When a delayed flight owes you money

Compensation is not the same as a refund

These are two separate entitlements and you can be owed both. A refund returns what you paid for a flight that did not happen as sold. Compensation is a fixed penalty the airline owes for the disruption itself, on top of the refund or the replacement flight. Airlines routinely offer a voucher and describe it as making you whole; it is neither of these things unless you agree.

Which rules apply depends on where you departed, where you landed and which airline flew you — not on where you live or where you bought the ticket.

EU261 and UK261 — the strongest

These cover flights departing an EU or UK airport on any airline, and flights arriving in the EU or UK on an EU or UK carrier. Compensation is a fixed cash amount by distance, typically in the €250 to €600 range, when you arrive three or more hours late or the flight is cancelled at short notice.

Two points decide most claims. It is the arrival delay that counts, not the departure — a late push-back that makes up time in the air may owe nothing, and an on-time departure that diverts may owe the full amount. And the airline does not owe compensation for extraordinary circumstances: weather, air traffic control strikes, security incidents. Its own technical faults and its own crew shortages are generally not extraordinary, however it describes them on the day.

Separately, and regardless of the cause, long delays trigger a duty of care — meals, communication, and a hotel with transfers for an overnight. That applies even when no compensation is due, and it is the entitlement most often quietly dropped.

United States — refunds are strong, cash compensation is not

US Department of Transportation rules give no fixed cash payment for a delay the way EU261 does. What they do give is a firm right to a prompt cash refund — to the original payment method, not a voucher — when the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight and you choose not to travel. You do not have to accept a credit, whatever is offered first.

Airlines also publish their own commitments for delays within their control, which commonly include meals, hotels and rebooking. Those are enforceable against the airline’s own published policy, so it is worth reading what yours actually promised.

Denied boarding on an oversold flight is the exception with real money attached: involuntary bumping carries defined cash amounts based on how late you arrive. If you are asked to volunteer, understand you are trading away that entitlement for whatever is offered.

Canada, and elsewhere

Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations sit between the two: fixed compensation for delays within the airline’s control, scaled by delay length and by airline size, with a lower tier for smaller carriers. Several other countries — Brazil, Turkey, Israel and others — have their own schemes with broadly similar shapes. Where more than one regime could apply, they do not stack; you claim under the one that covers the flight.

What to do, in order

1. Keep the boarding pass and the booking confirmation. A claim without proof you were on the flight is hard to run.
2. Note the actual arrival time — when the doors opened — not the scheduled one, and not the departure delay.
3. Ask the airline at the time, in writing if you can, why the flight was delayed. The reason decides everything.
4. Keep receipts for meals, transport and a hotel. Those are recoverable separately from any compensation.
5. Claim directly with the airline first. It is free, and a straightforward claim is often simply paid.
6. If it is refused or ignored, escalate — a national enforcement body, or a claims service that works on commission.

Time limits are generous compared with insurance: several years in many jurisdictions, so an old disrupted flight may still be claimable. Claims services typically take 25–35% and do the chasing; going direct keeps all of it and costs you the paperwork.

Where TripTov fits

TripTov already holds every flight you have forwarded, with its scheduled times, its route and its operating carrier — which is exactly what decides whether a regime applies and what the claim is worth. Forward the airline’s delay or cancellation notice and it lands against the same booking, so the evidence is together rather than scattered across an inbox months later. Try it, or read who pays when your bag doesn’t arrive.