Flight Cancelled: What to Do and What You May Be Owed
The first hour decides everything.
A cancelled flight is unsettling, especially when you are travelling to see family, lead a service or get somewhere that matters. The good news is that you usually have more rights and more options than the queue around you realises. What you do in the first hour often shapes how the whole thing ends.
Start here, in the first hour
Do not simply join the back of the line and wait. While you queue, contact the airline at the same time by phone, app and social media, because whichever reaches a human first wins. Your goal is to secure a seat on the next sensible flight before everyone else does. Keep every receipt and take a photo of the departure board showing the cancellation. Those small habits protect you later.
Your two choices: refund or rerouting
When a flight covered by UK law is cancelled, the airline must offer you a choice. You can take your money back for the parts of the ticket you have not used, or you can be rerouted to your destination. If you have already flown part of a journey and the rest no longer makes sense, you can also be flown back to where you started. Decide which you actually want before you reach the desk, so you are asking, not being told.
Being looked after while you wait
If you are left waiting, the airline must care for you: food and drink suited to the length of the wait, and a hotel plus transfers if you are stuck overnight. This applies even when the cancellation was nobody's fault, such as a storm. If the airline cannot arrange it on the spot, keep your receipts for reasonable costs and claim them back.
When compensation may apply
Separate from care, you may be entitled to a fixed sum if the cancellation came at short notice and was within the airline's control. The amounts depend on distance: £220 for shorter flights, £350 for medium ones, and up to £520 for long-haul. Compensation is not due when the cause was an extraordinary circumstance like severe weather or air traffic control problems, and it can be reduced if the airline gets you to your destination close to your original time. Treat it as a possibility worth pursuing, not a guarantee.
The point most guides miss: outbound versus return
If you are flying from the UK, you are covered whatever the airline. The return leg is different. A flight back into the UK is covered if it is on a UK or European airline, but a flight departing from somewhere like Lagos on a non-UK or non-European carrier often is not. If your journey home matters as much as getting there, this is worth knowing before you book, not after a cancellation.
Where it gets complicated
Cancellations rarely arrive cleanly. Separate tickets, missed connections, family members on different bookings and onward travel all turn one cancelled flight into several problems at once. This is the moment a calm hand makes the difference between a long night at an airport and a smooth rebooking.
At MAJ Travel Concierge, this is exactly what we handle. We help you weigh your options quickly, deal with the airline, and get you moving again, with flights always booked in the traveller's own name. Members have this support built in. If you are not a member and need help with a live disruption, our Disruption Advisory is there for you.
This is general guidance. Your exact rights depend on the airline and the cause, and the CAA is the place to confirm them.
Want this handled for you?
MAJ Travel Concierge does the booking, the rebooking and the awkward calls with the airline, so you do not have to. We act as your concierge agent; your flight is booked with the airline in your name.