Your rights if your flight is delayed
What compensation do I get for a delayed flight?
Curiously Regulation 261 does not expressly provide for compensation if your flight is delayed but the European Court of Justice in the case of Sturgeon v Condor has decided that compensation is payable in a similar, but not identical way, as for cancellation. The Court said that compensation is triggered if your flight is delayed by more than three hours. If this happens you get the same compensation as if the flight was cancelled. In practice this means:
Length of Flight Length of Delay Amount of Compensation
Up to 1,500 kms More than 3 hours £110
1,500 kms to 3,500 kms More than 3 hours £350
More than 3,500 kms within EU More than 3 hours £350
More than 3,500 kms 3-4 hours £220
More than 3,500 kms More than 4 hours £520
Note however that, as with cancellations, compensation is not payable if the delay was due to "extraordinary circumstances‟ but you are still entitled to care and assistance for the delay.
What delays count?
When measuring whether you have been delayed the important thing to note is that it is not the departure time that matters but the time of arrival at your final destination. Your flight may depart say 3¼ hours late but because of favourable weather conditions arrives only 2 hours and 45 minutes late, in which case you would not be entitled to compensation.
A European Court of Justice case held that arrival time means the moment that the doors of the plane are opened at the gate, not the time that the plane touches down. This may make a significant difference at airports where it takes a long time to taxi from the runway to the gate. If you are diverted to another airport and are then transported to your original airport and arrive late then the delay is determined by the time you arrive at your original airport.
What if I have connecting flights?
If you were flying on connecting flights on the same reservation and the first flight is delayed and you miss your connection then if you are delayed by more than three hours at your final destination then you are entitled to compensation.
For instance you may have booked flights on the same reservation from Edinburgh to Miami via London. If your first flight is delayed by say 90 minutes and this causes you to miss your connection to Miami and you arrive late in Miami by over three hours you will be entitled to compensation.
If you are on separate tickets then you will only get compensation if your first flight was delayed by more than three hours – and only for the first leg of the journey. If you miss your connection in those circumstances you will not get compensation for your second flight unless it too was independently delayed for more than three hours.
It gets more complicated if your connection involves non-EU countries and non-EU airlines. For instance in the case of CS and Others v Ceske Aerolinie the claimants had booked a single reservation on a flight from Prague to Bangkok. The flight connected in Abu Dhabi. The first leg of the flight from Prague to Abu Dhabi was with Ceske Aerolinie but the second leg was with Etihad Airways under a code-share agreement. The Ceske flight arrived on time in Abu Dhabi but the Etihad flight was delayed by eight hours. Ceske refused to pay compensation because they said that the delay was caused by a non-EU airline. However the European Court of Justice held that if you have a single reservation for a flight starting in the EU with an EU licensed carrier for a destination outside the EU and you are connecting in a non-EU country on a non-EU airline you are entitled to compensation even if the first flight arrived on time but you were delayed by the second flight. Note that this only applies if you have a through ticket. If you had booked two separate flights no compensation would be payable.
Is Regulation 261 the only compensation available for delayed flights?
Compensation is also available under the Montreal Convention for delays - but not cancellations, but there are no standard rates of compensation available as under Reg. 261 and you will have to prove your actual financial loss.
You might also be able to make a claim against your credit card company under s.75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 – but only if you could have made the claim against the airline in question.