Flight compensation claim letter: what to write, what to attach and what happens next

What a claim must contain

Airlines process thousands of claims; a letter that gives every fact in the order the airline checks them is answered faster and refused less. Seven elements:

1. Who and which flight — your name, the names of the other passengers on the booking, the booking reference, the flight number, the date and the route (departure, connection, final destination).
2. What happened, in the Regulation’s terms — for a delay, the arrival delay at the final destination in hours and minutes (not the departure delay); for a cancellation, when you were told and what alternative was offered; for denied boarding, that you had a confirmed booking, checked in on time and were refused against your will.
3. The legal basis — Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 for EU departures (and arrivals on EU airlines), the same Regulation “as retained in UK law” for UK departures, with the articles: 4 (denied boarding), 5 (cancellation), 6–7 (delay and amount) and the Sturgeon / Nelson judgments for delays.
4. The cause, dealt with — if the airline gave a reason, say why it is not an extraordinary circumstance (technical fault, crew, own strike) or ask for proof that it was (weather, ATC); if no reason was given, say so and note that the burden of proof is on the airline (Wallentin-Hermann).
5. The amount — €250, €400 or €600 (£220, £350 or £520) per passenger by great-circle distance, multiplied by the passengers on the booking. State the distance; airlines do not dispute a correct figure.
6. How you want to be paid — bank transfer within 14 days; no voucher unless you agree in writing (Article 7(3)).
7. What happens if they do not — the enforcement body or ADR scheme, then the court, within the national time limit.

Keep it to one page. Anger, the story of the ruined holiday and the price of the ticket do not change the amount.

The wording for each kind of disruption

The letter is the same apart from one paragraph. Use the one that matches your case and delete the others.

Delay

The flight arrived at my final destination 3 hours 40 minutes after the scheduled arrival time. Under Articles 5, 6 and 7 of the Regulation as interpreted by the Court of Justice in Sturgeon (C-402/07) and Nelson (C-581/10), an arrival delay of three hours or more gives rise to the same fixed compensation as a cancellation.

Measure the delay to the moment the doors opened at the final destination, not to touchdown. On a connecting journey booked together, the delay counts at the final destination (Folkerts, C-11/11), and the distance is the straight line from the first airport to the last.

Cancellation

The flight was cancelled and I was informed two days before departure. The alternative flight offered departed 9 hours after the original schedule, outside the limits of Article 5(1)©. Compensation under Article 7 is therefore due.

If you were told 14 days or more ahead, no compensation is due — the letter then claims only the refund or re-routing. If you took a refund instead of the alternative flight, say so; it does not affect the compensation.

Denied boarding

I held a confirmed reservation and presented myself for check-in on time, but I was denied boarding against my will because the flight was overbooked. Under Article 4(3), compensation under Article 7 is due immediately, without any extraordinary-circumstances defence.

Do not write this paragraph if you volunteered: volunteers are paid what they agreed at the gate and keep only the refund or re-routing right.

EU261 or UK261: what changes in the letter

The structure is identical; five details differ. The EU261 template and the UK261 template carry the right versions.

A flight into the UK from outside on a UK or EU airline is also UK261; a flight into the EU from outside on an EU airline is EU261. Which one applies to your itinerary is the first thing the checker works out.

What to attach

• Booking confirmation (shows the reservation and the scheduled times).
• Boarding pass or check-in confirmation (shows you presented yourself; essential for denied boarding).
• The airline’s own message about the delay, cancellation or rebooking.
• For a delay: proof of the actual arrival — a photo of the arrivals board, a flight-tracker screenshot, a timestamped message sent on landing.
• For a cancellation: the notice with its date, and the alternative offered.
• Receipts, if you are also claiming meals, hotel or transport.

Send copies, never originals. The full list by disruption type is in the evidence checklist the generator produces.

Where to send it

To the operating airline — the one whose aircraft flew you — not the one that sold the ticket. Most airlines have a compensation form; paste the letter into its free-text field and attach the documents, then keep the case reference. Where there is no form, send it by e-mail to customer relations and, for the record, by post to the address on the airline’s legal page. Horvera’s airline pages list the claim channel and postal address of each airline.

What airlines answer

• “Extraordinary circumstances.” The most common reply. Ask, in writing, for the specific event, evidence that it affected your flight, and the reasonable measures taken. Weather, ATC and airport strikes can qualify; technical faults, crew and the airline’s own strikes cannot. How to test the reason.
• “Operational reasons.” Not a legal category. Reply that the burden of proof is on the carrier and ask for the actual cause.
• “Here is a voucher.” Decline it unless you prefer it; the statutory amount is money.
• “You were rebooked.” Compensation for a cancellation is excluded only when the alternative met the time windows of Article 5(1)©; a next-day flight never does.
• “Your claim is out of time.” The airline’s own terms cannot shorten the national limitation period (Cuadrench Moré, C-139/11). Time limits by country.
• Silence. Six to eight weeks is enough; then escalate.

What happens after you send it

Most airlines answer within four to eight weeks. A payment ends the matter. A refusal that names a specific cause is a position you can test; a refusal that names none is a reason to escalate. The route is the same everywhere: the airline’s ADR scheme where it belongs to one (decisions bind the airline), otherwise the national enforcement body of the departure country, and the small-claims court within the limitation period. The rejection guide covers each answer, and the ADR guide lists the schemes.

How Horvera can check the case

The claim letter generator takes the flight, what happened and the reason the airline gave, identifies the regulation, estimates the amount, lists the evidence and writes the letter from those facts — anything you did not provide is left as a bracket for you to fill, never invented. The free checker runs the full evaluation with its legal trace and sources; the Claim Pack adds the PDF letter, the evidence checklist, follow-up reminders and the rejection-response tool. The generator and the Claim Pack never take a percentage of the compensation and never submit a claim on your behalf.