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Flight Cancellation

UK261 and EU261 give passengers on cancelled flights a right to choose between a refund and re-routing, a right to care while they wait, and a right to fixed compensation where the cancellation happened close to departure and the airline cannot rely on 'extraordinary circumstances'.

Last checked 2026-10-143 scenarios

What is this?

UK261 and EU261 give passengers on cancelled flights a right to choose between a refund and re-routing, a right to care while they wait, and a right to fixed compensation where the cancellation happened close to departure and the airline cannot rely on 'extraordinary circumstances'.

Who can use it

Passengers departing from a UK or EU airport on any airline, and passengers flying into a UK or EU airport on an airline based there. The rules also apply to connecting itineraries booked as one journey, assessed by the delay on arrival at your final destination.

What problems it addresses

A flight cancelled at short notice with no help; a refund the airline refuses or delays; replacement flights offered many days later; hotel, food and taxi costs paid out of your own pocket; a cancellation blamed on the airline's own technical or staffing problems.

When it is appropriate

The airline cancelled your flight and you want your money back, a replacement flight, the costs you had to cover, or the fixed statutory compensation. It is usually straightforward where the cancellation was caused by the airline's own operations and you were notified within 14 days of departure.

How the procedure begins

Claim directly from the airline first. Most have an online claim form. Keep the reference and diary the date you submitted it, because escalation bodies ask how long the airline has had to respond.

What the decision-maker can do

The airline decides first. In the UK the Civil Aviation Authority enforces the rules against airlines departing from UK airports and can take action against an airline that breaks them, but it does not award compensation to individuals. For an individual decision, an approved aviation ADR body can decide the claim, and the small claims court can also be used.

Remedies and outcomes available

A full refund of the ticket, or re-routing to your destination, plus care (meals, refreshments, accommodation and transfers where a stay is needed, and two calls or emails), plus fixed compensation where it is due. Compensation is paid per passenger, not per booking.

When to consider a different route

Fixed compensation may not be payable if you were told about the cancellation at least 14 days before departure, or if the cause was genuinely outside the airline's control, such as severe weather or an air traffic control strike — although refund, re-routing and care rights can still apply. If the flight was part of a package holiday, the Package Travel Regulations give you a claim against the organiser instead. If you have travel insurance, check what it covers for disruption. In the United States the rules are different: there is no fixed delay compensation regime, and complaints go to the Department of Transportation.

Costs, fees and timeframes

Claiming direct is free. Aviation ADR is free to the passenger and typically produces a decision within weeks to a few months. A small claims claim involves a court fee on a published scale — check the current GOV.UK fee table. Airlines are expected to respond within a reasonable period, commonly eight weeks, before you escalate.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Confirm what happened and why

    Note the cancellation date, how much notice you were given, the reason the airline gave, and the arrival time of any replacement flight, because these determine what is payable.

  2. 2

    Keep every receipt

    Collect receipts for meals, hotels, transfers and calls made because of the cancellation. Keep them even where the airline paid for the hotel, in case of shortfall.

  3. 3

    Claim in writing from the airline

    Use the airline's claim form or email, state the flight, the amount you are claiming and why, and attach the receipts and boarding passes. Quote UK261 or EU261 if the flight falls under it.

  4. 4

    Allow the airline time to respond

    Give a clear deadline in your claim, commonly eight weeks. Keep a copy of everything and note the date you sent it.

  5. 5

    Escalate if it is refused or ignored

    Take the claim to an approved aviation ADR body, or complain to the CAA about the airline's conduct, or use the small claims procedure for the money.

Evidence and documents

Booking confirmation and itinerary, boarding passes, the airline's cancellation notice or email, receipts for hotel, food and transport, proof of the arrival time of any replacement flight, and your written claim plus the airline's reply.

  • • Booking confirmation and e-ticket
  • • Boarding pass or booking reference
  • • Airline cancellation email, text or app notification
  • • The reason the airline gave, in writing if possible
  • • Receipts for hotel, meals, taxis and calls
  • • Details of the replacement flight and its arrival time
  • • Your written claim and the airline's response

Authoritative sources

Frequently asked questions

How much is the fixed compensation?+

For UK departures the CAA publishes £220 per passenger for flights under 1,500 km, £350 for flights between 1,500 km and 3,500 km, and £520 for longer flights where arrival is four hours or more late (£260 where it is three to four hours late). These are fixed figures set by the scheme, not an estimate of your losses.

The airline says it was extraordinary circumstances — is that the end of it?+

Not always. Technical faults and crew shortages are usually the airline's own responsibility rather than extraordinary circumstances. Ask for the specific cause in writing, and escalate the decision to ADR or the CAA if the explanation does not add up.

Can I claim for the hotel and food too?+

Yes. The right to care applies because of the cancellation itself, not because compensation is due — so if the airline did not arrange or refund accommodation and meals, keep the receipts and claim them.

Do I have to accept a voucher instead of a refund?+

No. Where you choose a refund, it must be paid in money unless you agree to a voucher instead.

What if I booked flights and hotel separately?+

Then the package rules do not apply and you deal with each supplier separately. The airline claim covers the flight element; the hotel claim depends on that hotel's own terms and your insurance.

This is general information about passenger rights on cancelled flights, not legal advice. The UK and EU regimes are similar but not identical, and the assessment turns on the specific cause and notice given. Confirm the position for your flight before relying on any figure.

The scenarios

Different circumstances, decisions and outcomes for the same service — from a clean-cut case to one where this route is not the right fit.

Scenario A
Straightforward case
United Kingdom / Scotland departure (UK261)

The 10pm text before a family wedding — a Glasgow to Amsterdam flight cancelled

A typical case — fictional illustration

The situation

The Reid family booked three seats from Glasgow to Amsterdam for a cousin's wedding. At 22:10 the night before departure, a text from the airline said the flight was cancelled. Nothing else followed. Their daughter called the helpline, waited forty minutes, and was offered a flight leaving the next afternoon — five and a half hours after the original arrival time. They paid £96 for an airport hotel near Glasgow because the first train from their town would not have made the new departure, and £50 for food. Nobody at the airport mentioned compensation, and the airline's app simply showed the booking as 'cancelled by carrier'.

The problem they face

The family lost most of the first day of the trip, paid out money they had not budgeted for, and were given no explanation of why the flight was cancelled or whether anything was owed to them. They assumed the new flight was the full extent of what they were entitled to.

Why this service may help

Where a flight departing from a UK airport is cancelled within fourteen days of departure and the cause was within the airline's control, passengers are entitled to fixed compensation on top of the refund or replacement flight. Glasgow to Amsterdam is under 1,500 km, so the published rate is £220 per passenger. Care — meals, refreshments, and accommodation and transfers where a stay is necessary — is owed because of the cancellation itself, whether or not compensation is payable.

How the process works

The family claims from the airline using its online form, attaching the booking reference, the text, the hotel receipt and the food receipts, and asking explicitly for (1) confirmation of the cancellation reason in writing and (2) compensation under UK261 for all three passengers. If the airline refuses or does not answer within a reasonable period, the claim goes to an approved aviation ADR body, which decides it for free, or to the small claims court for the money.

Evidence and documents

The booking confirmation and e-tickets, the cancellation text with its timestamp, the replacement flight details and boarding passes, receipts for the hotel, food and transport, and any correspondence with the airline's claims team with reference numbers.

Possible outcomes

A likely outcome is compensation of £220 per passenger — £660 for the family — plus reimbursement of the reasonable hotel, food and transport costs they had to cover. It is also possible the airline provides a credible extraordinary-circumstances explanation and refuses the fixed compensation, while still owing care costs; or that it pays compensation but disputes the hotel claim if it says it offered accommodation.

Costs and timescales

Claiming direct is free. Airlines are usually given around eight weeks to respond before escalation, and aviation ADR then typically takes weeks to a few months. There is no charge to the passenger for the ADR process; a small claims court claim would carry a court fee on a published scale.

Important limitations

The fixed sums are statutory amounts, not an estimate of the family's actual loss, and they are per passenger rather than per booking. If the cancellation was caused by something genuinely outside the airline's control — severe weather, an air traffic control strike — fixed compensation may not be payable, though refund, re-routing and care rights can still apply. Receipts are essential for the care claim, and claims are much harder to pursue years later, so they should not delay.

Practical next steps

The family should submit one claim listing all three passengers, quote the cancellation date and the notice given, attach the receipts and ask for the cancellation reason in writing. They should diary eight weeks and, if the answer is a refusal or silence, escalate to an approved aviation ADR body rather than accepting the first 'no'.

Sources

Scenario B
More complex situation
United Kingdom (flight into the UK, UK261)

Two days stranded in Larnaca — a technical fault, a crew that ran out of hours, and a 26-hour delay

A typical case — fictional illustration

The situation

Aisha flew home from Larnaca to Manchester after a week with her mother. Boarding was called, then stopped, then cancelled: a hydraulic fault. A replacement aircraft was found, but by the time it was ready the crew had exceeded their permitted hours and the flight was rescheduled for the following evening — a total delay on arrival of 26 hours. The airline put 40 passengers in a hotel it chose, but Aisha had already booked and paid for a conference in Manchester and lost the fee. She booked her own room the second night and paid £180 when the airline's allocation ran out. Her suitcase turned up four days later. The airline's reply said the cancellation was 'due to extraordinary circumstances outside our control'.

The problem they face

Aisha is out of pocket for a hotel, food, taxi fares and an unrecoverable conference fee, and the airline has answered her claim with a one-line refusal that lumps a technical hydraulic fault together with crew-hours limits as 'extraordinary circumstances'. She does not know whether that is a legitimate defence or a standard brush-off.

Why this service may help

Technical faults are generally treated as part of an airline's ordinary operations rather than extraordinary circumstances, and the knock-on effect on crew hours is usually the airline's own problem to plan around. If the ADR body accepts that, the fixed compensation of £520 per passenger applies for a flight over 3,500 km delayed by more than four hours on arrival. Care costs are a separate entitlement, and they apply regardless of whether the extraordinary-circumstances defence succeeds.

How the process works

Because the airline has given a final refusal, Aisha escalates: the claim goes to an approved aviation ADR scheme with the airline's reply attached, and she asks the adjudicator to decide both the compensation and the care costs. She can also report the airline's handling to the Civil Aviation Authority, which enforces the rules against airlines departing from UK airports but does not award money to individuals.

Evidence and documents

The booking and boarding passes, the airline's cancellation and rebooking messages, the conference invoice and terms showing the fee was non-refundable, hotel and food receipts for both nights, taxi receipts, the baggage delay report and delivery record, and the airline's refusal letter in full.

Possible outcomes

A realistic favourable outcome is £520 compensation plus reimbursement of the second night's hotel and other reasonable costs, though the conference fee may be refused as a consequential loss the statutory scheme does not cover. It is equally possible the ADR body accepts the airline's extraordinary-circumstances argument on some element and awards care costs only. Care costs claimed without receipts, or costs that were the airline's to arrange and the passenger chose not to use, are often reduced or refused.

Costs and timescales

The ADR process is free to the passenger and typically concludes within weeks to a few months. If ADR does not resolve it, a small claims action carries a court fee on a published scale, and it is worth checking whether an insurer will cover the conference loss in the meantime — that part is more likely to be an insurance question than a passenger-rights question.

Important limitations

The £520 figure is the statutory amount for a long-haul flight delayed more than four hours on arrival, not compensation for the conference fee, and the ADR body cannot order the airline to cover every consequential loss. The extraordinary-circumstances defence turns on the specific cause, and the burden of proving it sits with the airline — but Aisha still has to put the argument properly and quickly. Delaying weakens the claim and evidence gets harder to obtain.

Practical next steps

Aisha should ask the airline in writing for the specific cause of the cancellation and the specific cause of the second delay, then escalate to aviation ADR with the refusal letter, the receipts and a short chronological summary that separates the compensation claim from the care claim. She should also check her travel insurance and her credit card cover for the conference fee, since those routes are separate.

Sources

Scenario C
Limitations and an alternative route
United Kingdom (UK261) with a US comparison

The air traffic control strike — when the compensation rules do not help at all

A typical case — fictional illustration

The situation

Rachel was due to fly London to New York for a job interview she had been chasing for two years. Two days before departure the airline emailed: the flight was cancelled because of a nationwide air traffic control strike in Europe. The airline refunded the ticket within a week, as it should, but told her there would be no compensation. She had already paid £540 for a non-refundable Manhattan hotel and £120 for an airport transfer, and she had to rebook her interview by video at a day's notice. Her travel insurance policy schedule shows cancellation cover of £1,000, but she has never claimed on insurance before and assumed the airline would cover everything.

The problem they face

Rachel has lost money she cannot recover from the airline, and the route she has been focusing on — statutory flight compensation — is the one route that will not help her. The risk is that she pursues a claim she cannot win, runs the insurance deadline down, and gets nothing.

Why this service may help

This is the scenario where the service has clear limits, and knowing where those limits are saves time. A genuine air traffic control strike is an extraordinary circumstance: the fixed compensation is normally not payable. What still applies is the refund or re-routing duty the airline has already honoured, and the care duty during the disruption. The money she is actually chasing — a hotel and transfer for a trip she could not take — is an insurance question, not a compensation question.

How the process works

Rachel should not spend months arguing about statutory compensation she is unlikely to recover. The productive steps are: check the insurance cancellation cover and the policy's notification deadline; check whether the booking was part of a package (a package would give her a claim against the organiser under the package travel rules, including for a cancellation that makes the trip pointless); and check whether her credit card or an employer covered the trip. If the airline had made no refund or no attempt to re-route, that would be a complaint to the airline and then to the CAA or aviation ADR — but the refund has already been paid.

Evidence and documents

The cancellation email from the airline, the refund confirmation, hotel and transfer invoices with their cancellation terms, the interview invitation and any note of costs incurred, the insurance policy schedule and its claims contact details, and receipts for any care costs she had to meet during the disruption.

Possible outcomes

Realistically, no fixed compensation, and the best outcome is an insurance payment covering the non-refundable hotel and transfer, subject to the policy's excess and conditions. If the policy excludes weather or ATC disruption — some do — the outcome may be nothing at all, which is a real possibility worth knowing before she budgets around it. If the flight had been sold as part of a package, the organiser route could have produced a refund of the whole trip.

Costs and timescales

Making an insurance claim is free apart from any excess, and most policies require notification quickly — often within days or a short specified period, so the deadline matters more than the argument. There is no cost to complaining about the airline's handling, but the pay-off is limited once the refund has been made.

Important limitations

Extraordinary circumstances defeat fixed compensation but never remove the refund, re-routing and care duties. The reverse is also true: a refund is not compensation, so an airline that refunds promptly has not necessarily discharged everything. In the United States there is no equivalent fixed delay-compensation regime, and passengers there use the Department of Transportation complaints route instead. Insurance exclusions, notification periods and excesses decide the outcome here, so the policy wording has to be read, not guessed.

Practical next steps

Rachel should read the insurance policy's cancellation section and note the notification deadline today, then submit a claim with the hotel invoice, the cancellation email and the interview invitation. She should ask the airline in writing to confirm the reason for cancellation, so the insurance claim is supported by the airline's own statement, and check whether the booking was ever part of a package.

Sources

Where to go next

If this looks like your situation, find the body that handles it in your country, or check whether another route suits you better.

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