Important Things to Know About the EU Flight Delay Compensation Rules

Important Things to Know About the EU Flight Delay Compensation Rules Getting flight delay compensation or a flight cancellation refund used to be a confusing process. Thanks to flight claim management companies, exercising your rights as an air passenger has become easier and simpler. These are third-party companies that do everything on your behalf. They handle all the administrative work required for flight cancellation refund and flight delay compensation so you can just stay still and wait for your money back. Most flight claim management companies will charge you a 25% success fee.

Before you begin looking for a flight management company to help you with your flight delay compensation, it’s important to find out if you really are eligible. Here are some of the facts from the EU EC 261/2004 regulation that you must know.

Applicability The EC 261/2004 regulation protects the rights of both European and non-European passengers provided that any of the following conditions are met: - Passenger is departing from EU airport to EU airport - Passenger is departing from EU airport to non-EU airport - Passenger is departing from non-EU airport to EU airport provided that the flight is operated by a carrier licensed in any of the EU countries.

In other words, the EU Regulation 261/2004 applies to any flight departing from European countries and any flight arriving into the region on an EU airline. In some cases, the law also applies to countries like Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and certain national islands such as Saint Martin, Madeira and Azores, French Guiana, and Martinique.

Compensation for the extraordinary operation of flight Not all passengers who experienced delays and flight cancellations will be compensated. You may only claim a refund if: - You arrived three hours later than your original time of arrival due to aircraft delay - Your flight is cancelled less than 14 days or 2 weeks before the intended departure date - You are denied boarding - You missed your connecting flights, causing a delay of more than three hours to reach your final destination The amount of compensation you will get from your cancelled flight will depend on what day you received the notice of flight cancellation and the length of the flight.

It also depends on what time the airline provided a replacement flight and if they gave you a replacement flight.