Delay rights depend on where you took off

There is a settled way of talking about flight delay rights. It is worth asking how much of it survives contact with the detail.

There is no global rule

Several jurisdictions have enacted passenger rights schemes covering delay, cancellation and denied boarding, and they differ in thresholds, amounts and scope. Which one applies is generally determined by where the flight departs, and sometimes additionally by the carrier's home country for inbound flights. A journey with connections can therefore fall under different regimes on different legs, which surprises people mid-trip.

Large parts of the world have no such scheme at all, and there the airline's own contract of carriage is the only thing you can point to.

Care is separate from compensation

Where a scheme applies, the airline usually owes practical care during a long delay — food, drink, communication and accommodation if you are stuck overnight. That duty typically survives even when the cause exempts the airline from paying compensation, which is a distinction airlines rarely volunteer.

If care is not offered, buying reasonable meals and a reasonable room and keeping receipts is normally the path to reimbursement. Reasonable is the operative word, and claims for expensive hotels chosen freely tend to be reduced.

Rerouting is the valuable right

Under most schemes, a cancellation gives you a choice between a refund and rerouting to your destination at the earliest opportunity. Earliest opportunity can include another airline, and in some regimes the airline is obliged to consider that rather than only its own next flight. Accepting a refund usually ends the airline's obligation to get you there, which is why taking the money first is often the wrong move.

Decide which you want before you reach the desk, because the queue is not the place to think about it.

Extraordinary circumstances

Weather, air traffic control restrictions, strikes by third parties and security incidents are commonly treated as outside the airline's control. Technical faults are the contested area, and case law in some jurisdictions has narrowed the airline's ability to rely on them. A knock-on delay from an earlier disruption may or may not be excused depending on the regime and the facts.

Airlines assert extraordinary circumstances routinely, and a rejected claim is not necessarily a correct one.

Making a claim that works

Record the flight number, the scheduled and actual times, the reason given and the names of anyone who told you anything. The actual arrival time under most schemes is when the aircraft door opens, not when it lands, which occasionally decides whether a threshold is met. Claim directly with the airline first, since claim companies take a substantial share for a process that is usually a web form.

Where an airline refuses, many regions have a national enforcement body or an ombudsman scheme that reviews the decision.

What insurance and cards add

Travel insurance delay cover typically pays a fixed amount after a stated number of hours and is separate from any statutory entitlement. Some credit cards include disruption cover when the flight was paid for with the card, with their own conditions. You generally cannot recover the same loss twice, but statutory compensation and an insurance delay benefit are different things.

Read which one requires receipts, because the paperwork you need is decided at the airport rather than at home.

The takeaway

Find out which regime covers your route before you need it, and ask for rerouting before you ask for money.

Every kilo you leave behind pays you back at the third connection.