When your flight goes wrong

Airlines are required to help more than they volunteer to. The rules differ by where you fly, but the shape is the same everywhere: care while you wait, a way onward, and often cash on top. The airline is counting on you not knowing which is which.

At the airport, in order

1. 1 Get the reason in writing: app screenshot, a photo of the departures board, or ask the agent directly. Compensation turns on whether the disruption was in the airline's control, and "weather" gets claimed more often than it happens.
2. 2 Ask what care you're owed. After a few hours most regimes require meals, and overnight means a hotel plus transfers. These are duties, not favours.
3. 3 Take the rebooking, keep every receipt. Meals, taxis, the toothbrush: reasonable costs are usually recoverable.
4. 4 Don't sign anything that waives your rights in exchange for a meal voucher. The voucher is not the compensation.

What the money looks like

• Canada (APPR): up to $1,000 on large airlines for long delays within their control.
• EU and UK rules: roughly 250 to 600 euros depending on flight distance.
• Bumped involuntarily? That usually pays more than a delay. Ask before accepting any offer.
• Bags delayed or damaged carry liability caps too. Receipts, again.

Then actually claim it

Claims go in writing, citing the regulation, and airlines are on a clock to answer (30 days under APPR). On Discovery, the claim builder skips you past the blank page: it assesses the disruption, cites the right rules, and drafts the letter in your choice of tone.