Delayed flight: what to do at the airport step by step

First save the core details: flight number, route, scheduled departure and arrival, current delay notice and boarding pass. If the route may be covered by flight delay compensation, these facts will become the basis of the claim.

Take an app screenshot and a photo of the departures board. Ask staff for the reason, but do not rely only on a verbal answer. Write down the time, place and exact wording, because the reason often changes during the day.

If the delay passes the assistance threshold for your flight distance, ask for meals, refreshments and communication. You do not need to wait for staff to offer it. Ask briefly and specifically: where vouchers are collected and what passengers should do while waiting.

If assistance is not offered, spend reasonably. Keep the receipt, card confirmation and a short note explaining why the cost was necessary. Reimbursement is much easier later when there is a receipt and a timeline.

Check immediately whether the flights are under one booking. If they are, the airline usually has to consider the journey to the final destination, not only the first segment. Ask for a new solution and request the new itinerary by email or in the app.

If the tickets were bought separately, the position is weaker for the consequences of the second flight. Still, document the first flight because it may have its own claim if its arrival passes the relevant threshold or if you had waiting costs.

If the new departure moves to the next day, ask for hotel accommodation and transfer between airport and hotel. If the airline says no hotel is available or gives no answer, record that before paying for accommodation yourself.

Choose a reasonable hotel, not the most expensive option. If you travel with children, an older passenger or have a health reason, write down why the choice was necessary. That note can explain a cost that might otherwise look high.

When the journey ends, organize the timeline in five lines: schedule, first notice, reason, actual arrival or abandonment and costs. Do not send a claim without these basic facts because the airline's answer will often be generic.

If arrival was three hours or more late, raise fixed compensation. If you waited for a long time, raise care rights too. If you abandoned the trip after 5 hours, state refund separately. One structured claim is stronger than three disconnected messages.

The fastest way to review this type of case without messy rewriting is to put it into the same structure every time: route, one or several bookings, scheduled arrival, actual arrival, stated reason, assistance offered and costs. When every claim follows the same order, it is easier to compare cases and see what is missing.

For travelers who often fly from Belgrade, Nis, Kraljevo or through European hubs, this structure reduces mistakes. You do not need to decide again what to save: boarding pass, booking confirmation, airline messages, app screenshot, departures-board photo and receipts go into the same folder or note.

For delayed flight: what to do at the airport step by step, the goal is not only to send a claim, but to send one that can be checked quickly. If the airline answers only partly, the structure shows which fact is missing and which follow-up should be requested instead of rewriting the whole story from the beginning.

A useful rule is that every item should have a source: time from the app, reason from a message, cost from a receipt and connection from the itinerary. If one item has no source, you know what to collect before sending.

If the journey continued on another flight or another mode of transport, keep the new itinerary and arrival time, because otherwise the comparison point stays unclear.

For delayed flight: what to do at the airport step by step, first check whether the route is protected, then what actually happened, and only then which claim makes sense. Use Flight delay compensation for the baseline rule and amounts, while this page checks the concrete scenario and the evidence that changes it.

The best approach is to build a short timeline. Write down the scheduled time, actual time, where you were when the problem happened, what the airline offered, what you accepted and what you paid yourself. That timeline later decides whether the case is about fixed compensation, ticket refund, expense reimbursement or only care rights.

If the case involves arrival delay, a missed connection, rerouting or an overnight wait, also check flight delay compensation. Most practical passenger questions eventually depend on how late the whole journey ended and whether the reason was within the airline's control.

The strongest evidence is evidence from the same day: boarding pass, booking confirmation, airline messages, app screenshot, departures-board photo, receipts for food, hotel or transfer and any written information received at the airport.

If the reason was explained verbally, write down the exact wording, time and place. If the reason changed, keep every version. The difference between a technical fault, air traffic control, bad weather, strike and crew shortage is not a formality; it is often the line between a strong and weak claim.

In the claim, do not only say that you want compensation. Include flight number, date, route, booking reference, scheduled and actual arrival time, a short timeline and a clear separation between fixed compensation and expenses you want reimbursed.

The airline's first reply is often not a full assessment. It may contain broad wording, an automatically selected category or an answer that covers only one part of the claim. Read it carefully: does it address the exact flight, date, final destination and concrete reason that caused the disruption?

If the answer does not mention evidence, timeline or the measures the airline took, send a short follow-up. You do not need to repeat the whole story. Ask for a precise explanation and attach the most important proof again. That follow-up often separates genuinely weak cases from cases that were only rejected superficially.