Airports, delays, and what you are owed

When a flight is cancelled or badly delayed you are usually owed money, not a voucher. In the US you are owed a cash refund if you do not travel. In Europe you may be owed a cash payment on top of the refund.

The US rule: a refund means cash

If your airline cancels your flight, or changes it significantly, and you choose not to travel, you are entitled to a refund to your original form of payment. Not a credit, not a voucher, unless you actively choose one. The airline has to issue it automatically.

Significant means a departure or arrival that moves by more than three hours on a domestic flight or six hours on an international one, and it also covers a downgrade, a change of departure or arrival airport, or added connections.

The same applies to things you paid for and did not get. Checked bag fee for a bag that arrived a day late, seat selection on a seat you were moved out of, wifi that did not work: those are refundable.

The European rule: a refund plus a payment

Flights departing the EU, or arriving in the EU on an EU airline, fall under EU261. It gives you a fixed cash payment on top of any refund when you arrive more than three hours late or the flight is cancelled without two weeks' notice.

• 250 euro for flights up to 1,500km
• 400 euro for flights between 1,500 and 3,500km, and for longer flights inside the EU
• 600 euro for flights over 3,500km outside the EU

The airline can refuse only for extraordinary circumstances, which means weather, air traffic control, strikes outside the airline, and security. It does not mean a technical fault with the aircraft, and airlines will still try that one. The UK runs an almost identical scheme in sterling.

You do not need an agency to claim this. Write to the airline, quote the regulation and your flight number, and give them a deadline.

Meals and a hotel while you wait

Under EU261 a long delay obliges the airline to feed you and, if you are stuck overnight, to put you in a hotel and get you there. This applies regardless of whether the cause was extraordinary, so a snowstorm gets you a hotel even though it does not get you the cash payment.

The US has no equivalent legal requirement, but most large US airlines now publish commitments to cover meals and hotels for delays within their control. Those commitments are enforceable in the sense that the airline published them.

If nobody is helping, book the hotel yourself, keep the receipt, and claim afterwards. An unpaid receipt is a much stronger position than an argument at a service desk at midnight.

Being bumped from an oversold flight

Airlines sell more seats than the aircraft has, because some people do not show up. When too many do show up they ask for volunteers first. Volunteering is a negotiation: the opening offer is never the ceiling, and you can ask for cash rather than a voucher, a confirmed seat rather than standby, and a meal and hotel if the next flight is tomorrow.

If you are bumped involuntarily on a US flight, compensation is set by rule and scales with how late you arrive, up to a cap. Ask for it in writing at the gate.

Practical things that shorten a bad day

• Take the first flight of the day. Aircraft are already in position and delays have not compounded yet.
• Leave a real connection window on separate tickets. If the first airline makes you miss the second and they are not on one ticket, nobody owes you anything.
• Photograph your checked bag and its tag before you hand it over. It settles a claim in seconds.
• Get in the phone queue while you stand in the desk queue. Whichever answers first, you have not lost anything.
• Keep every boarding pass and receipt until you are home and the claim is paid.

Common questions

Does the airline owe me money if my flight is cancelled?

In the US, a refund to your original payment method if you choose not to travel. In Europe, a refund plus a fixed cash payment of 250 to 600 euro depending on distance, unless the cause was outside the airline's control.

Can an airline give me a voucher instead of a refund?

Only if you agree to one. Under US rules a refund means the original form of payment, and you are allowed to say no to a credit.

How late does a flight have to be before EU261 pays out?

Three hours late at arrival, measured when the door opens, not when the aircraft lands.

What counts as an extraordinary circumstance?

Weather, air traffic control restrictions, security incidents and strikes by people who do not work for the airline. A mechanical problem with the aircraft does not count, whatever the airline tells you first.