Flight delayed or cancelled: checks before travelling to the airport
Where to confirm flight status, which evidence to save and how to separate care while waiting, refunds or rerouting and possible compensation.
A delay notification changes plans, but it does not always change your check-in deadline. Begin with official airline and airport information. Confirm the date, flight number and route. A similar destination or yesterday's departure is not your booking. Save the notification and the time it arrived.
Do not change plans on an assumption
Ask whether check-in and baggage-drop deadlines have changed. Follow instructions for your booking rather than assuming a later departure permits a later arrival. If information conflicts, request written confirmation and note the time and channel of the explanation.
For connecting flights, establish whether the itinerary is on a single booking. Separate tickets and a through journey may have different consequences when a connection is missed. Avoid buying a replacement before finding out what the carrier offers and how changing one segment affects the rest.
Separate three different rights
Care during a wait, a refund or rerouting, and monetary compensation are different issues. Where EU rules apply, entitlement depends on the circumstances, route and length of the disruption. Potential compensation for a substantial late arrival at the final destination is not an automatic payment for every delayed departure.
Following a cancellation, ask the airline to explain refund and rerouting options before selecting one. Check whether your choice affects continuing care. Extraordinary circumstances can alter the compensation question; that should not be confused with the question of necessary assistance while waiting.
Keep the evidence together
- Booking confirmation and any issued boarding passes.
- Disruption messages and proposed alternatives.
- The actual arrival time at the final destination.
- Receipts for necessary, reasonable spending.
- Correspondence with the airline and the case reference.
Ask first what meals, accommodation or transport the airline will arrange. Do not assume that every expense you choose independently will be reimbursed. If assistance is not provided, retain receipts and explain why each expense was necessary. Keeping a short timeline makes a later claim easier to understand.
Make a specific request
Identify the flight, explain what happened and describe the outcome you seek. Supply copies while retaining the originals. If the response does not resolve the problem, consult TTJA's guidance on further complaints and the authority's jurisdiction. An advertised compensation calculator does not establish whether a particular rule applies to your itinerary, and should not be treated as a guaranteed award.
Sources
Prepared 6 November 2026. The image is an AI-generated illustration.