Guides · Rights
Your rights when a flight is cancelled or badly delayed
Refunds, rebooking and cash compensation depend on where you fly from. Here's what the rules are in the US, the EU and UK, India and under international treaty.
The first thing to know: the airline always owes you something when it cancels a flight, whatever fare you bought. What that something is depends on the law of the place you were departing from — and occasionally on the airline's nationality.
Everywhere: refund or rebook
If the airline cancels, you can choose a full refund to the original form of payment or a rebooking on a later flight. "Basic economy," "non-refundable" and similar fare labels don't change this: non-refundable means you can't cancel for a refund, not that the airline can't.
Vouchers can be offered, but you don't have to take one.
United States
The Department of Transportation's rules require airlines to refund automatically — without you having to ask — when a flight is cancelled or "significantly changed" and you don't accept the alternative. A significant change means a departure or arrival moved by 3+ hours domestically or 6+ hours internationally, a change of airport, added connections, or a downgrade.
Refunds must be paid within 7 business days (card) or 20 days (other methods). Fees for services you paid for but didn't get — bags that arrived very late, Wi-Fi that didn't work — are refundable too.
What US law doesn't require is cash compensation for the inconvenience. Each airline publishes a customer-service plan saying what it will provide in a controllable delay (meals, hotels, rebooking on other carriers); the DOT's dashboard compares them.
European Union and United Kingdom (EU261 / UK261)
This is the strongest regime. It applies to any flight departing an EU or UK airport, and to flights arriving in one on an EU/UK carrier.
Beyond refund or rebooking, you're owed cash compensation for a cancellation with less than 14 days' notice, or a delay of 3+ hours at arrival, unless the cause was "extraordinary circumstances" (weather, air-traffic control, security — but not crew shortages or most technical faults):
| Flight distance | Compensation |
|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | €250 (£220) |
| 1,500–3,500 km, or intra-EU over 1,500 km | €400 (£350) |
| Over 3,500 km | €600 (£520) |
You're also entitled to meals, communication and a hotel if stranded overnight, regardless of cause. Claim in writing to the airline; if refused, each country has a free enforcement body or alternative dispute scheme.
India
The DGCA's passenger charter requires airlines to offer refund or rebooking on cancellation, and compensation for cancellations notified less than two weeks before departure (capped at ₹5,000–₹10,000 depending on block time), plus meals for delays over two hours and hotel accommodation for overnight delays. Delays attributed to weather or ATC are excluded.
Checked bags: the Montreal Convention
On international journeys, an airline is liable for lost, damaged or delayed baggage up to about 1,288 SDR (roughly US$1,700). File the report (a PIR) before leaving the baggage hall, keep receipts for essentials you buy while waiting, and claim within 21 days for delayed bags.
Practical sequence when it happens
- Rebook first, argue later. Use the airline's app the moment you see the cancellation; seats on alternatives disappear in minutes.
- Keep everything — boarding passes, the cancellation notice, receipts.
- Ask the airline, in writing, for the reason. "Operational reasons" is not a reason; press for specifics, because the reason decides whether compensation is owed.
- Claim directly. Claim-handling companies take 25–50% of your compensation for filling in a form you can fill in yourself.
Check your flight's status before you leave for the airport with the flight status tool — a cancellation caught at home is a far better day than one caught at the gate.