How to claim UK flight compensation?

How to claim UK flight compensation?

Flight delays and cancellations can be incredibly frustrating, especially if they cause significant disruption to your travel plans. Fortunately, the UK has a regulation in place that enables passengers to claim financial compensation when their flight is delayed or cancelled due to certain conditions. In this article, we will look at the process of claiming flight compensation in the UK and what you can do if your claim is rejected.

There are two options how you can claim UK flight compensation.

Check your compensation online.

How to claim UK flight compensation?

You can claim UK flight compensation on your own, and you can hand the claim to a flight compensation company. We are a flight compensation company, and we offer such a service — we can claim flight compensation in the UK and EU on your behalf.

Option 1: Claiming UK flight compensation on your own

If your flight has been delayed or cancelled and you believe that you are entitled to compensation under the UK regulation on air passenger rights, here is what you should do.

1. Determine eligibility

Find out if your flight is eligible for compensation under the UK regulations.

If your flight is delayed for 3+ hours due to the airline’s fault or cancelled last-minute due to the airline’s fault, or you have been denied boarding due to overbooking, you are entitled to flight compensation. If it’s a non-UK, non-EU airline, these rules apply only to flights departing from Europe.

As per the Regulation UK261 and the EU Regulation 261/2004, you are entitled to a flight compensation of up to €600, if:

• You’re notified less than 14 days prior that your flight has been cancelled;
• Your scheduled flight is delayed for at least 3 hours; or
• You are denied boarding due to overbooking of a flight.

As long as it has happened due to the airline’s fault.

The latter, usually, is the hardest to prove.

Which regulation should you refer to?

• You are flying with a UK airline
• You are flying with a EU airline
• You are flying with a non-European airline

2. Gather your flight details and necessary documents

You will need to provide your flight number, date of travel, booking reference number or a copy of your boarding pass. In addition to that, you will need to give information on the length of your delay, or on how many days before departure your flight was cancelled.

If you know the reason for the disruption, make sure you mention that, too. If you don’t know that, make sure to double-check anything the airline is saying (if they refuse the claim).

3. Find out how you can contact the airline

Contact the airline as soon as possible.

Although you can apply for compensation on flights that occurred up to three years ago (or even six, depending on the country you are departing from), we strongly suggest starting the process promptly. Make a claim once you arrive at your destination or when your vacation is over and you are back home — this is the best course of action.

How to contact the airline and make a compensation claim?

To make a compensation claim, visit the website of your airline and search for the flight compensation or complaints form. It should be located on their page. If not, try searching with Google or look up their contact information. Don't worry if there's no such form — some airlines have them “hidden away” or even don't carry one at all. In you can’t find a claim form, use any form you can find / email address.

If you can’t find a contact form, or e-mail, then do not be put off by it. Try Google search. Type in “contact [airline]”, “[airline] contact form”, “[airline] compensation claim form”, and see what comes up. For example, search "contact KLM" to find the contacts of KLM.

4. Make a claim for UK flight compensation

After you have found a contact form or an e-mail address, compose a message (complaint). Here are the steps you should follow when writing a complaint letter to airline.

1. Begin by stating your name and contact information.
2. Provide the details of the flight delay or cancellation, or boarding denial due to overbooking, including the scheduled departure and arrival times and the actual departure and arrival times. Mention the reason given by the airline for the delay, if any. Ask for an explanation, if you don’t know why the flight was delayed or cancelled.
3. Explain why you believe that you deserve to be compensated — include specific reasons such as the length of delay and reasons for flight delay or cancellation. Quote the European regulations (either the EU Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 or the Regulation UK 261).
4. Provide all necessary evidence in support of your claim such as boarding passes, booking confirmation numbers. Include a screenshot of email notifying about the delay/cancellation (if you have it).
5. State the amount of compensation you are requesting (according to the European regulations) and how you would like to receive it. In Europe, compensations are transferred to a bank account, and you don’t have to agree to coupons, so provide your bank details.
6. To conclude, kindly ask for a swift response, and thank the recipient for their time.

Keep in mind that it can take a couple of weeks (or months) before the airline replies. Make sure to follow up at least a few times, if you don’t hear back from the airline - getting compensation from the airline takes time and effort.

5. Don’t give up if your claim is denied

If the airline denies you compensation, find out the reason.

Should their explanation not align with your expectations, do some research to see if others in similar circumstances were compensated and provide your argument including relevant links as evidence. If your claim still is rejected, contact a national enforcement body.

If your claim is ignored by the airline within two months of submission, you can contact a national enforcement body (in the UK this would be the CAA) who will investigate and assess your individual case before deciding if they will take legal action against the airline on your behalf.

Option 2: Claiming UK flight compensation with Refundor, to save time (and your nerves)

How to claim UK flight compensation without any hassle?

Let our professionals do the job on your behalf. It’s risk-free.

It’s a simple and straightforward process.

Here’s what you need to do:

When working with us, here is all you will have to do:

1. Go to this page;
2. Fill in the details about yourself and your flight delay;
3. Upload your boarding pass and passport copy;
4. Sign the claim online.

And that’s it. We’ll take it from there.

What if you don’t know what caused your flight delay or cancellation?

Don’t worry, we will check the flight for you.

Here is why it’s risk-free. If we find out that your flight is not eligible for compensation, it will cost you nothing. We'll only collect a fee if we're successful in obtaining compensation for you. If you aren’t getting a money from the airline, you don’t pay anything. That's one of the best things about legal representation (with Refundor).

How much can you claim for a flight in the UK?

1. If you claim compensation yourself

How much is flight compensation in the UK? Just like with EU Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, UK flight compensation amounts are fixed. The only difference is that the compensation has been converted into pounds instead of euros.

The amounts depend on the length of your flight:

• Flights of 1,500 km or less: GBP 220 • Flights between 1,500 km and 3,500 km: GBP 350 • Flights greater than 3,500 km: GBP 520

As you can see, the longer the flight, the bigger the compensation.

2. With Refundor

We pursue your compensation for a 25% + €25 fee.

There are no upfront fees. You pay nothing at first. Because we understand that one of the primary drawbacks when working with legal professionals are the fees associated with these services. You also don’t pay anything, if it turns out that your flight doesn’t qualify for EU or UK flight compensation. We want to make it as simple as possible for you.

Are you ready to make a compensation claim?

Check your compensation online.

UK/EU air passenger rights

Air passenger rights are almost identical in the EU, EEA and UK.

That's why we may refer to them simply as European air passenger rights, and use terms like European flight compensation and European flight compensation regulation. We may also use a word Europe to refer to this whole region, where the flight compensation regulations EC 261/2004 and UK261 are in effect (both of them are almost identical).

• UK flight delay compensation
• UK flight cancellation compensation
• UK denied boarding compensation
• Who regulates UK airlines?

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By Europe and EU we mean all EU Member States, the United Kingdom (UK), Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Reunion, Mayotte, Saint Martin, the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.

Featured photo by Kelly