Airline delays, flight cancellations, and even missed connections happen all the time. When this happens, it’s frustrating for many of us since we can’t get to our final destination on time. However, do you know how you can get back any money you are owed?
Conditions for Claiming Flight Delays or Cancellations
Whether you are on a delayed or cancelled flight, it is important to know the conditions for your claim.
There are a number of conditions that must be met in order to award compensation for a flight delay or cancellation. One of these conditions is an inconvenience. In order to qualify for delays and cancellations, the passenger must have been inconvenienced in some way. The level of inconvenience will depend on the situation, and passengers can use their own judgment whether they were inconvenienced and if they believe they qualify for compensation.
Other conditions include the duration of delay, the distance between the departure airport and destination airport, check-in time before departure time, arrival time at destination airport after scheduled arrival time, distance from home address to the airport at the departure point, etc.
How to File A Claim
- Check the airline’s policy on claims
Some airlines require that you submit a claim within a certain number of days after your flight is cancelled or delayed, and some airlines will not approve any claims submitted more than 7 days after the delay. If you are unsure about your airline’s policy, make sure you check their website.
- Compile all information about the delay.
Airlines are not liable for delayed or cancelled flights in most cases. If you want to file a claim with the airline, they will need your flight details and any information about what happened to the flight.
Airline companies do not have to pay for delayed or cancelled flights as long as they are within their control. If you want the airlines to cover your costs, they will need your flight details and any relevant information that can detail the incident.
- Fill out and submit your claim form.
As a frequent flyer, you may have experienced a flight delay or cancellation. For this reason, it is important to promptly file a claim for damages incurred during the flight. Here are four steps to help you with your claim.
1) Complete and submit an online claim form.
2) Submit all supporting documentation with your claim by uploading or mailing it to the airline company.
3) Track and follow up on your submitted claim.
4) Keep copies of all records related to your flight in case of future disputes.
- Wait patiently for the response from airlines.
With the growing number of delayed or cancelled flights, the airlines have to act quickly to make sure that their passengers get compensated. The best thing you can do is file a claim and wait for a response.
The airlines should take an active role in managing these claims by providing clear information about where and how to submit your claim form. A customer service representative should reach out to the customer as soon as possible and be accommodating, apologetic, and willing to help with any issues that arise.
- If your claim is rejected, file an appeal with the FAA.
The Federal Aviation Administration has an online portal for filing and appealing a claim. For those who have had a flight cancelled or delayed, the FAA also has a section on their website, which can be found here to file claims.
The first thing you need to do is go to: https://www.flyawaysorry.com/. The site will ask you for your flight information, including the route, destination, and airline carrier that needs to be filed under. Once submitted, if your claim is rejected by the websites’ algorithm, it will produce an appeal form that can be filled out and sent in with additional documentation.
It’s recommended you include as much information as possible when filing a claim with the FAA site, so they have enough evidence to make an accurate judgment on what happened during your trip.
We can see that as flight cancellations become a more common occurrence, the travel insurance industry is going to need to adjust accordingly.
If you have travel insurance and your flight is cancelled, make sure you file a claim if you are eligible.