Category: Flight Delay Compensation

Flight Delay Compensation Claims – Do It Yourself!

Flight delay compensation claims are big business at the moment. In fact, the moment you Tweet about a flight delay on Twitter, you can be confident of a bombardment of Tweets from bots belonging to claims management companies offering to make a compensation claim on your behalf.

But do you need a claims management company to make a claim for delayed flight compensation within the EU for you?

We don’t think so. In this guide, we talk you through assessing whether you are eligible for a claim and weight up the pros and cons of going it solo versus using a claims management company.

EU Flight Delay Compensation – What’s the Story?

Essentially, this affects any flight regulated by the EU (so where the flight departs from the EU to any other country or where a flight is operated by an EU airline, departing from anywhere and landing within the EU).

The EU’s Air Passenger Rights stipulates that if air passengers suffer delays of 2 hours or more and it’s the airline’s fault, passengers have certain rights. Essentially:

• If a qualifying flight is delayed by 2 hours or more, you should be provided with access to emails, food, drink, telephone calls and, if the delay is overnight, accommodation
• If a qualifying flight is delayed by 3 hours or more, you are entitled to all of the above plus compensation at the levels outlined below

Compensation Levels by Distance and Delay Length

If your flight is delayed for 5 hours or more, you are entitled to opt not to take the flight and instead accept:

• A full refund for the delayed flight
• A full refund for any other flights within the same booking that you will not take a result (e.g. a connection on the same booking or a return flight on the same booking)
• Food and drink
• Accommodation if the delay is overnight
• If you are already mid way through a journey, you are entitled to a flight back to the airport your journey originated at
• Access to make phone calls and send and receive emails

There are different compensation levels for completely cancelled flights, which we’ll cover off in another guide.

Is it the airline’s fault?

For any delay to result in compensation, irrespective of length of the distance the flight was travelling, the delay must be the airline’s fault.

In other words, you cannot claim compensation if the delay was down to something like:

• Extreme weather
• A strike
• Air traffic management decisions affecting flights
• Technical problems with the aircraft caused by something “out of the ordinary.” In other words, it would have to be a manufacturing fault or similar.

However, examples of where you could claim flight delay compensation include:

• Staffing issues resulting in delays
• Technical problems not the result of something out of the ordinary
• The airline failing to submit necessary documentation to the ground staff on time
• A flight being delayed or cancelled down to under booking

How far back can I make a flight delay compensation claim?

You can claim back as far as 6 years in the UK. There were instances in recent years of airlines trying to cut off back claims at two years, but be aware that your entitlement is to pursue a claim going back 6 years.

Claims management company or do it yourself?

Both options have their pros and cons. If you go with a claims management company, the likelihood is that you’ll pay 20 – 30% of your compensation out in fees. However, the claims management company will only need some basic information from you and then should handle the whole process on your behalf. In the event that the airline declines your claim and there’s some back and forth over your claim, they should be handling this too.

On the flip side, if you you would rather keep all of any compensation and you don’t mind spending the time on it yourself, you can make a claim directly.

Simply find the address of the airline in question and write to them including the following:

• The flight number
• The number of passengers in your party
• The length of the delay
• The fact that you are seeking to claim compensation under EU Regulation (EC) 261/2004
• An amount of time by which you expect to have heard back from the airline

In an ideal situation, you’ll simply get a positive response quickly and the whole thing will be wrapped up.

However, there is a possibility that the airline may dispute whether or not the delay was within their control. If the airline disputes anything and you don’t agree with their dispute, you can write back explaining why you feel they’re wrong and specify your intention to raise the issue with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

You can then follow CAA guidance here: https://www.caa.co.uk/Passengers/Resolving-travel-problems/How-the-CAA-can-help/How-the-CAA-can-help/. Ultimately, the CAA cannot enforce any compensation claims. However, it can advice on whether or not it thinks you have a claim and can liaise with the airline.

If the CAA thinks you have a case and the airline continues to dispute it, you do have the option of pursuing it through the courts or seeking the help of a claims management company at this point.

The Boring Bit

We’re not legal professionals, airlines representatives or EU legislation experts. We’re just recommending an approach that’s worked for us with some airlines. If you’re unsure at any stage at all, seek professional advice.