Claiming for a cancelled or delayed flight
You’re at the airport, the board says cancelled, and at the desk they hand you a £6 voucher and a smile. The feeling that you’re owed something more is usually right — but it depends on three things, and it’s worth knowing which before you argue.
What it depends on
How late you arrived. Not the departure: the arrival at your destination. It’s the detail most often confused and the one that decides nearly everything.
How far the flight was. Compensation is banded by distance.
Why it happened. This is where the fight is. If it was something the airline couldn’t avoid — severe weather, airspace closure, a strike outside the company — compensation falls away. If it was their problem — a technical fault, missing crew, overbooking — it doesn’t.
Watch this one: an ordinary technical fault doesn’t count as an extraordinary circumstance, however often you’re told otherwise at the desk. It’s the most used excuse and the one that collapses most often when a claim is pursued properly.
What you’re owed there and then, whatever happened
This is separate from compensation and plenty of people never ask for it:
- Food and drink appropriate to the wait.
- Two calls or the equivalent in communications.
- Accommodation and transfers if they make you stay overnight.
- Alternative transport or a refund if you decide not to fly.
This is the duty of care and it doesn’t depend on whose fault it was. If they don’t provide it, keep the receipts: what you pay out of pocket is claimed afterwards.
The order that works
- Document it on the spot. Photo of the board, your boarding pass, the sign at the gate. The actual arrival time. Any paper they give you.
- Ask in writing for the reason for the cancellation. It’s the key piece and almost nobody asks for it at the time, which is when it’s easiest to get.
- Claim to the airline first, through their form or in writing. It’s a required step before going anywhere else.
- If they don’t reply or they refuse, escalate to the regulator or the ADR body that covers your airline and route. It’s free.
What you don’t need
You don’t need a claims company. They take between 25% and 50% of whatever you get for a process you can do yourself with a form. They make sense if the case gets entrenched or ends in court; for a standard claim, no.
Where an AI helps
In two specific things, and they’re the ones that put you off most:
Sorting out your case. Tell it what happened with the exact times and ask what maps to what. It saves you reading the whole regulation to find out whether your three-hour-fifteen delay counts.
Writing the claim. An orderly text, with dates, flight numbers and what you’re asking for, is more effective than an angry one. And at eleven at night after a day at the airport it won’t come out well.
What you shouldn’t do is rely on a specific amount or deadline it gives you without checking. That’s the kind of detail an AI gets wrong with confidence, because these rules have been amended — and, depending on where you’re flying from and with whom, a different regime may apply — and each model froze at a different moment.
Seeing several answers helps here: if they agree on the amount, it’s settled; if they disagree, your case turns on a detail and it’s worth checking the source. That’s exactly what The Judge does, with a confidence level that tells you how much to rely on it.
And a realistic expectation
Many legitimate claims get a “no” in the first reply. That isn’t the end: it’s the process. Most of the ones that succeed do so on the second round, when the airline sees there’s a written record and that the person claiming knows what they’re entitled to.
Keep everything, write with dates, and don’t get tired. That’s all it takes.