Causes
Why it was delayed
The cause decides whether you get paid. What counts as the airline’s fault, and what genuinely does not.
Why it was delayed guides
Causes · 9 min
Technical faults: the refusal that usually fails
If your refusal letter says "technical issue", "aircraft defect" or "operational reasons", you are probably owed the money. Here is why, and what to write back.
Causes · 9 min
Weather delays: when "bad weather" is not a defence
Weather is the one refusal that is often honest. It is also the one airlines reach for when the real reason was something else entirely.
Causes · 9 min
Strikes: whose walkout decides whether you get paid
Airlines lose this argument more often than any other and keep making it. The question is never whether there was a strike — it is who was striking.
Causes · 9 min
Air traffic control delays: the defence that usually works
Of all the reasons airlines give, this is the one most likely to be true — and the one most convenient to apply to a whole day of unrelated problems.
Causes · 9 min
Crew shortages and crew out of hours
If your flight was delayed because there was nobody to fly it, that is as close to a guaranteed claim as this area of law offers.
Causes · 9 min
Bird strikes: extraordinary, but not a blank cheque
The strike itself is beyond the airline’s control. The eleven hours afterwards very often are not.
Other categories
Start here
Short orientation pieces: how a claim works, what the deadlines are, and whether to pay someone to do it.
By airline
How each major carrier handles claims, what they refuse and what makes them pay.
What happened to you
Downgrades, diversions, overnight delays, missed connections and the borderline three-hour claim.
Making the claim
The escalation ladder: the letter, the regulator, the ADR scheme and the small claims court.
The money
Fees, tax, vouchers, insurance overlap and who actually ends up with your compensation.