Making a Cancelled Flight Claim

When making a claim for flight cancellation compensation, there are three steps to follow:

1. Making a formal complaint to the airline
2. Requesting that the regulator investigate on your behalf
3. Taking legal action in the small claims court

Complaining directly to the airline

The first step in making a claim for financial compensation for flight cancellation, is to complain directly to the airline involved. You should make your complaint to the airline's head office in writing, clearly setting out the dates, times and flight numbers involved. Make sure that you explain at which point you were notified that the flight would be cancelled, and the length of delay which this caused you.

You may wish to calculate the compensation which you are legally entitled to and specifically request payment of this amount, and you should make sure that your letter quotes "Regulation 261/2004".

If the airline ignores your correspondence or rejects your claim then you will need to take your complaint to the next level.

Complaining to the Air Transport Users' Council

Under EU regulations, each member state is required to designate a "National Enforcement Body" with responsibility for ensuring that airlines comply with the flight compensation regulations. In the UK this is the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), although the CAA has delegated its consumer protection functions to an agency called the Air Transport User's Council (ATUC).

If you are unable to resolve your complaint directly with the airline then you may refer your complaint to the ATUC. The ATUC will investigate your complaint and will take it back to the airline in order to try and obtain compensation for you. Whilst this is sometimes effective, unfortunately the ATUC has no power to force an airline to pay out compensation - it can only make a recommendation and if this recommendation is not followed then it may report the matter to the CAA.

Claiming in the County Court

If you are unable to obtain the compensation which you are due by negotiating with the lender or taking matters to the ATUC, then you may consider lodging a claim in your local County Court. Claims under £5000 are dealt with under the court's small claims procedure which is relatively simple and informal. The usually strict and convoluted rules of evidence and procedure do not apply, and representing yourself at the hearing is relatively straightforward. Even if the airline wins, it will not be able to recover its legal expenses from you so there is a strong incentive for the airline to settle your claim out of out once you have issued legal proceedings.