Flight Compensation · Your Rights
What Happens If You Don't Claim Flight Compensation?
Short answer: nothing happens — and that is exactly the problem. The airline keeps the money it owes you, your right quietly expires, and the £520 you were entitled to disappears. Here is the honest do-nothing-versus-claim comparison.
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The one-line version: if your flight was delayed 3+ hours, cancelled at short notice, or overbooked, and the airline was at fault, you can be owed €250–€600 per passenger under EU261/UK261 — cash, not vouchers. Do nothing and you get nothing. The deadline to claim runs from 2 to 6 years depending on the country, so the clock is already ticking.
You do nothing
- The airline keeps every euro it owed you — the default outcome it is counting on
- Your legal right silently expires when the deadline passes
- A family of four can forfeit €1,000–€2,400 from a single ruined journey
- The disruption cost you time, money and stress — and you absorb all of it
- Nothing lands in your inbox to remind you; unclaimed compensation is never chased
You spend a few minutes
- You recover €250–€600 per person in cash, paid to your bank
- A no-win-no-fee service can run the whole claim for you — nothing upfront
- The airline's rejection tactics get handled by people who do this daily
- Worst realistic case: the claim fails and you have lost only a little time
- The money is legally yours; claiming simply collects a debt already owed
Not sure your flight qualifies? Check it in two minutes.
AirHelp assesses your flight for free, tells you whether it is eligible, and — if you want — runs the entire claim on a no-win-no-fee basis. You only pay if the money comes through.
Check my flight free →You can also claim yourself directly with the airline for free — here is the step-by-step.
The money you are walking away from
Compensation under EU261 is fixed by distance, not by what your ticket cost — so an economy passenger and a business passenger on the same delayed flight are owed the same amount. This is why "it was only a cheap fare" is never a reason to skip a claim.
| Flight distance | Compensation per passenger | A family of four |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km (e.g. London–Amsterdam) | €250 | €1,000 |
| 1,500–3,500 km (e.g. Paris–Cairo) | €400 | €1,600 |
| Over 3,500 km (e.g. London–New York) | €600 | €2,400 |
These are the headline figures; the exact rules on long-haul delays and partial reductions are covered in our compensation amounts guide, and you can sanity-check your own flight with the EU261 calculator.
Why "I'll deal with it later" usually means never
The uncomfortable truth is that airlines rely on inertia. Most eligible passengers never file, because the moment of frustration passes, life resumes, and the paperwork feels like more hassle than it is worth. But the right does not disappear when your mood improves — it disappears when the legal deadline lapses, and that can be years away. In the meantime the claim is a dormant asset with your name on it.
The deadline varies by where you would file: broadly two to six years, with the United Kingdom and Spain at the longer end and several countries shorter. Our claim deadlines guide sets out the country-by-country limits, and the short lesson is simple — an old flight is very often still claimable, so "it was months ago" is rarely the barrier people assume.
The real cost of doing nothing
Think of it as a decision under uncertainty. If you claim and win, you recover a few hundred euros per seat. If you claim and lose, you are out a little time. If you do nothing, you are guaranteed to recover zero from money that was already legally yours. There is no scenario in which not claiming leaves you better off — the only thing inaction protects is the airline's balance sheet.
If the disruption was outside the airline's control — genuine extreme weather, air-traffic-control strikes, security alerts — then no compensation is due, and that is fair. Knowing the difference is the whole game; our guide to extraordinary circumstances explains exactly which excuses hold up and which do not.
Once you know whether you would rather hand it to a service or do it yourself, the next question is which claim companies are worth their fee. We compare the four biggest — AirHelp, ClaimCompass, Skycop and Flightright — side by side in the flight compensation companies comparison, and break down what each one charges in the claim-company fees guide.
Straight answers
Is there any downside to not claiming flight compensation?
The only downside is financial: you forfeit money you are legally owed. There is no penalty, no record, and no consequence for choosing not to claim — which is precisely why so much compensation goes uncollected. If you were entitled to €600 and do nothing, that €600 simply stays with the airline.
How long do I have before it's too late to claim?
It depends on the country whose courts would handle the claim, and ranges from roughly two to six years. The UK, Spain and Ireland sit at the longer end; Germany is around three years. Because the window is measured in years, a flight from last year — or several years ago — is very often still valid. See our claim deadlines guide for the country-by-country limits.
Does claiming cost me anything?
Claiming directly with the airline is free. A no-win-no-fee service such as AirHelp charges nothing upfront and takes a percentage — commonly around a third plus VAT — only if it recovers your money. Either way there is no scenario where trying to claim leaves you worse off than never claiming.
Will the airline pay me automatically if I don't ask?
No. A small number of airlines proactively pay in limited situations, but the overwhelming default is that you must submit a claim. Compensation you never request is compensation the airline keeps. Automatic payouts are the exception, not the rule.
I only paid a small amount for the ticket — is it still worth claiming?
Yes. EU261 compensation is set by the distance flown, not the price you paid, so a budget ticket on a long delayed flight can still be worth €600. The fare is irrelevant to the amount you are owed.
What if I already accepted a voucher from the airline?
Accepting meal or rebooking assistance does not cancel your right to cash compensation. However, signing a document that explicitly waives your EU261 rights can — so read anything the airline asks you to accept, and see our guide on cash versus voucher rights before agreeing to anything.
Disclosure. Uncompromised Travel earns a commission if you start a claim through the AirHelp link on this page, at no extra cost to you — AirHelp's fee is the same whether you arrive via us or directly. You can always claim for free directly with the airline. Compensation figures reflect EU261/UK261 at the time of writing; always confirm current rules and deadlines for your route. This is general information, not legal advice.