Thousands of holidaymakers have had their travel plans disrupted by flight cancellations and delays following technical issues with the UK traffic control system.
Around 500 flights were cancelled or delayed over the bank holiday weekend, leaving countless passengers unable to return from or leave for their holidays.
If your flight is delayed or cancelled due to the air traffic control breakdown, unfortunately, you won’t usually be eligible for financial compensation, but you should be entitled to assistance in this scenario.
Here, we’ve outlined what your rights are when things go wrong with your flight.
Contents
- What are your rights if your flight is delayed or cancelled because of air traffic control disruption, or a strike?
- Are you entitled to compensation if your flight has been delayed or cancelled because airport disruption or a strike?
- Assistance if your flight has been delayed because of airport disruption
- Assistance if your flight has been cancelled
- Does my travel insurance cover flight delays and cancellations due to air control problems?
What are your rights if your flight is delayed or cancelled because of air traffic control disruption, or a strike?
Under the Denied Boarding Regulations, if your flight has been delayed or cancelled because of problems with air traffic control, or due to a strike, for example, you have the right to assistance at the airport and possibly compensation, but only in particular scenarios.
Denied Boarding Regulations (also known as EC261) are a set of regulations that provide protection for passengers whose flights have been cancelled or delayed or who’ve been refused boarding.
These regulations cover all flights that are scheduled to:
- Depart from a UK airport
- Arrive in the UK with a UK or EU airline
- Arrive in the EU with a UK airline
For these regulations to apply, you’ll need to have a confirmed booking, which usually means you’ve had a confirmation email from your airline with a booking reference number, and you’ll need to have checked in on time for your flight.
The assistance and/or compensation you may be entitled to depends on whether your flight has been cancelled or delayed, the reason for the delay or cancellation, distance to your destination, and length of delay.
Are you entitled to compensation if your flight has been delayed or cancelled because airport disruption or a strike?
If your flight is cancelled or delayed because of technical glitches, then you won’t normally qualify for compensation, because what’s happened is outside your airline’s control.
If your plans are disrupted by a strike, however, your right to compensation depends on who called the strike. If the strike is called by your airline’s staff, and you are notified less than 14 days before you’re meant to travel, then you might be able to claim between £110 and £520 compensation.
However, if the industrial action is by air traffic control, airport staff, or ground staff like baggage handlers, this is considered to be an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ (so beyond your airline’s control). In this case, as is the case with the air traffic control issues, you won’t usually be entitled to compensation.
You can read more about this in our article How to claim compensation for a delayed or cancelled flight.
However, if you’re at the airport and your journey is delayed or cancelled because of air traffic control issues or a strike and you aren’t entitled to compensation, you may be entitled to assistance from your airline.
Assistance if your flight has been delayed because of airport disruption
If your flight is delayed by at least two hours due to technical issues with air control, or because of strikes, you are entitled to assistance at the airport. This may include, for example, free meals and refreshments and/or overnight accommodation.
Exactly what you’ll get depends on where you’re travelling to and the length of your delay. You’re entitled to some sort of assistance if you’re travelling the following distances and your flight has been delayed by:
Flight distance (km) | Length of delay |
Up to 1,500 | 2 hours |
1,500 – 3,500 | 3 hours |
More than 3,500 | 4 hours |
There are online tools, such as distance.to and greatcirclemapper.net, which can help you work out the distance between your departure airport and your destination.
If your delay falls within the above timeframes, your airline has to provide you with assistance until you depart. This includes:
- Free meals and refreshments, appropriate to the length of time you have to wait – Airlines will often issue vouchers for you to use in the airport
- Two free calls or emails
- Hotel accommodation (if necessary) with transport between the airport and the hotel.
For hotels and transport, the airline might book this for you, but you may also find that you need to pay for this yourself and then claim it back from the airline.
Assistance if your flight has been cancelled
If your flight has been cancelled you should be entitled to:
- A refund of your fare or rerouting on an alternative flight
- Assistance in the airport, including free meals and refreshments, accommodation and travel
Refund or reroute
If your airline cancels your flight you’ll have the right to choose between:
- Getting a full refund for your cancelled flight, or;
- Rerouting (switching) to an alternative flight
You should have these options whenever your flight is cancelled and regardless of the reason for the cancellation.
If you choose to get a refund, your airline must return your money within seven days. If you choose to be put on another flight, you can decide whether you would like to be:
- Rerouted to your final destination at the earliest opportunity
- Rerouted to your final destination at a later date that’s convenient for you
- Flown back to your original point of departure – this is an option you might choose if your flight wasn’t direct and was cancelled part of the way through your journey. So, for example, if you were flying from London to Malta with a stop in Frankfurt on a single ticket, if when you reached Frankfurt your onward journey to Malta was cancelled, you could either request a flight back to London, or a refund.
When you choose to be rerouted at the earliest opportunity, airlines will usually aim to get you on a flight the same day either with them or another carrier. Airlines will vary in what they consider to be the earliest opportunity, but if you go for this option, the difference in time between your initial flight time and your rescheduled flight will be treated as a delay. You will therefore be entitled to assistance (and maybe also compensation) in this scenario.
Assistance in the airport for a cancelled flight
If your initial flight was cancelled and you chose to be rerouted, you’ll probably stay in or near the airport while you’re waiting for your new flight. The time between your initial flight and your rescheduled one will be treated as a delay, so your airline has to provide you with assistance until you depart, which includes:
- Free meals and refreshments, appropriate to the length of time you have to wait. Airlines will often issue vouchers for you to use in the airport
- Two free calls, emails or faxes
- Hotel accommodation (if necessary)
- Transport between the airport and the hotel.
For hotels and transport, the airline will sometimes book this for you, but in situations where an airline is dealing with a large number of delays, you may need to pay for this yourself and then claim it back from the airline.
As we outlined earlier, whether you’re entitled to this assistance will depend on how far you’re travelling and the amount of time you’ve been delayed. See the above table for more information.
Does my travel insurance cover flight delays and cancellations due to air control problems?
Every travel insurance policy is different, and you’ll have to check the fine print of your policy to see if you’re covered for a refund if your flight is delayed or cancelled.
Any cancellations or delays will have to have been unforeseeable and unexpected when you took out your policy, which is the case with the air traffic control issues.
It’s important to always take out travel insurance at the same time as booking your holiday so you can take full advantage of the cover it offers. You can read more about this in our article When should I buy travel insurance?
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