Flight Delay Compensation Letter Template — What to Send the Airline

A flight delay compensation letter template needs six things: who you are, which flight, how late it arrived, what you are claiming under, how much, and where to pay it. Everything else is padding. Copy the template below, fill in the brackets, and send it to the airline that operated the flight.

The flight delay compensation letter template

Subject: Compensation claim under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 — flight [FLIGHT NUMBER], [DATE]

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to claim compensation under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 in respect of the flight below.

Booking reference: [REFERENCE] Flight number: [FLIGHT NUMBER] Date: [DATE] Route: [DEPARTURE AIRPORT] to [ARRIVAL AIRPORT] Scheduled arrival: [TIME] Actual arrival: [TIME] Total delay on arrival: [HOURS AND MINUTES]

Passengers on this booking: [FULL NAMES OF EVERY PASSENGER]

The flight arrived at its destination more than three hours after the scheduled time. On that basis I am claiming compensation of [AMOUNT] per passenger, being [TOTAL] in total for [NUMBER] passengers.

I have attached the booking confirmation and boarding passes. Please confirm within 14 days whether you accept the claim, and pay any sum due by bank transfer to the account details I will provide on request.

If you consider that extraordinary circumstances apply, please state what those circumstances were and what measures you took to avoid the disruption.

Yours faithfully, [FULL NAME] [ADDRESS] [EMAIL AND TELEPHONE]

What every line of the flight delay compensation letter template is doing

Work out the figure before you write, because a letter that names the wrong band invites a counter-offer; our flight delay compensation calculator settles it in a minute.

The regulation reference in the subject line matters more than it looks. It routes your message to the team that handles statutory claims rather than general customer service, and it signals that you are not asking for a goodwill voucher.

Arrival time, not departure time, is the number the claim turns on. Airlines assess delay by when the aircraft doors opened at the destination, so a flight that pushed back ninety minutes late and landed three hours and ten minutes late is a claim.

Naming every passenger on the booking is what turns one payment into several. Each passenger is owed the sum separately, including children on their own ticket.

The final paragraph is the one people leave out. Asking the airline to state its extraordinary circumstances and the measures it took puts the burden where it belongs, and a vague refusal becomes much harder to defend later.

What to attach

Four documents cover almost every claim:

• The booking confirmation, showing the reference and every passenger name
• Boarding passes, or the check-in confirmation if you never received one
• Something that fixes the actual arrival time: a photograph of the arrivals board, a flight tracker screenshot, or the airline’s own delay notification
• Receipts, only if you are also claiming expenses

Send expenses as a separate message. Airlines process reimbursement and compensation through different teams, and bundling them is a common reason a claim sits untouched for weeks.

Where to send it, and how to keep proof

Send it to the airline that operated the flight, which is not always the one you booked with. On a codeshare, the operating carrier is the one that owes you.

Most large airlines now insist on their own online form. Use it, then paste the same text into the free-text box and email a copy to their customer relations address so that you hold a dated record outside their system. Note the case reference the form gives you.

How long the airline has to reply, and what silence means

There is no universal deadline. Airlines often quote 14 to 28 days and frequently take longer, and a claim that runs to two or three months is unremarkable rather than a sign that something has gone wrong.

Silence is not a rejection, but it is not neutral either. In the UK you can usually take an unresolved complaint to the airline’s alternative dispute resolution scheme once eight weeks have passed. Elsewhere the equivalent step is the national enforcement body in the country you departed from.

What to do if the airline rejects your claim

Most rejections say extraordinary circumstances. That defence is narrower than airlines present it. Weather, strikes by third parties and genuine air traffic control restrictions can qualify. A technical fault on the aircraft usually does not, because routine maintenance is part of running an airline. We have set out what counts as an extraordinary circumstance and where the courts have drawn the line.

Ask for the specific reason in writing, along with the measures taken. If the answer is thin, escalate rather than argue by email.

When it is worth handing the claim over

Claiming yourself is free and, on a straightforward delay with a cooperative airline, it works. Our step-by-step guide to how to claim compensation for a delayed flight walks through the whole sequence.

Handing it over starts to make sense when the airline has already refused, when it has stopped replying, when the claim needs to be brought in a country whose language and courts you do not know, or when a deadline is close. FlyHelp charges 35% of a successful claim and nothing at all if the claim fails, so the comparison is between the whole sum and roughly two thirds of it, weighed against the chance of getting nothing on your own.

Send the letter, note the date, and give the airline a fortnight before you chase. If you would rather know what the claim is worth before you commit to the correspondence, check what your flight is worth first.

Key takeaways

• Six pieces of information make a valid flight delay compensation letter template. Everything else is decoration.
• Arrival delay is what counts, measured at the destination.
• List every passenger by name; each one is owed separately.
• Send expenses and compensation as two separate claims.
• Ask the airline to state its extraordinary circumstances and the measures it took.

Frequently asked questions

How do I write a compensation letter?

Use the flight delay compensation letter template above. Open with the regulation and the flight number in the subject line, set out the booking reference, route, scheduled and actual arrival times and every passenger name, state the sum claimed, and ask for a decision within a set period. Keep it to one page. Airlines assess these against fixed criteria, so extra description of how the delay felt adds nothing to the file.

How can I claim compensation for a delayed flight?

Send the letter above to the operating carrier, attach your booking confirmation, boarding passes and proof of the arrival time, and keep a dated copy outside the airline’s own portal. If the airline refuses or does not reply, escalate to its dispute resolution scheme or the national enforcement body for the departure country.

How do I put in a claim for a delayed flight?

Through the airline’s own claims form where it has one, with the same text pasted into the free-text field. Note the case reference it gives you, then track it. If nothing has moved after eight weeks, treat that as the point to escalate rather than the point to send a reminder.