Cancellation
Cancellation
If your flight is cancelled – regardless of when you are notified of the cancellation – your air carrier must offer you the choice between:
Option 1. re-routing as close as possible to the original departure time;
Option 2. re-routing at a later date; or
Option 3. a refund of the cost of the unused flight ticket.
Your other entitlements will vary depending on when you were notified about the cancellation.
Remember that if you choose to be re-routed as soon as possible then the air carrier must provide you with a care whilst you are waiting on your alternative flight.
The care consists of:
• meals and refreshments (in reasonable relation to the waiting time);
• hotel accommodation (where an overnight stay becomes necessary);
• transport between the airport and the hotel (where necessary); and
• 2 telephone calls/ faxes/ emails.
If the airline does not provide the above care to you and you are forced to make your own arrangements, you should retain all your receipts as you will be entitled to reimbursement of your expenses.
If you received less than 7 days notice of the cancellation and you chose option 1 above and were given re-routing which departed no more than 1 hour before the original departure time and arrived no more than 2 hours after the original arrival time, you are not entitled to compensation from your air carrier.
However, if you chose option 1 and were given re-routing outside of those timeframes, you are entitled to compensation unless the air carrier can prove the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.
If you received between 7 days and 2 weeks notice of the cancellation and you chose option 1 and were given re-routing which departed no more than 2 hours before the original departure time and arrived no more than 4 hours after the original arrival time you are not entitled to compensation from your air carrier.
However if you chose option 1 and were given re-routing outside of those timeframes you are entitled to compensation unless the air carrier can prove the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.
If you received more than 2 weeks notice of the cancellation you are not entitled to compensation from the air carrier.
Remember that where a town, city or region is served by several airports and your air carrier offers to re-route you to a different one – then it must bear the cost of your transport from that alternative airport to the original one (or to another close by destination agreed with you).
Compensation
The amount of compensation payable depends on the distance of the flight. If the flight is classed as:
• short haul, the amount payable is €250 per person.
• medium haul, the amount payable is €400 per person.
• long haul, the amount payable is €600 per person.
If a dispute arises between you and your air carrier regarding the existence of extraordinary circumstances and the payment of compensation, the matter should be referred to the appropriate enforcement body. The full list of all EU National Enforcement Bodies is available here.