tele­phone calls, emails, or faxes

“Com­pens­a­tion is not ap­plic­able if the delay or can­cel­la­tion is due to ex­traordin­ary cir­cum­stances beyond the air­line's con­trol, such as severe weath­er, polit­ical in­stabil­ity, or strikes. Ad­di­tion­ally, if you arrive at the air­port too late and the gates have already closed, you are not en­titled to com­pens­a­tion,” Le Rendu says.

If an air­line places a pas­sen­ger in a lower class than the one ori­gin­ally booked, it must provide a dis­count of 30%-75% within seven days, de­pend­ing on the flight dis­tance.

"The pas­sen­gers are also en­titled to fin­an­cial com­pens­a­tion if they miss a con­nect­ing flight due to the delay and the flights are part of a single re­ser­va­tion,” Le Rendu says.

Read more about Flight Delay Com­pens­a­tion

Con­tact

Catrin Le Rendu
UK So­li­citor
catrin@aatos.app

Mariia Kukkakorpi
Com­mu­nic­a­tions Man­ager
mariia@aatos.app

Aatos is a lead­ing di­git­al legal ser­vice in the Nor­dics provid­ing com­pre­hens­ive, af­ford­able legal solu­tions across Fin­land, Sweden, Den­mark, as well as Eng­land and Wales. Aatos spe­cial­ises in per­son­al legal doc­u­ments and advice, making legal ser­vices ac­cess­ible and un­der­stand­able for every­one. Aatos’s ser­vices in­clude e.g. draft­ing Last Wills, Pren­ups and Lasting Power of At­tor­neys.