Package holidays and flight compensation: two sets of rights, one payment

The airline: EU261 as usual

Article 3 excludes only free or non-public fares and package trips cancelled for reasons other than the flight. A flight sold within a package remains a flight: if it is delayed 3 hours or more, cancelled at short notice or overbooked, claim compensation from the operating airline, not from the tour operator. The airline’s page on this site gives the claim channel.

The tour operator: the Package Travel Directive

The organiser is liable for the performance of the whole package. A flight problem that costs you a night of the holiday, a missed excursion or an early return entitles you to a price reduction and, where appropriate, damages; the organiser must also arrange suitable alternatives or your return. Claims go to the organiser, and in the UK to the operator under the Package Travel Regulations 2018.

No double recovery

Article 12 lets the airline deduct EU261 compensation from any further damages for the same loss, and the Package Travel Directive contains the mirror rule. In practice: the fixed EU261 amount comes from the airline; the holiday-specific losses come from the organiser; neither pays the same euro twice.

Who to write to first

Both, at once. The airline claim is standardised and often quicker; the organiser claim needs a description of what the disruption cost you within the holiday. Keep the booking, the itinerary, the airline’s disruption messages and receipts.

Charter flights

Charter flights sold within packages are covered by EU261 in the same way; the operating charter airline is the debtor for compensation.