Flight Delayed Right Now? 9 Things to Do at the Airport

You're staring at the departure board and the time keeps slipping. What you do in the next hour will decide whether your compensation claim pays €600 or dies in a "we have no record" email. This is the checklist — do it now, thank yourself later.

1. Screenshot the departure board

Right now. Before it updates, before the delay reason changes, before the board flips to the next flight. Photograph the board showing your flight number, the delay, and — critically — any stated reason. Airlines' stated reasons have a habit of evolving between the airport ("crew shortage") and the claims department ("extraordinary circumstances"). Your photo freezes the truth.

2. Get the cause in writing

Ask gate staff or customer service for the reason in writing — even a chat transcript from the airline's app counts. "Can you confirm the reason for the delay in the app chat, please?" is all it takes. If they won't put it in writing, note the staff member's name, the time, and exactly what they said. This single piece of evidence wins more claims than anything else, because it kills the airline's later "extraordinary circumstances" rewrite. Our extraordinary-circumstances guide explains why the stated cause is the whole game.

3. Don't accept a voucher — ask for cash rights first

When delays bite, airlines hand out vouchers: meal vouchers (fine — that's your right to care), but also travel credit "for the inconvenience." The second kind is a trap. Accepting credit can be treated as settling your claim. The rule: take the meal vouchers, refuse the travel credit — or at minimum, ask in writing "does accepting this affect my EU261 compensation rights?" and keep their answer. See our voucher vs. cash guide.

4. Demand your right to care

From 2 hours (short-haul), the airline owes you meals and refreshments. Overnight = hotel + transport. Don't wait to be offered — go to the service desk and ask. If they refuse or "have no vouchers," buy reasonable food yourself and keep every receipt — it's reimbursable. Photograph the receipts immediately; thermal paper fades.

5. Note your actual arrival time

Compensation is measured at arrival, not departure — specifically when the aircraft doors open (changing to on-block time under the October 2027 EU261 reform, but doors-open is the law today). When you finally land, note the time the doors open. Better: photograph the arrivals board, or screenshot a flight-tracker app showing actual arrival. If you're anywhere near the 3-hour line, this timestamp is worth €600. Our 2-hour delay guide breaks down the thresholds.

6. Keep your boarding pass (and everyone else's)

Don't throw it away at baggage claim. The boarding pass proves you were on the flight — obvious, but claims die every week on "we can't verify you were booked." Digital boarding passes count too, but screenshot them: airline apps have a habit of archiving or deleting past trips. If you're traveling with family, photograph theirs too: each passenger claims separately, including children (a family of four on a €600-qualifying delay is €2,400).

7. If you have a connection, act before you miss it

On a single booking, the airline must rebook you to your final destination free — find the service desk before the connection departs, not after. EU261 then measures your delay at the final destination, which is often what pushes you over the 3-hour line. On separate tickets, you're on your own for the second flight — buy the replacement yourself, keep the receipt (the Montreal Convention may cover it as delay damage on international itineraries). See our missed connections guide.

8. Don't sign away your rights

In the chaos, airlines sometimes present documents: rebooking forms, "goodwill gesture" acceptances, waivers. Read before signing. Anything with "final settlement," "full and final," or "waiver of claims" language can kill your EU261 rights. When in doubt, don't sign — you can always agree later from home with a clear head.

9. Start the paper trail before you leave

Before you walk out of the airport, you should have: the cause (written or noted), departure-board photo, boarding passes, receipts, and the names/times of who told you what. Email it all to yourself so it isn't trapped on one phone — phones get lost, stolen, and drowned in airport toilets with depressing regularity. Then, when you're home: run our free eligibility checker — 60 seconds to confirm what you're owed.

If you're rebooked: protecting the new itinerary

When the airline moves you to a later flight, the claim isn't over — it just changes shape:

• Confirm the new booking in writing (email or app screenshot). Verbal "you're on the 9pm" promises evaporate.
• Check the new arrival time against your original. If the rebooked flight still lands 3+ hours after your original scheduled arrival, compensation is still owed — rebooking doesn't erase the delay.
• If the rebooking is the next day, the hotel + transport + meals are on the airline. Don't let them tell you to "sort yourself out and claim later" — that's allowed as a fallback, but the primary obligation is theirs now.
• Watch for the downgrade. Rebooked passengers get downgraded more often than anyone admits (see our downgrade guide — 30–75% of the ticket price back, separate from delay compensation).

Traveling with others: group claims

Each passenger claims individually — including children and infants with tickets. A family of four on a €600-qualifying delay is €2,400, not €600. Practical points:

• One person can file on behalf of the group with everyone's details — but each passenger's compensation is legally theirs. (Parents claim for minor children.)
• Don't let the airline pay one "household" amount. Some airlines try to settle a family claim with a single payment well below the per-passenger total. The regulation is per passenger, per flight.
• If only some of the group were rebooked differently, calculate each person's delay separately — amounts can differ within the same family.

After the airport: the claim

With your evidence file built, the claim itself is straightforward: write to the operating carrier citing the regulation, state the facts and the amount, set a 14-day deadline. Our claim letter guide has the anatomy. If they reject or ignore you, the escalation guide and our ignored-claim guide take it from there.

The $29 AirClaimKit turns your airport evidence into the finished claim: letter generated with the correct regulation cited, evidence checklist, rebuttal templates for the "extraordinary circumstances" reply, and the escalation ladder. You keep 100% of the compensation — AirHelp would take up to €210 of a €600 claim for doing the same paperwork.

Rights per Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Articles 6 (care), 8 (re-routing/refund), 9 (care). Arrival-time definition per CJEU case law (Germanwings C-452/13); on-block reform in force October 2027. Last verified October 2026.