1. Confirm the arrival delay

Everything rests on the arrival time at your final destination. Use the airline's own flight status page, the airport arrival board, or your own boarding pass timestamps. You want the gate arrival, and you want to compare it with the scheduled time on your original itinerary.

Three hours or more opens a claim. Note the exact figure — one hour 50 minutes and three hours five minutes lead to very different conversations.

2. Gather the evidence

  • Booking reference and passenger names, exactly as on the booking.
  • Flight number, date, origin and destination.
  • Boarding passes, or the booking confirmation if you no longer have them.
  • A screenshot of the airline's delay notice or the airport arrivals board.
  • Receipts for meals, transfers or hotels the airline did not provide.
  • Correspondence with the airline so far, including any reference numbers.

The evidence checklist walks through this in the order an airline will ask for it.

3. Write to the airline

Keep it factual and short. Long emotional letters are easy to answer with a template refusal. Include:

  1. Your booking reference and the flight details.
  2. The scheduled arrival time, the actual arrival time, and the delay.
  3. The regulation relied on — EU261/2004, or UK261 for UK-departing flights.
  4. The distance band and the amount claimed per passenger.
  5. Any care costs you are reclaiming, with receipts attached.
  6. Payment details: account name, IBAN and BIC, or a cheque address.

Send it through the airline's official complaints channel so you have a record, and keep a copy. Our claim letter builder produces a draft in this structure that you can edit before sending.

4. Wait, and use the deadline

EU261 requires airlines to respond within two months of receiving a claim. If the deadline passes with no substantive answer, that itself is grounds for escalation and strengthens your position with the enforcement body.

If the airline offers a partial amount or a voucher, you can accept it as part payment and continue to pursue the balance — but say so in writing. Silence can be read as settlement.

5. Escalate properly

Most refusals are template responses. Escalation is usually what changes the outcome.

  • UK departuresThe Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), after the airline's own complaints process.
  • EU departuresThe national enforcement body of the country you departed from — each member state has one.
  • Small claimsIn England and Wales, the small claims track can be used for a modest fee where the amount is disputed.
  • Alternative dispute resolutionSome airlines are signed up to an approved ADR scheme. Check whether yours is listed.

The defences airlines use most

Common responses, and what they mean

"Technical fault" — usually not an extraordinary circumstance. Ask them to explain why it was unavoidable.

"Air traffic control" — potentially valid, but they must show a specific restriction affecting your flight, not general congestion.

"You were not delayed three hours" — check the gate arrival time yourself and provide it.

No response — the two-month deadline has passed. Escalate.

Do not wait too long

Limitation periods are set by national law, not by EU261. They range from about one year in some jurisdictions to five or six years in others. In England and Wales, claims can generally be brought within six years. Evidence and airline records degrade over time, so file early.

Official sources