The rise of budget airlines with increased competition in the aviation sector, has made air travel affordable for millions of people. It is not uncommon to find incredibly low ticket prices, particularly for those who book some time in advance of their departure date. So what happens for example, if your flight is disrupted? What if any compensation could you receive relative to the ticket price? Our resident travel expert Steve Reid looks at this all too commonplace question.
Nowadays it’s not unusual to find some great deals on flights, particularly short-haul, that cost well under £100, particularly for those who are willing to book their seats well in advance. The earlier you make your booking, the larger the potential savings. These cost savings are a godsend for many travelling on a tight budget, or for families who want to make their vacations more affordable.
But when things don’t go as planned with their flights and they suffer either a delay or cancellation, what compensation could they expect if, for example, they only paid £35 for a ticket?
Many people wrongly assume that because they only paid a small price for the ticket, they will only be able to claim back the cost of the ticket, and being relatively low, they perhaps view the benefit for claiming not to be worth their effort. There could be millions of people who have not claimed because of this misconception and that’s a tragedy.
What is surprising to many people travelling on low-cost tickets, is that it does not matter how much, or how little you paid for the ticket, your access to compensation remains at the same level, regardless of whether you paid £35 or £3,000, including for delayed flights, cancelled flights, and even lost luggage and delayed baggage. The compensation is tied to the inconvenience you suffer as a passenger when your flight is delayed or cancelled. So, in the example of someone who paid just £35 for their ticket, but was delayed for 3 hours, they could be entitled to up to £520, much more than the cost of the flight itself.
We urge people to come forward to check their claim eligibility if they have suffered a flight disruption at any time in the past 6 years, irrespective of how little they paid for their seats, as they could be in for an unexpected windfall.
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