Flight cancelled abroad? Here’s who pays.
Your airline may owe you a hotel, meals and a way home – even when the weather is to blame.
Travel
It’s eleven o’clock at night in a Spanish airport. You’re exhausted, your phone battery is down to seven per cent and the departure board has just delivered its verdict: CANCELLED.
The airline’s app offers its sincere apologies for any inconvenience. A recorded announcement thanks you for your patience. Nobody appears particularly interested in whether you have any.
Your holiday, which ended several hours ago, has now entered an unexpected second phase. You need somewhere to sleep, something to eat and, preferably, a way of getting back to Britain before the middle of next week.
The good news is that airlines have legal responsibilities when flights are cancelled. And those responsibilities can extend considerably further than offering a replacement seat and wishing you the best of luck.
In short
- If UK or EU passenger-rights rules apply, your airline must offer a refund or alternative transport.
- If you choose rerouting, the airline must normally provide reasonable food, drink and overnight accommodation while you wait.
- These care obligations can apply even when bad weather caused the cancellation.
- You may be entitled to compensation of up to £520 under UK rules, or €600 under EU rules.
- Another airline’s flight may be an option if it gets you home substantially sooner.
- If you’ve booked a package holiday, your travel organiser has additional responsibilities.
What happens if your flight home is cancelled?
Under UK and EU passenger-rights rules, a cancelled flight generally gives you a choice: take a refund or be rerouted to your destination.
Rerouting means the airline arranges another suitable journey, usually on a replacement flight.
You can normally choose to travel at the earliest opportunity or at a later date convenient to you, subject to seat availability.
But there’s an important geographical complication.
UK rules cover flights departing from the UK on any airline, flights arriving in the UK on UK or EU airlines, and flights arriving in the EU on UK airlines. EU rules cover flights departing from EU airports regardless of the airline, along with certain incoming flights on EU carriers.
So, a cancelled flight from Spain to Britain will generally be covered. A flight from New York to London on a US airline may not be.
The route and operating airline matter more than where you bought your ticket.
Does the airline have to pay for your hotel and meals?
Yes, where the relevant passenger-rights rules apply and you’re waiting for the airline to reroute you.
This is known as ‘the right to care’, although it can sometimes prove remarkably difficult to locate anybody willing to provide it.
The airline must offer reasonable meals and refreshments, access to communications and, if necessary, overnight accommodation with transport between the hotel and airport.
And here’s the detail many passengers overlook: these responsibilities normally continue even when the cancellation wasn’t the airline’s fault.
A thunderstorm, an air traffic control problem or a volcanic eruption may excuse the airline from paying compensation. It doesn’t ordinarily excuse it from looking after stranded passengers awaiting rerouting.
If nobody can arrange a hotel, you can organise ‘reasonable’ accommodation yourself and claim reimbursement afterwards.
Keep every receipt.
‘Reasonable’ is the important word. A modest airport hotel is defensible. The presidential suite, accompanied by a champagne tasting, probably isn’t.
Can you demand a flight with another airline?
Potentially, yes.
Airlines will generally prefer to put you on one of their own services. This is understandable from their perspective, if less appealing when the next available flight leaves on Thursday.
If another carrier can get you home significantly sooner, you may have grounds to request rerouting with that airline instead.
Ask your original airline to arrange it before buying a replacement ticket yourself. If it refuses to provide suitable rerouting, keep evidence of the alternatives and any correspondence.
Buying an expensive ticket without first giving the airline an opportunity to help can make reimbursement more complicated.
Can you claim compensation for a cancelled flight?
Sometimes. But compensation and assistance are two different things.
Under UK rules, eligible passengers can receive up to £520 each. Under EU rules, the maximum is generally €600.
The amount depends on the flight distance, when you were told about the cancellation and the timing of any replacement journey.
If the airline notified you at least fourteen days before departure, compensation generally isn’t payable. Shorter notice doesn’t guarantee a payout either, particularly if an alternative flight gets you there sufficiently close to schedule.
And if the cancellation resulted from extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline’s control, compensation may not be due.
Severe weather and certain air traffic control disruptions can qualify. Most routine technical problems generally do not.
Even if compensation isn’t payable, you may still be entitled to rerouting, meals and accommodation.
What if you’ve booked a package holiday?
This is where things can become a little more reassuring.
If your flights and accommodation form part of a package holiday, your travel organiser has additional responsibilities under package travel rules.
Contact the organiser immediately. The company should help make alternative arrangements, and significant changes or cancellation of the package can trigger rights to a refund or a suitable alternative holiday.
For a cancelled flight home, your organiser should help resolve the return journey rather than leaving you to negotiate everything alone. If it can’t get you home because of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, it must generally pay for necessary accommodation for up to three nights per traveller, unless passenger-rights rules give you a longer period. If you’re a passenger with reduced mobility who told the organiser of their needs in advance, the three-night cap will not apply.
You may also retain separate passenger-rights entitlements against the operating airline.
What if the airline refuses to help?
First, contact the airline and explain that you want rerouting and the care you’re entitled to.
Keep screenshots of cancellation messages, alternative flight options, receipts and written conversations. If you must pay for accommodation or meals, keep your spending reasonable.
Once home, submit a claim to the airline operating the cancelled service. If it rejects your claim or fails to resolve your complaint, you may be able to take the matter to an approved alternative dispute resolution scheme or, if the airline isn’t a member of one, the relevant aviation authority.
There is something especially irritating about spending an unexpected night abroad and then having to demonstrate, weeks later, that a sandwich and a hotel room were reasonable expenses. But good records make the argument considerably easier.
Is travel insurance still worth having?
Absolutely.
Air passenger-rights legislation doesn’t cover every journey, every expense or every consequence of a cancellation.
Your policy may help with additional costs, missed connections or other losses, depending on its terms. It won’t necessarily compensate you for everything, and you cannot normally recover the same expense twice.
The important thing is to understand which organisation is responsible for which part of the disruption.
The airline may owe you a flight, a bed and breakfast. Your insurer might cover something else entirely.
And your employer, waiting for you at nine o’clock on Monday morning, may simply have to be patient.
FAQs
Does an airline have to pay for a hotel if my flight is cancelled?
Yes, under applicable UK or EU passenger-rights rules, if you need overnight accommodation while waiting for rerouting. The airline must also provide transport between the airport and accommodation.
Can I claim compensation if bad weather cancels my flight?
Usually not if severe weather qualifies as extraordinary circumstances that couldn’t reasonably have been avoided. However, you can still have rights to a refund or rerouting and care while waiting.
What if my flight is cancelled and the airline offers a refund?
You can generally choose between reimbursement and rerouting. Be careful about accepting a refund if you still need the airline to arrange your journey home, because choosing reimbursement generally ends its obligation to reroute you.
Can I book my own hotel and claim the money back?
Yes, if the airline fails to provide accommodation it is legally obliged to arrange. Choose somewhere reasonably priced and keep your receipts.
How much compensation can I get for a cancelled flight?
Eligible passengers can receive up to £520 under UK rules or €600 under EU rules. Actual entitlement depends on the route, notice given, replacement flight timings and cause of cancellation.
