On his Money Saving Expert (MSE) website, finance guru Martin Lewis outlined how passengers could be owed hundreds of pounds
Holidaymakers who jetted off this summer could potentially claim up to £520 in compensation. A financial expert has revealed that travellers whose flights were disrupted might be entitled to substantial pay-outs.
On his Money Saving Expert (MSE) website, finance guru Martin Lewis outlined how passengers could be owed hundreds of pounds. Compensation is available if your flight to or from a UK or EU airport was delayed by a specific amount of time. If your flight was scrapped, you might also qualify for monetary compensation alongside a replacement flight.
Writing for MSE, Martin posed the question: “Did you have a flight delayed or cancelled this summer? You may be due fixed compensation of up to £520 per person.”
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The flight doesn’t necessarily need to be recent – if it occurred within the past six years (or five years for Scottish departures) you could still secure a payout, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Martin explained that to be eligible, your flight must have:
- Been any flight from a UK/EU airport, or a flight to a UK/EU airport, but in the latter case, it must also have been on a UK/EU airline
- Landed three or more hours late to be considered delayed
- Been cancelled less than 14 days before it was due to fly
- Been the airline’s fault, so not bad weather, or issues with air traffic control – though airline staffing or servicing issues or knock-on delays due to previous flights usually do count
Martin noted: “The amount you are due is fixed depending on the length of the flight and delay. For some family long-haul flights, it can be £1,000s.”
MSE provided additional details, explaining: “Compensation under EU and UK rules is designed to makeup for the inconvenience of a delay – it’s not a refund of the flight ticket cost. So the amount you’ll get is fixed depending on the amount of time you were delayed and how far you were travelling.
“Crucially, it’s about when you arrive, not when you leave. You’ll start being eligible for compensation if your flight arrives three hours (or more) later than scheduled. So if you’re on a flight that takes off four hours late but lands two hours 55 minutes late, you won’t be eligible.” The arrival time is deemed to be when at least one of the aircraft doors opens.
What amount of compensation might you be able to claim?
Should your flight be cancelled, you ought to be offered either a replacement flight to your destination or a full refund. You may also be entitled to as much as £520 in compensation, according to MSE.
One MSE reader called Linda was motivated last year to attempt claiming money back for a delayed flight, and secured a total of £1,040. In an email she revealed: “I just wanted to thank you for your article on flight delay compensation.
“It triggered my memory of a delayed flight last November and I went straight on to the British Airways website and filled in the short form. It was so easy and a couple of weeks later I received an email advising that an amount of £520 per person would be paid into my account.
“We received £1,040 in total. What a result. Thanks to all the information on Martin Lewis’s site.” For further details, visit the MSE website.
