Travel Question: Can I get money back for delay?

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Qatar Airways is bound by European air passengers’ rights rules only for journeys beginning in the European Union (Qatar Airways)

Q Are passengers entitled to compensation on a flight delay of more than five hours outside the EU? Qatar Airways don’t think so, and it was their fault.

Jen S

A It depends on the circumstance of the delay. As a non-EU airline, Qatar Airways is bound by European air passengers’ rights rules only for journeys beginning in the European Union. If a flight from Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Heathrow or Manchester arrives in the airline’s hub, Doha, three hours or more late, and Qatar Airways cannot claim “extraordinary circumstances,” then it owes compensation. For delays of between three and four hours, it’s €300 (£262); for longer delays, the payout is twice as much.

For passengers with immediate connections, the principle extends to the final destination if the leg from the EU is late. For example, if a delay in the early afternoon departure from Birmingham means the eventual arrival in Bangkok is five hours late, then the highest rate of compensation applies.

For a journey beginning outside the European Union, none of these rules applies. The airline’s line is: “We are determined to operate our flights in accordance with the schedule. However, flight disruptions including cancellation and misconnections are sometimes inevitable.”

When this happens, says Qatar Airways, it will “try to rebook the disrupted customers on our next flight or reroute them with no additional cost to the customer”, which is a fairly pale promise compared with the EU rules. The airline says it will also offer “appropriate snacks/meals, accommodation and land transport” in the event of disruption.

If you want to hang on to your rights, then book long-haul flights on European airlines, such as Air France, British Airways or Lufthansa. The EU rules apply to EU airlines anywhere in the world.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder