How to get compensation for flight delays easily using AirHelp
Fly often enough and it’s inevitable that at some point you are going to get delayed. But rather than a drink and a desultory food voucher, in many cases you can get cash compensation for a delay. And the best news is it doesn’t have to be a fist-gnawingly cumbersome process, thanks to AirHelp.
Your Rights
First, your rights vary depending on where you are flying. The EU has the most robust passenger compensation system, with flights eligible for compensation if they are delayed, cancelled or overbooked and it was the airline’s fault. The regulation that gets airlines hot under the collar is Article 261/2004. Any flight departing from any EU airport, as well as all arrivals into an EU airport that are operated by an EU-based airline, are covered. So a US carrier flying from Paris to New York will be liable to provide compensation, even though it is a US airline and the flight lands in the US. For example:
- A United Airlines flight from Paris to New York: yes (the flight departs from an EU airport)
- An Air France flight from New York to Paris: yes (it’s an EU-based airline)
- A United Airlines flight from New York to Paris: no (the flight doesn’t depart from an EU airport, and it’s not an EU-based airline)
Other international flights, and US domestic flights, are less generous. The circumstances of the delay, the destination, route, distance, and nationality of the airline can all influence your rights to compensation.
How much cash can you get?
It depends on the type of flight and the length of the delay, but you could be entitled to up to EUR600 per ticket. That would be for a delay of more than four hours, on a flight of more than 3,500km between an EU and non-EU airport.
How to claim: the bad way…
- Search online to find the basic regulations for your flight destination and airline, then check the fine print of your ticket.
- Contact the airline, track down and provide all the information
- Avoid the traps the airline may lay to avoid paying the claim… requests for extra signatures, paperwork, spurious excuses, sub-standard offers of vouchers rather than proper compensation.
- Make sure not to give up in frustration
- Receive an offer, possibly a poor one such as a voucher as the airline will hope you don’t know what you are entitled to.
- Complain again or give up.
- Get final offer. All in the hope that you accept a poor offer through lack of knowledge of the rules, or just give up in frustration.
Yes, you get to keep all the compensation payout if you do it yourself. But you have to ask yourself if you will succeed with the whole process. The airlines might be required to legally give compensation, but they aren’t going to make it easy. The value of your time, postage and phone calls all has a price.
Fortunately, there is another way…
the good way… get the experts involved
The last time I was delayed I found a company that does the whole process for you: AirHelp.
AirHelp operates a ‘no-win, no-fee’ model. If your compensation claim is successful AirHelp takes 25% of it. If you aren’t entitled to compensation you pay nothing. For me, the chance to outsource the entire administrative hassle was well worth 25% of any potential compensation I would receive. 75% of something is much better than 100% of nothing!
The AirHelp process
- Go to www.airhelp.com and put in your flight details. AirHelp has a database of all flights and delays, so it will let you know straight away whether it thinks you have a potential claim.
(You can even get AirHelp to trawl your inbox to search for flights that have the potential for compensation claims. I’ve not tried this, and I’m not sure how necessary it is as I’m sure you can remember when you suffered a long delay. But if you’re a regular flyer and haven’t claimed in the past, it might unearth some gold for you.) - Fill in the online form and supply the requested documents such as passenger details and booking confirmation. Scanned copies or photos are sufficient.
- Forget about it for a month or two, while AirHelp liaises with the airline on your behalf.
- AirHelp contacts you with final news of your compensation – hopefully good news!
- Arrange a bank account to have your compensation paid. You may need to set up an account with Paypal or Payoneer to receive the payment.
My experience of using AirHelp
I was delayed for five hours on a flight from London to Warsaw. At the time I did nothing, but a couple of months later I read that I might be entitled to some compensation. I searched online, found AirHelp, and fired off my documents to them. They did the legwork and told me I was entitled to compensation of EUR750 in total for my wife and two children, comfortably more than the cost of our flights! After deducting AirHelp’s 25% fee (EUR187.50), I received EUR562.50. To receive the payment to my bank account I had to create an account with Payoneer. But there were no fees for the currency transfer, and the exchange rate was good.
Airhelp says the process can take two to three months. For me it took three months.
DO I recommend it?
Yes. I’m all for getting specialists to take on tasks that are a hassle or that I have no expertise in, and airline compensation definitely falls into this category. AirHelp guided me through the process clearly, kept me informed by email and made it straightforward to receive my payment. Given I probably would have given up if I had been contacting the airlines myself, I consider it a great service and well worth the fee. Remember… no win, no fee. Other people seem to agree as it has a rating of 9.5/10 on Trustpilot from nearly 5,000 reviews.
AirHelp is a company you hope you don’t have to use, but when you’re next delayed, you’ll be glad it’s there.
Get paid next time you’re delayed.