Your rights as a flight traveler
Understand refunds, assistance, and compensation. Find the rules for your route and what to do next.
What rights could apply?
A refund returns eligible ticket costs. Rebooking helps you continue your journey. Care can include meals or accommodation while you wait. Compensation is a separate payment for qualifying disruption; receiving a refund does not automatically mean you qualify for compensation.
More than one country’s rules may cover your itinerary. Check each flight and the airline operating it, not just the airline name on your booking. Separate one-way tickets can have different protections, and a missed connection on a separate ticket may not be protected. Do not assume you can claim twice for the same loss.
Flights bought together with accommodation or other services may qualify as a package under local law, with additional rights against the organizer. A flight-only booking is not automatically a package.
Australia
Australian Consumer Law guarantees can apply to travel services, including a requirement to provide services within a reasonable time. Depending on the cause and extent of the disruption, you may be entitled to a replacement service, refund, or reimbursement.
There is no single automatic compensation amount for every delay. Check the airline’s conditions and assistance policy alongside your consumer rights. Raise the issue with the airline or booking provider first; the ACCC explains escalation options but does not resolve individual complaints.
Canada
The Air Passenger Protection Regulations cover flights to, from, and within Canada, including connections. Rebooking, refunds, care, and compensation depend on the circumstances, including whether the cause is within the airline’s control and whether safety is involved.
Even a disruption outside the airline’s control can trigger rebooking or refund obligations. Compensation for inconvenience has separate eligibility conditions. Use the Canadian Transportation Agency’s guide to check your case and how to complain.
Europe
EU protections generally cover departures from the EU on any airline and arrivals from outside the EU on an EU airline. The framework also extends to Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland; check the official guidance for territorial coverage and exceptions.
For covered cancellations, you can generally choose reimbursement or rerouting. Care and, in qualifying cases, compensation may also apply. Long delays and denied boarding have their own conditions. Extraordinary circumstances may rule out compensation without removing all rights to assistance.
Europe is not one legal jurisdiction. Routes outside this framework need their own national checks.
United Kingdom
UK protections cover flights departing the UK on any airline, arriving in the UK on a UK or EU airline, and arriving in the EU on a UK airline.
For a covered cancellation, the airline must offer a choice of refund or an alternative flight. Care may include meals and overnight accommodation while awaiting rerouting. Additional compensation depends on notice, alternative flight timings, and the reason for the disruption; extraordinary circumstances can exclude compensation.
Complain to the airline first. If unresolved, check the CAA’s guidance on an approved alternative dispute resolution service or its passenger complaints team.
United States
For flights to, from, or within the US, an airline cancellation or qualifying significant delay or change entitles you to a refund if you decline the changed flight, alternative transport, and other offered compensation such as a voucher. Accepting and using an alternative can affect that entitlement.
When you book through an agent, the company that took payment matters for who processes the refund. Contact FlyFarely with your booking reference so we can check the payment and ticket details. The airline’s direct-booking 24-hour cancellation rule does not automatically apply to agent bookings.
A change of flight number alone is subject to a temporary DOT enforcement exception where the replacement has no significant change or delay. Check the latest guidance rather than treating a renumbered flight as an automatic refund claim.
Illness, emergencies, and personal circumstances
A medical condition, critical illness, bereavement, jury duty, or military orders does not create a universal right to a cash refund. Your fare, airline waiver policy, insurance, and applicable law determine the options. Ask before cancelling and check what supporting evidence is needed.
Serious communicable disease has specific US protections: qualifying passengers with non-refundable tickets who are restricted by government or advised by a medical professional not to travel may be entitled to transferable travel credit or vouchers valid for at least five years. Eligibility and documentation requirements apply; this is not an automatic cash refund for any illness.
Contact us before departure if possible. Explain the situation without attaching medical records or other sensitive documents to your first email. We can first confirm what is needed and how to provide it.
Accessibility and assistance
If you need disability-related assistance, contact the airline as early as possible and explain the support required at the airport and onboard. These protections are separate from whether your ticket is refundable. Check the relevant regulator’s accessibility guidance for your route.
If assistance is not provided or you are denied boarding, ask the airline for the reason in writing and keep a record of your request.
How to ask for help or make a claim
For a FlyFarely booking, email support@flyfare.com. A request does not cancel your ticket or submit a regulator complaint. For immediate airport assistance, speak to the operating airline.
- Save your booking reference, original and revised itinerary, airline messages, and receipts for reasonable expenses.
- Ask the airline to explain the disruption in writing and confirm your refund, rebooking, and care options before accepting a voucher or cancelling.
- State what you are requesting: a ticket refund, reimbursement of expenses, or compensation. Include flight dates and the booking reference.
- If unresolved, follow the relevant regulator’s complaints process. Claim deadlines vary, so check them promptly.