Guides: what to do when a flight goes wrong
Short reads, each sourced to the rules.
Updated
- Extraordinary circumstances: when an airline does not have to pay: What counts as extraordinary circumstances under EU261 and UK261, what usually does not, and why the airline and the courts decide, not a calculator.
- How to claim flight compensation yourself, with a letter: Claim flight compensation without a claims company: the documents to collect, the steps, a copyable letter and where to go if the airline says no.
- Connecting flights and missed connections: how the rules count: How EU261 and UK261 treat a missed connection: one booking is one journey, the delay counts at your final destination, and distance runs origin to end.
- Strikes and flight compensation: whose strike matters: A strike by the airline’s own staff does not excuse it under EU261. A strike by air traffic control or airport staff usually does. See the list and the rea
- Weather delays and flight compensation: Why airlines usually refuse compensation for weather, what you can still get, and how hurricane season in the Caribbean fits the rules.
- Christmas and winter flight disruption: what to do: Flights cancelled or delayed over Christmas and in winter storms: the rules are the same as the rest of the year. What to collect, ask and claim.
- Cancelled flight: what you are owed: EU261, UK261, Canada APPR and US rules for a cancelled flight: the notice limits, the amounts, what a replacement flight changes and the US refund.
- Delay or cancellation: which test applies to you: A delay is tested by how late you reach your final destination. A cancellation is tested by notice and by the replacement flight. How to tell which you hav
- What proof you need for a flight compensation claim: The documents that make a delay or cancellation claim easy to prove: booking, boarding pass, actual arrival time, the airline’s message and its stated reas
- Denied boarding: what the rules say and what we do not compute: Denied boarding is a separate rule from delay. What we found for Canada, what we did not research for the US and EU, and where to look.
- Flights between the Netherlands and the Caribbean: your rights: Delayed flight between Amsterdam and Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire or Sint Maarten: which airline and which direction decide whether EU261 pays EUR 600.
- Delayed US flights: which rights apply to you: US travelers and EU261: it follows the departure airport and the airline, not your passport. The US pays a refund, not delay compensation.
Information, not advice
Hours Late is not a law firm and not a claims company. It does not file claims for you. The results are estimates from published rules and the details you enter. They are not legal advice. Airlines and courts decide each case.