Airlines do their best to avoid disruption and delays to your journey. However, sometimes problems do occur. As a consumer you have important legal rights when the flight you are booked on is delayed, cancelled or when you are denied boarding.
This page explains your rights and what to do when your flight has been disrupted.
Does UK law apply to your flight?
Under UK law, you have important legal rights on many flights to, from or within the UK. The information on this page is only relevant to flights covered by UK law. To be covered, your flight must be either:
- departing from an airport in the UK on any airline, or
- arriving at an airport in the UK on an EU or UK airline; or
- arriving at an airport in the EU on a UK airline.
You can check if UK law applies to your flight by viewing this document explaining how your entitlement changes dependent on specific criteria.
If your airline downgrades you to a lower class than the one you booked (for instance, economy instead of business), you are entitled to reimbursement of a percentage of the price for the flight on which you were downgraded.
The table below shows how this is calculated:
| Length of journey | Reimbursement |
|---|---|
| Up to 1500km | 30% of the flight price |
| 1500-3500km | 50% of the flight price |
| More than 3500km | 75% of the flight price |
It is likely you will only receive a refund for the portion of your journey that was downgraded.
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