Ski Holiday Flight Delayed or Cancelled? How to Claim Compensation

Ski season flights are some of the most disruption-prone of the year. Airports like Geneva, Grenoble, Chambéry, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Turin get very busy on Saturdays, mountain airports have tricky approaches, and snow can affect both ends of the journey.

If your ski flight was delayed or cancelled, you may be owed compensation, and in many cases the airline's "weather" explanation doesn't hold up. Here's what you need to know.

How much can you claim?

Most UK ski flights fall into the shortest or middle distance band:

• £220 per passenger for flights under 1,500km, which includes most flights from the UK to Geneva, Lyon, Grenoble, Chambéry, Zurich, Salzburg, Innsbruck and Turin
• £350 per passenger for flights between 1,500km and 3,500km, such as flights to Bansko via Sofia in Bulgaria, or some flights from Scotland and northern England to Italy and Austria

You qualify if you arrived 3 or more hours late, or if your flight was cancelled with less than 14 days' notice. It's per person, so a group of six could be owed £1,320 on a short ski flight.

Which flights are covered?

You're covered on any flight departing a UK airport, and on flights back to the UK from Europe on any UK or EU airline. That includes easyJet, Jet2, British Airways, SWISS, TUI and charter flights booked through a ski tour operator. See our UK261 guide for the full rules.

Snow and the weather excuse

Heavy snow can genuinely close a runway, and when it does, the airline doesn't have to pay compensation. But ski airports are built to deal with snow. They have ploughs, de-icing teams and procedures for it, and airlines flying there know winter weather is part of the job. The airline still needs to show:

• The weather actually stopped your flight operating on time
• It took all reasonable measures to keep the delay short

Delays that are often worth challenging include crew running out of hours after a slow turnaround, an aircraft arriving late from an earlier flight, technical faults, and a shortage of de-icing that the airline could have planned for. Read more in our guide to winter weather delays.

Saturday slot delays

On busy ski Saturdays, airports like Geneva and Chambéry can only handle so many flights an hour, and air traffic control may hold flights to fit. Genuine air traffic control restrictions usually count as extraordinary circumstances. But if your aircraft was already running late before it ever got a slot, the restriction may not be the real cause of your delay.

Missed your transfer?

If your flight was part of a package and the delay meant you missed your coach transfer or lost a day on the slopes, you may have two separate claims:

• Flight compensation from the airline, of £220 or £350 per person
• A claim against your tour operator for the part of the holiday you lost, under the Package Travel Regulations

If you booked independently, the airline won't pay for a missed private transfer or lost lift pass days, but your travel insurance might. See our guides to package holiday delays and compensation versus travel insurance.

Diverted to another airport?

Snow sometimes means a flight to Chambéry lands in Lyon or Geneva instead. If you're diverted, the airline has to get you to your original airport or somewhere nearby you agree to, and you may still be owed compensation based on when you finally arrived. Our guide to diverted flights explains how it works.

What to keep

• Booking confirmation and boarding passes
• Screenshots of the delay reason, and every time it changes
• The time you actually arrived
• Receipts for food, hotels or replacement transfers
• Any messages from your tour operator about missed transfers or lost days

Check your ski flight

If your ski flight was delayed or cancelled this season or in a previous one, check it with Klaimly. You have up to 6 years to claim. We charge a flat 5% fee, only if we win, with nothing to pay upfront, and the airline pays your compensation directly to you.