1. Refund the full cost of the ticket within seven days;
2. Choose another flight for free.

If you have been notified of a flight cancellation less than 14 days before departure, then you can count on compensation. This, of course, is not thousands of euros, but it’s nice!

You'll get:

• €250 for flights up to 1.5 thousand km. For example, from Kyiv to Minsk, Sofia,;
• €400 – from 1.5 to 3.5 thousand km. For example, from Kyiv to,;
• €600 – from 3.5 thousand km. Eg, .

The first step is to go to the information desk, airline employee or tour operator. They will tell you why the flight was delayed or canceled and propose an action plan. If no one helps, call the airline's call center or OTA (the provider that sold you this ticket). Not on TripMyDream! We are just looking, but we need to call the person who sold the ticket.

“The passenger must contact the airline representative at check-in. If the passenger has further flights and the connection between them is disrupted, then you need to contact the ticket office or call the airline’s call center to reissue a ticket to the final destination.”, recommends Air Astana.

You will be offered two options:

• Alternative flight– with a transfer, a different time or day of departure. If an alternative flight departs a few hours from yours, then you will already be considered a passenger on the delayed flight, which means the airline will feed you, drink you and shelter you while you wait.

If all segments are purchased with one ticket, you will receive compensation for the entire route. If you had 2 separate tickets - Kyiv-Amsterdam and Amsterdam-New York, then the money will be returned to you only for the flight that was cancelled, for example Kyiv-Amsterdam. But the Amsterdam-New York ticket will have to be returned according to the fare rules. If you have an economy fare, then don’t expect much compensation, but it’s better to check with the airline.

WITH transit flights- similar. If, due to the fault of the airline, you are late for a second flight due to the cancellation of the first, the carrier must either refund the cost of tickets for the entire booking chain, or offer an alternative to get to your destination. In the case of low-cost airlines, being late for the next segment of the flight is, unfortunately, only your problem. Low-cost airlines do not guarantee connections on their flights; each segment is a separate flight, so the air carrier is not involved in your connection.

Is it possible to receive compensation for the cancellation and rescheduling of a low-cost airline flight?

“There is absolutely no connection between the cost of the ticket and the possibility of receiving compensation. Therefore, if you fly with a low-cost airline, you can count on exactly the same amount of compensation, even if you got your ticket for 20 euros.”,” experts from the legal service Flyhelp comment on this issue.

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What else needs to be done? Collect additional evidence

Did you have coffee and a croissant? Have you bought a toothbrush? We don't throw away receipts! They will be needed to receive compensation for additional expenses. Boarding passes will also be useful, luggage tags, information about delays, flight cancellations (can be requested at the check-in desk). Take a photo or video of the departure board. The status of the desired flight and time should be visible in the frame.

If your charter flight is cancelled, upon arrival at the hotel, ask for a certificate of your check-in date - this is the main proof that you missed a certain number of nights of your long-awaited and paid vacation because of the tour operator or air carrier.

With these checks and certificates, contact the air carrier, an intermediary company that deals with compensation, for example, the Flyhelp air passenger rights protection service, or, as a last resort, go to court. Some passengers also demand compensation for moral damage; payments for it rarely exceed UAH 10,000.

Are there any differences in compensation for charter and scheduled flights?

• get money for a ticket;
• choose another flight and, if the class is lower, then within 7 days you will receive the difference in price;
• if the flight class has been reduced, then within seven days the passenger must be reimbursed for the difference: 30% for flights with a range of up to 1.5 thousand km, 50% - from 1.5 to 3.5 thousand km, 75% - for flights of longer range .

Even if the flight is delayed by more than 2 hours, you can count on “bonuses” from the airline - free food and drinks.

If a flight with a range of 1.5 thousand km is delayed by more than two hours, with a range from 1.5 to 3.5 thousand km - by more than three hours, and longer flights - by four hours, the carrier must provide passengers with the necessary number of food and soft drinks.

Is there any monetary compensation for delay?

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What to do if you miss your connection?

What laws take into account the rights of passengers?

Remember these documents that will help you judge who is right and who is wrong from a legal point of view:

• Montreal Convention (Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of International air transport) is the main document regulating the rights of passengers flying from Ukrainian airports and using the services of national carriers.
• “The Airborne Code of Ukraine”, the order “On the approval of the Rules for the airborne transportation of passengers and baggage” and the rules of Ukrainian airlines (include the main provisions of the Montreal Convention);
• EC Regulation No. 261/2004 (Article 4-9) – for intra-EU flights departing from and arriving in the EU.

How to get compensation for a canceled flight?

There is no universal template for a claim against an airline, but, for example, the European Commission has developed a standard template for a claim against an airline demanding compensation for a canceled, delayed flight or denied boarding. If your English is ok, you can download this template from the European Commission website, fill it out and send it to the airline. But in fact, this document is not needed - on the websites of most airlines there are online forms that allow you to submit such complaints. BUT it will be much more effective to apply for compensation through specialized services.

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In practice, to file a claim against an airline you only need three documents:

What to do if you are denied compensation?

“If you receive a refusal, you will receive a response from the airline, which should explain the reason for the refusal. It will look something like this:

Wizz Air flight W6 1568 Kyiv (IEV) 09:00 - Warsaw (WAW) 10:10 (01 February 2019) was canceled due to adverse weather conditions (low visibility caused by fog in Kyiv).

Please consider that Wizz Air as an operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation, if cancellation or long delay is caused by extraordinary circumstances according to Art. 5. par. (3) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the council establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights.

Thus, if you receive a refusal, then all the work comes down to verification or refutation of the refusal.

This can be as simple as, for example, when there is a failure bad weather, in some cases it is enough to study weather reports to make sure that the refusal is legitimate.

In less clear-cut situations, you will have to request Additional information from the control room, airport and other sources and conduct a more in-depth analysis. The difficulty lies in the fact that the concept of “flight weather” does not exist and the decision on takeoff/landing is made based on a number of factors (runway capabilities, technical characteristics aircraft, pilot qualification level, etc.)

By law, the airline must provide you with all the information you need to effectively protect your rights. However, you should not hope that the airline will shower you with supporting documents. In most cases, they will be limited to a certificate of bad weather from a free source and, in practice, you will have to collect and analyze the evidence yourself.

What to do if your flight is delayed due to force majeure?

Everything is the same as in the above situations, but compensation for this is not due.

Are there any exceptions?

Sometimes airlines blame unfavorable weather conditions for flight delays that are their fault. If you are sure that this is the case, you need to find confirmation of the meteorological situation on the METAR (METeorological Aerodrome Reports) website - this is a specialized resource used in aviation to determine meteorological conditions. But the information that can be obtained on this site is a code that is not easy for the average person to decipher without outside help. Therefore, this solution is only for those who are not looking for easy ways. It is much more convenient and profitable to resort to the help of special services.

If you find yourself in any of the above situations, know that you have every right to compensation for the time wasted and the forced change of plans. Delays and cancellations happen every day, so for airlines solving such problems is commonplace, and for the passenger this is not at all as difficult a process as it might seem at first. Just open this article, follow the plan outlined and everything will work out for the best.

Who should I contact for compensation in case of flight cancellation or delay?

Compiling ratings of the most punctual airlines is a fairly frequent study by various experts. After all, delays occur regularly. Some of them do not cause any particular inconvenience to passengers, because... are only a few minutes. Others cause serious problems, even leading to the search for new options. However, not everyone knows what to do if their flight is cancelled.

Postponing or removing a flight from your schedule is not so easy. This state of affairs is influenced by several different reasons. It happens that the carrier is not to blame for this. Of course, the passenger deserves a refund for the flight that was canceled. But you shouldn’t rashly blame the airline - first you should clarify the reason why such a problem occurred.

Blame the airline

The air carrier bears full responsibility and is the culprit for canceling the route if:

• The crew was unable to prepare the liner in time or clean it before departure
• The passenger cannot be checked in due to the overbooking system (i.e. when significantly more travel documents have been sold than there are seats on the plane)
• The flight becomes unprofitable for the carrier
• The airline does not have proper evidence and does not explain the reasons for failure to fulfill its obligations

In these cases, experts say, the airline is entirely to blame.

Force majeure

However, there are also situations when the airline would be happy to send the plane, but for one reason or another cannot do so. These include:

• Unsuitable weather conditions - in this case, insisting on the plane taking off is tantamount to a potential attempt to kill all passengers and crew
• Natural disasters, such as tsunamis, floods, volcanic eruptions
• Actions of a military nature
• Introduction of martial law in a particular country
• The emergence of bans and various kinds of restrictions on the transportation of goods in different directions
• Strikes by workers of various enterprises in the aviation sector, affecting flight departures
• Airliner defects that directly affect the safety of passengers

In this case, departure is physically impossible for reasons beyond the control of the air carrier.

Time frame

Flight cancellations are not uncommon. It happens, in some situations, this happens several weeks before the appointed time. Sometimes, and this often happens, a person finds out right at the airport that he will not fly anywhere.

Cancellation a few days in advance

If the airline decides to cancel a flight several days or weeks in advance, it may offer the passenger several different options interactions:

1. Flight of another option: alternatively, it could be another flight of the same carrier, or maybe a flight of another company. In this case, one main condition must be met - the destination must be saved
2. Full refund of the ticket price. When a passenger purchases a ticket with transfers and connections, he must be refunded all the money for all parts of the route. But if the tickets were purchased in different segments separately, you will be able to get a full refund only for the ticket of the company that is canceling the flight

But there are also the following nuances. If a flight is canceled 14 days before the departure date, no refund will be given. If the passenger receives 13 days notice of cancellation, you can expect compensation, but depending on the flight distance.

When replacing a flight within 7-13 days before the first flight with another and canceling the second proposed option, the passenger can demand compensation based on the flight distance and the duration of the delay.

Cancellation at the airport

If the flight is canceled while the passenger is already at the airport, the first thing to do is contact the airline counter for complete information. The carrier is obliged to explain itself to its customers according to the law. If a flight is canceled due to the fault of the airline, the passenger is entitled to compensation.

But you can’t count on any big money. According to the Air Code of the Russian Federation, it will be possible to receive only 25% of the minimum wage, and the amount should not exceed 50% of the ticket price.

When to file a complaint

According to the law, you can file a complaint against the actions of the air carrier within 6 months from the date of flight cancellation.

When will the money be returned?

The airline has 60 days to issue a refund Money per ticket. At the same time, no one can name the exact date when the money will arrive in the account - this can happen either 2 weeks after submitting the corresponding application or after 2 months. Moreover, in no way - neither complaints, nor threats, nor appeals to supervisory authorities - will it be possible to speed up the process.

What to do if the charter is canceled

Charter flights are quite popular among carriers. But problems with them occur quite often. Charter flights are not that rare and are rarely cancelled. After all, they depart depending on how full they are - and if the tour operator (namely, he is the organizer of such a tour) was unable to sell enough tickets, then the departure of such a plane would be inappropriate. And it will most likely be cancelled.

In this case, all questions should be addressed specifically to the organizer of the transportation, and not to the company that provided its aircraft for charter. But often difficulties can arise with such tickets.

What documents to collect for a complaint?

If the airline refuses to receive compensation and does not explain the reasons for canceling the flight, you can collect documents and file a complaint, resolving the issue pre-trial.

Among the documents it is desirable to have:

• A ticket with a flight cancellation stamp on it
• Receipts and checks for expenses that had to be made due to flight cancellation, for example, taking a taxi, etc.
• Letters and invitations if the flight was to take place for an official celebration within the family or with friends, for example, for a wedding, or when flying to a business event

Naturally, you will need to write a statement. Such a claim is presented to a representative of the airline or through the airline’s website. An excellent solution would be to send everything by registered mail with a receipt stamp.

The carrier must review the complaint and provide a response within 30 days. All correspondence should be saved so that if the case cannot be resolved peacefully, it can be used in court.

If the airline refuses to resolve the issue amicably, you should go to court.

Canceling a flight isn't such a big deal. a rare occurrence, as it may seem at first glance. Just recently, two flights were canceled at once: Perm-Moscow and the return one. Moreover different airlines. S7 moved my morning flight an hour later, which was not suitable for my next connection to Europe. Transaero canceled the night flight and offered to fly 20 hours later. I didn't want to hang around the airport for an extra 20 hours. I requested a cancellation through the agency I purchased from. A couple of days later I got my money back minus the agency commission.

There are many reasons for cancellation. If a flight is canceled shortly before departure, it is likely that technical faults or weather conditions were to blame. However, the flight can be canceled several weeks before departure and even a month. We will tell you below in the article what to do in any of these cases.

The flight was canceled before departure

If the check-in board located opposite your flight lights up with the word “Canceled”, then first you need to contact an employee of the airline operating the flight. It is located at the airline ticket office, at the check-in desk at the airport; if it is not there, you should check with the airport staff.

He will give you options and then explain the plan of action ahead. However, if you want to return your ticket, you will need to contact the ticket seller from whom you purchased it.

The flight was canceled a couple of days, weeks, etc. before departure

In this case, you need to immediately contact the place where you purchased the ticket. Only the agent who issued the ticket can return or exchange the ticket. If the ticket was purchased from an airline, then you need to contact them; if you bought it from an agency, then directly to the agent. Most airlines are unable to exchange or refund tickets purchased through agents. Only the seller has the right to do this.

It is necessary to draw attention to the fact that, regardless of where the ticket was purchased, the airline will have to confirm the forced refund, and it does this very slowly. As a rule, you will need to wait up to 3 months for the money to arrive in your account. In extremely rare cases, this period can extend up to six months.

What should you expect if your flight is cancelled?

The airline, according to the rules, must offer the passenger a choice of the following options:

1. Alternative flight.

Typically, this carrier offers alternative routes, for example, a flight with a transfer on a different departure day or at a different time. Options are subject to availability.

Please note that it will not be possible to change the final destination of the route. That is, if the Moscow-Washington flight is cancelled, it cannot be changed to Moscow-New York. If an alternative flight departs several hours after the original flight, the time between the new flight and the original flight is counted as a flight delay and you may be entitled to the same benefits as other passengers who experienced a flight delay.

2. Refund of the ticket price in full, that is, a forced refund.

In this case, there are some subtleties that need to be paid attention to. For example, if a flight with a transfer is purchased on one ticket (Moscow-Vienna-Berlin), then a refund can be received for full route. In the case of 2 separate tickets - Moscow-Vienna and Vienna-Berlin, a refund can only be received for the canceled flight, for example, Moscow-Vienna. Another Vienna-Berlin ticket will need to be returned according to the fare rules.

A similar situation will occur with return tickets; if you bought one ticket at a round trip fare, then the refund will be for both the outward flight and the return flight.

When purchasing 2 separate tickets, the refund will be for the actually canceled flight, for example, the outbound flight, the return ticket will need to be returned according to the fare rules.

If the flight is canceled halfway through the journey, then you have the opportunity to demand compensation for the part of the route that you already had to cover. For example, you are flying on a through ticket Moscow-Vienna-Berlin. Arriving in Vienna, you learn that the flight to Berlin has been cancelled. If you are not provided with an alternative flight, the carrier must provide a return ticket, as well as compensation for the Vienna-Berlin and Moscow-Vienna flights. But in this case, you will have to provide evidence that your trip is no longer relevant due to flight cancellations.

Are passengers provided with compensation due to flight cancellations?

In certain cases - Yes.

The EU airline has the following rules:

1. Compensation is not due if the passenger is notified of cancellation two weeks or more before departure.
2. If the cancellation is not reported 13 to 7 days before departure, provided that the flight is canceled due to the fault of the carrier and you are offered another route that allows you to depart no more than 2 hours earlier than scheduled and arrive less than 4 hours later at your final destination appointments.
3. If you are notified of a flight cancellation less than 7 days before departure and you are offered an alternative route that allows you to depart no more than 1 hour earlier than scheduled and arrive less than 2 hours later at your final destination.

The compensation amount is as follows.

Not all tourists know what to do if their flight is cancelled. In the absence of an official appeal to airport employees, no one will offer compensation or other services prescribed in the code. Therefore, it is worth knowing what you can count on if your paid flight is delayed or completely cancelled.

Modern legislation tries to protect the interests of passengers as much as possible and give them more chances in disputes with airlines. And yet, people often do not know what exactly they are supposed to receive in certain cases. Therefore, we will describe the information in as much detail as possible.

Who is guilty?

There are different reasons why a flight may be cancelled. It is important to distinguish between those for which the carrier itself is to blame and force majeure that affected not only your plans, but also the airline’s work schedule. So, you can count on compensation and other bonuses only in the following cases:

1. Incorrect flight schedule, inconsistencies.
2. The plane's crew did not prepare the cabin in time.
3. When overbooking, that is, when more tickets are sold than there are seats.
4. If the owners of the company decide that this flight is unprofitable in financially.
5. Other situations in which airport staff cannot provide a clear explanation as to why the flight is delayed.

But it also happens that there is no one to blame for the flight cancellation, and both parties suffer losses. You need to clearly understand in which cases you cannot demand any compensation or compensation from the airline:

• if the flight is impossible due to the weather, for example, heavy rain or snow, blizzard, hail, etc.;
• natural disasters (hurricane, earthquake, volcanic eruption);
• martial law was declared in the country;
• cases of terrorist attack;
• upon termination or significant limitation of the amount of permissible cargo;
• airport or airline staff strikes;
• serious technical problems with the aircraft that threaten the lives of all passengers.

What can you expect?

If the flight is cancelled, then you need to contact the check-in desk and find out the reason. When a flight is canceled by an airline due to its fault, then there are several options for what you can claim:

1. Refund of the ticket, its full cost or partial compensation for moral damage. There are many situations here that are different from each other.
2. Offering an alternative to how to get to your destination - the services of another carrier, a flight at a different time or day, a changed route, for example, with transfers.

It is advisable for you to record any in an accessible way the very fact of flight cancellation or delay. To do this, make a note on the ticket at the check-in counter at the airport, receive the appropriate certificate, and you can take a photo electronic scoreboard, which indicates that the flight has been cancelled.

In this case, airline employees are obliged to immediately offer several options for an alternative route, change tickets for free, or you can apply for a refund and compensation. The exact rules by which this is done depend on the country where the flight was cancelled.

In Russia there are “ General rules air transportation" and " Air Code" There are also differences in internal laws for each airline. More often budget companies indicate from the outset that they completely disclaim any responsibility for the disrupted flight. IN European countries The Montreal Convention and other local laws are in force, implying a more loyal attitude towards passengers.

So, if a flight is canceled while traveling within Russian Federation, then the Air Code promises to return compensation in the amount of 25% of the minimum wage, but not more than half the cost of the ticket itself. For 2017, the minimum wage was 7,800 rubles. That is, your expectations may be quite modest.

If it was an international flight, then, according to the Montreal Convention, the carrier is obliged to pay compensation, which is calculated at the special borrowing rate (SDR). Currently, the maximum amount of such payment is 380,000 rubles.

When purchasing tickets with a transfer, losses can be reimbursed for the entire route at once. But if you purchased separate sections independent of each other, then more often compensation is paid only for that part of the journey where the flight was cancelled. In Europe, the amount of payments may differ depending on how many days you were warned about this and the distance of the flight. More often the amount ranges from 100-600 euros.

In case of long flight delay

If you are already at the airport and your flight is delayed for some time, then, regardless of the reason for the circumstances, you are entitled to some Additional services:

• When waiting for a plane for two hours, passengers are provided with drinks, but not alcoholic ones. You can also use the phone and make two calls lasting no more than five minutes or send two emails.
• If you have to wait for your flight for more than 4 hours in a row due to a delay due to objective circumstances, then all passengers are required to be given a hot meal. And if you wait longer, it is served every 6-8 hours.
• If the flight is delayed by 8 hours during the day or 6 hours at night, a hotel room is provided. And you have every right to demand a separate room so as not to live with strangers. In addition, the airline pays for transfer to the hotel and back.
• When traveling with children under 7 years of age, the staff is required to open the mother and child room.

All these privileges are not given automatically. You will have to demand them and independently remind the airport staff of such responsibilities. Therefore, even before taking a flight, it is better to check all consumer protection laws and study the Air Code in order to know exactly what you can count on in various unforeseen situations.

Will the money be returned?

With the same delays in European countries, airlines promise to compensate for moral damages in the form of monetary compensation. Its dimensions differ depending on the travel distance and the duration of the flight delay:

1. If you wait at the airport for three hours or less, you will not receive any payment.
2. But if this time lasts longer, and the flight is made at a distance of up to 1500 km, then the compensation is 250 euros.
3. For a longer flight it increases to 400.
4. A slightly smaller cash payment (300 euros) is issued to those who had a ticket in a direction of about 3500 km, and had to wait from 3 to 4 hours.
5. If the delay occurs for 4 hours or longer, and the distance to the final destination is at least 3,500 km, then you can expect to pay a maximum amount of 600 euros.

There is a rule according to which if a flight is delayed for a long time by more than five hours, the airline is obliged to pay the full cost of the ticket.

It is important that the application for compensation is made in the exact country where the delay or cancellation of the flight occurred. It must be submitted as early as possible. Each airline has its own terms for processing such claims, and refunds are made within a week or a month from the date of application.

At the same time, write a statement and collect all the documents confirming that you have suffered losses:

• copies of tickets or boarding passes;
• other papers proving that due to a flight cancellation you missed an important event (concert, competition);
• hotel reservation, etc.

Along with this, you must provide copies of your passport, and you can also attach a photo of a board with information about the delay or cancellation of the flight to your application. It is important to submit your complaint in writing because an email or verbal conversation with airport officials is not considered a formal complaint.

Sometimes you have to prove your case through court. Although major international airlines try to refund the cost of tickets before a legal dispute, if you submit your claim within the stipulated time and provide all the evidence. In the case where the air tickets were purchased through tourist agency, as well as upon cancellation charter flight, you should expect compensation from your tour operator.

Special third-party services also deal with similar issues, for example, Refund.me and others. They help to file all claims in the required form and achieve payment. But they will require a fee for their services, which is usually about 25% of the amount paid. If compensation for losses cannot be achieved, then no payment is made.

Video: what to do if your plane is cancelled?

Overbooking

Quite often, a situation occurs when you cannot be boarded on a flight due to the sale of more tickets than expected. Airline employees assume this on the assumption that some passengers cancel the flight at the last minute. In this case, a person may arrive at the airport to check in and find that all the seats are already taken. What to do in this case?

Then they offer the following solutions to the problem:

1. If there are free seats in business class, you will be transferred to the best part of the cabin at no additional cost.
2. They will offer to change the flight to a similar one.
3. If it is impossible to complete the first and second steps, the airport employee is obliged to put a special note on the ticket with which you apply for compensation for losses.

To prevent such a situation, it is better to start checking in for your flight as soon as the opportunity opens. To do this, arrive at the airport in advance or use an online service with which you can complete this procedure without even leaving your home.