What to do if your flight is cancelled or delayed?

A delayed or canceled flight is always unpleasant. At best, you will have to sit at the airport for several hours waiting for boarding, at worst, all your travel plans will be disrupted. The situation that a flight is delayed or canceled happens quite often. However, many passengers do not know what to do, where to turn and what is due for it.

It is worth noting that not all flight delays are equivalent — airlines are obliged to compensate only those inconveniences that occurred through their fault. For example, delay due to the fact that the airplane is not ready for departure or something in it is broken — it is the fault of the carrier. But bad weather or airport problems cannot be influenced by the airline, so the airline should not pay compensation.

If the flight is canceled due to the fault of the airline, passengers have the right to a replacement ticket for another date or departure on the next nearest flight of this or another carrier as agreed between them, meals while waiting for another proposed flight or monetary compensation. In any of these cases, the airline must first organize the storage of baggage and provide a mother and child room for a passenger with a child under seven years of age.

If your flight is delayed for more than 2 hours, you are entitled to free refreshments and 2 phone calls (including international destinations) up to 5 minutes — or to send 2 emails.

If your flight is delayed for more than 4 hours, the airline must provide you with a hot meal every 6 hours during the day and every 8 hours during the night.

If the wait is delayed for 6 hours at night or 8 hours during the day, you are obliged to be accommodated in a hotel and transported there from the airport and back.

And if the flight was delayed for 10 hours, the carrier is not only obliged to provide all these services, but also to provide you with the nearest flight of another airline to your destination or fully reimburse the cost of the ticket at your choice. The airline is obliged to do all this free of charge.

When such cases occur and if the airline stupidly fails to fulfill these duties, call them. If there is no adequate response, then fix the time of delay by interviewing other passengers indicated with their data and phone numbers. Subsequently, you can apply with a pre-trial claim to the service provider and a complaint to the Committee for the Protection of Consumer Rights of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Civil Aviation Committee of the RK. But if even there you do not get the truth, compensation for lost tickets and nerves, go to court.