Flight delayed or cancelled? What to do, refunds and compensation

You arrive at the airport and the screen says your flight is cancelled, or that it will leave several hours late. Depending on the rules that apply to your flight, the reason and when you were told, you may be entitled to care while you wait, another flight, a refund or compensation: these are different remedies and you won't always get all of them.

This guide explains what to do in the first few minutes, what you can ask for and how to claim, focusing on EU rules and the differences in the UK, the US and elsewhere. It is general guidance: your actual rights depend on your itinerary and the circumstances of your flight. If your problem is a missed connection, see our missed connection guide.

What to do in the first few minutes

Acting quickly helps you get a seat on the next flights. Some steps are rights; others are practical tips.

1. Check the real status of the flight in the app, on the website or at the airline desk: the airport screen doesn't always show whether it's a delay or a cancellation.
2. Read the airline's official messages (email, text or app), noting when they arrived.
3. Ask for the reason, in writing if possible.
4. Ask about your options: another flight, another date or a refund, and get confirmation in writing.
5. Ask about care: food, drink and, if you have to stay overnight, a hotel and transfers.
6. Keep boarding passes, bookings and notifications, and take screenshots of the screens.
7. Keep receipts for anything you pay for yourself.
8. Write down the facts: scheduled and actual departure, arrival time and what you were told.

Four different rights you shouldn't confuse

Regulation (EC) 261/2004 distinguishes four remedies. They apply in different situations and can be combined.

• Care: food and drink in line with the wait, two calls or emails and, if you have to stay overnight, a hotel and transfers. Provided directly, or refunded if you paid yourself.
• Alternative transport: another flight to your final destination at no extra cost, at the earliest opportunity or on a later date you choose. It's an express right for cancellations, not for delays.
• Refund: your ticket money back if you give up the trip, after a cancellation or a delay of five hours or more.
• Compensation: a fixed amount (€250, €400 or €600) that is only due when specific conditions are met and doesn't depend on what you spent.

If your flight has been cancelled

A flight is cancelled when the airline abandons the planning of the original flight. According to the Commission's guidelines, bringing the departure forward by more than one hour also counts as a cancellation, as does an aircraft that takes off and returns to the departure airport. A diversion to an airport that doesn't serve the same town, city or region is treated as a cancellation; if it serves the same town, city or region, it may be treated as a delay, and the airline must pay for the transfer to the booked airport or another nearby destination you agree (Article 8(3) of the Regulation). A delay doesn't become a cancellation just because it's long if the flight still operates (Sturgeon, C‑402/07), and a change of flight number isn't decisive.

Your options

If the flight is covered by EU rules, the airline must give you full information on all the options, without you having to look for it (Rusu, C‑354/18), and offer you a choice between them (Article 8 of the Regulation). Care continues while you wait for the alternative or return flight:

• A refund within seven days of the ticket price for the part not flown (and for the part already flown if the trip no longer serves any purpose), plus a return flight to your starting point if you were on a connection. If you only ask for the refund, care ends.
• Alternative transport at the earliest opportunity to your final destination, under comparable conditions and at no extra cost. According to the Commission, it can be offered with another airline or another mode of transport; the airline must prove it was the earliest reasonable option.
• Alternative transport on a later date that suits you, subject to availability. If you choose this option, the airline no longer owes you care.

When a cancellation gives you compensation

A cancellation gives you compensation unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances or that it told you in time. Under Article 5 of the Regulation, there's no compensation if you were informed:

• At least two weeks in advance.
• Between two weeks and seven days before, and offered another flight leaving no more than two hours earlier and arriving less than four hours later than scheduled.
• Less than seven days before, and offered another flight leaving no more than one hour earlier and arriving less than two hours later than scheduled.

It's up to the airline to prove whether and when it told you. If you booked through an agency and it didn't pass the notice on in time, the airline still owes compensation unless you expressly authorised the agency to receive those messages (guidelines, §4.4.6).

If your flight is delayed

Two different delays matter: the delay at departure, which gives you care and, from five hours, a refund; and the delay at arrival at your final destination, which decides compensation. Under Article 6 of the Regulation, the airline must offer food, drink and two calls or emails when it expects a departure delay of:

• 2 hours or more: flights of up to 1,500 km.
• 3 hours or more: intra-EU flights over 1,500 km and other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km.
• 4 hours or more: all other flights.

If departure is put back to the next day, you're also entitled to a hotel and transfers. With a delay of five hours or more you can give up the trip and ask for a refund of the part not flown (and of the part already flown if the trip no longer serves any purpose), plus a return flight to your starting point if you were on a connection. According to the Commission's guidelines, a delay doesn't by itself give you a right to another flight, because the airline is expected to fix the cause; if the flight ends up cancelled, you regain the choice between a refund and alternative transport. Compensation depends on the arrival delay: according to the EU Court of Justice, reaching your final destination three hours or more late entitles you to it if there were no extraordinary circumstances (Sturgeon), and the arrival time is when at least one aircraft door opens (case C‑452/13).

When compensation is due (EU rules)

Compensation is a fixed amount per person that depends on the flight distance, measured in a straight line to the final destination, under Article 7 of the Regulation and Your Europe:

• €250: flights of up to 1,500 km.
• €400: intra-EU flights over 1,500 km and other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km.
• €600: flights over 3,500 km that aren't within the EU.

Reductions are possible. After a cancellation, if the alternative flight gets you there up to two, three or four hours late depending on distance, the airline can halve the compensation. For a delay of between three and four hours on a journey of more than 3,500 km between the EU and a non-EU country, it can be €300 (guidelines, §4.4.10). Compensation is paid in money; a voucher is only possible if you agree in writing, and you claim from the airline operating the flight, even if you bought the ticket from another.

Cancellations and delays caused by bad weather, strikes or other extraordinary circumstances

An extraordinary circumstance is an event the airline couldn't have avoided even by taking all reasonable measures. If it proves one, it doesn't pay compensation, but you keep your other rights: the choice between a refund and another flight after a cancellation, and care while you wait. The EU Court of Justice confirmed that care is due even in extraordinary circumstances, with no time or money limit (McDonagh, C‑12/11).

• Bad weather: may be extraordinary if it prevents safe flying, but it's assessed case by case; it isn't an automatic exemption.
• Air traffic control, airspace closures and security risks: usually considered extraordinary.
• Strikes outside the airline (air traffic controllers, airport staff): may be, according to the Commission's guidelines.
• Strikes by the airline's own staff over working conditions: the EU Court of Justice generally treats them as not extraordinary.
• Technical faults: most aren't extraordinary; a hidden manufacturing defect revealed by the manufacturer or an authority, for example, can be.

The airline must prove the cause, its direct link to your flight and that it couldn't avoid it. Ask for the explanation in writing and, if you're not convinced, claim. Your Europe lists examples of both kinds of cause.

If the new flight leaves the next day

If a cancellation or delay means you have to stay overnight and the flight is covered by EU rules, the airline must offer you, free of charge, a hotel, transport between the airport and the accommodation, and meals in line with the wait (Articles 5, 6 and 9 of the Regulation).

• Ask for the hotel at the desk before leaving the airport, and how to get there.
• If the airline doesn't arrange it, you can pay yourself and later claim back necessary, reasonable and appropriate expenses; keep itemised invoices.
• Avoid costs that wouldn't be reasonable, such as a luxury hotel or alcohol: they're unlikely to be refunded.
• If you turn down suitable care that was offered, the airline may refuse to pay for what you arrange yourself.

If you don't want the alternative flight

After a cancellation covered by EU rules, you can choose a refund instead of the flight you're offered, or a flight on another date. Before deciding, bear in mind these consequences, according to the Commission's guidelines:

• The choice is one-off: once you choose an option, the airline no longer owes you the other two.
• Choosing a refund doesn't by itself cancel compensation, if its conditions are met; read carefully what you sign.
• With a refund, the trip ends for that booking: if you buy another ticket, its price is on you.
• Only if the airline didn't offer comparable alternative transport at the earliest opportunity must it refund what you had to buy; and if it refunded you on its own without offering the choice, you can claim the price difference with a comparable ticket.

Rights by country

There's no worldwide rule: it depends on where the flight departs, where it's going and sometimes the airline's nationality. The language of this guide doesn't change the applicable law.

European Union

• Regulation (EC) 261/2004 covers flights departing from the EU, with any airline, and flights arriving in the EU from outside if operated by an EU airline.
• It doesn't cover a journey that starts and ends outside the EU even if it stops in the EU (case C‑451/20), nor does it apply if you already received benefits for the same journey under a non-EU country's law.
• According to Your Europe, it also applies to flights to and from Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, and to territories such as the Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira.

United Kingdom

The UK applies its own version (UK261), very similar but with amounts in pounds; the CAA publishes a table of covered flights. After a cancellation, the airline must let you choose between a refund and another flight, and provide care until it gets you to your destination; according to the CAA, the alternative flight may be with another airline if it flies significantly sooner (CAA: cancellations). With less than 14 days' notice you may be due £220, £350 or £520 depending on distance, halved in some cases if the alternative flight arrives only slightly late; the CAA sets out the amounts by notice period and timings. For delays, care is due whatever the reason, and with a delay of five hours or more you can give up the trip and ask for a refund (CAA: delays).

United States

In the US there's no general federal requirement to pay cash compensation for delays or cancellations. The Department of Transportation (DOT) does require a refund if the airline cancels the flight for any reason, or significantly changes or delays it (three hours or more on domestic flights and six or more on international ones, at arrival), and you choose not to travel or accept vouchers; if you travel on the delayed or alternative flight, there's no refund (DOT: refunds). The refund must arrive within seven business days if you paid by card and within 20 days otherwise. Meals, hotels and rebooking when the cause is within the airline's control are each airline's voluntary commitments, not legal rights; the DOT dashboard lists them (text version last updated December 2024). A flight departing the EU for the US, or arriving in the EU with a European airline, may also be covered by EU rules.

Other countries

Local laws, the airline's conditions of carriage and, on international flights, the Montreal Convention, which governs liability for damage caused by delay, may apply. Check your ticket and contact the aviation or consumer authority of the relevant country.

How to claim from an airline

1. Identify the airline operating the flight: it's responsible, even if you bought the ticket from another airline or an agency.
2. Find its official claim form on its website.
3. Prepare a timeline: flight, scheduled and actual times, notices received and what you were told.
4. Attach evidence: booking, boarding passes, messages, screenshots and receipts.
5. Ask for the specific remedy: refund, care expenses or compensation, with amounts.
6. Wait for the reply within the applicable time and keep proof of sending.
7. If there's no reply or you disagree, go to the competent body for the country concerned.

Claims in Spain

Spain's aviation safety agency (AESA) decides claims about rights under Regulation 261/2004. Under Order TMA/201/2022, it covers flights departing from Spain and flights from outside the EU to Spain operated by EU airlines. You first claim from the airline, which has one month to reply; if it doesn't reply or you disagree, you have one year from that claim to go to AESA. For incidents since 2 June 2023, AESA's decision binds the airline, but not you: you can still go to court. It's free; the legal time limit is 90 days, extendable in complex cases, and if no decision is issued in time the claim is deemed rejected.

Claims in other countries

Elsewhere in the EU, Your Europe advises claiming from the airline first and, if there's no reply within two months or you disagree, contacting the national body in the country where the incident happened (Commission list); you can also use alternative dispute resolution bodies, the European Consumer Centres Network or the European Small Claims Procedure. In the UK, after eight weeks without a satisfactory answer, the CAA points you to the airline's alternative dispute resolution body or to its own service. In the US, the DOT accepts online complaints. There's no single EU deadline for claims: it depends on each country's law.

Practical cases

Hypothetical cases for guidance; the first six assume a flight covered by EU rules. They don't predict the outcome of a specific claim.

• Cancelled at least two weeks in advance: no compensation, but you can still choose between a refund and another flight.
• Cancellation announced at the airport: a choice between a refund and another flight, care while you wait and, unless there are extraordinary circumstances or an alternative flight very close to the original, compensation, which may be halved.
• A delay of several hours caused by a technical fault: care according to the thresholds; compensation if you reach your final destination three hours or more late; at five hours or more, the option of a refund.
• Cancellation because of a storm: a refund or another flight and care, but usually no compensation if the airline proves the cause.
• Alternative flight the next day: a hotel, transfers and meals; compensation depends on the notice, the arrival delay and the cause.
• You'd rather not travel: a refund within seven days after a cancellation or a delay of five hours or more; compensation may still be due if its conditions are met.
• Delayed domestic flight in the US: no federal compensation; a refund if the delay is significant and you choose not to travel, and services under the airline's commitments if the cause is within its control.

Frequently asked questions

Can I ask for a refund and compensation too?

In the EU, yes, if the conditions for each are met: according to the Commission's guidelines, choosing a refund doesn't by itself cancel compensation. Check what you sign, because accepting a different agreement can change what you get.

Can I be given a voucher instead of money?

Under Regulation 261/2004, compensation and refunds are paid in money; a voucher is only possible with your signed agreement.

How long does a refund take?

In the EU, the Regulation sets seven days. In the US, the DOT requires seven business days for card payments and 20 days for other payment methods.

What if my flight time is changed before I travel?

According to the Commission's guidelines, bringing departure forward by more than one hour counts as a cancellation. A scheduled delay of less than three hours with no other changes doesn't. Other cases are assessed individually.

How long do I have to claim?

The current EU rules don't set a single deadline: it depends on each country. In Spain, the AESA order allows five years to claim from the airline and one year from that claim to go to AESA.

In short: confirm what happened to your flight, ask for your options in writing, tell care, alternative transport, refunds and compensation apart, and keep all the evidence. This guide reflects the rules in force in October 2026; the EU reform will change some rules from 23 October 2027.