Martin Lewis is urging people who have been hit with flight delays or who take flights this summer which end up delayed to claim cash payments in compensation from their airline.
The money-saving expert is warning holidaymakers they can get paid up to £520 per person per flight for a holiday delay – as long as their flight takes off from EU or UK airports.
Even better, anyone who has been on a delayed flight in the past six years can go back and make a claim for flight delay repayment compensation.
Martin explained that the exact amount you get depends on the distance the flight travelled and the amount of time it was delayed, as long as it left a UK or EU airport, as long as the airline was to blame for the delay.
Speaking on his BBC Sounds Martin Lewis Podcast, he said: “This applies to any EU flight, which is any flight leaving a UK or EU airport or any flight arriving at a UK or EU airport, but then it has to be a UK or EU airline.
“So American airlines going to the states from London counts, American airlines returning to London from the States does not count because it’s not an EU airline.
“You can go back six years to apply for this compensation, five years in Scotland, remember it has to be the airline’s fault.
“The amount that you get is fixed. Up to 1,500km and you arrive three hours late, is £220, 1,500 to 3,500km and you arrive three hours late is £350, fixed per person, 3,500km or more, if you arrive three to four hours late it’s £260, if you arrive more than four hours late it’s £520.”
Martin said anyone going on holiday this summer should be mindful of the scheme, and to keen an eye on flight times to see if you can make a claim.
He added: “So if you have had a flight delay or you have a flight delay in future and it’s the airline’s fault, you are entitled to this fixed compensation, it’s as simple as that.
“If there was a strike with the airport staff or there was a weather issue that meant you couldn’t take off, clearly that wouldn’t be the airline’s fault and you would not be entitled to the compensation.”
