Cancelled flight
Compensation for a cancelled flight: what are your passenger rights?
When a flight is cancelled you may have several separate rights: choosing between a ticket refund and an alternative route, receiving assistance while waiting in certain circumstances, and, if the conditions are met, standard monetary compensation.
Check your cancelled flightWhen may compensation be due for a cancelled flight?
When assessing the right to compensation, it is important when the airline informed you about the cancellation, what alternative flight was offered and why the flight was cancelled.
If the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances, the carrier may in certain cases be exempted from the obligation to pay standard compensation.
Why do 14 days matter?
If the passenger was informed about the cancellation more than 14 days in advance, standard compensation is usually not due. If notified later, the timing of the offered alternative flight and other circumstances must be assessed.
Compensation and ticket refund are not the same
A ticket refund or the provision of an alternative route and standard monetary compensation are different passenger rights. The fact that the airline refunded the ticket does not necessarily mean that standard compensation cannot be due.
Read more about separate passenger rights in the EU 261 overview.
What to do when your flight is cancelled
- keep the airline message about the cancellation and the date you received it;
- note what alternative flight was offered and when;
- choose between a ticket refund or an alternative route and record this;
- keep booking details and boarding passes if you have them;
- keep receipts for reasonable additional expenses;
- check whether compensation may be due.
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