Bumped off your flight? The money is owed straight away.

Volunteering vs involuntary: the fork that decides your rights

Before bumping anyone, the airline has to ask for volunteers, passengers willing to give up their seat in exchange for whatever the airline is offering: vouchers, cash, an upgrade on the next flight, or some mix. If you volunteer, you're free to negotiate that deal however you like, and you're not automatically entitled to the fixed statutory amounts below, only to whatever you agreed. You still keep the right to a refund or rerouting, though, whatever you negotiate on top.

If not enough people volunteer and the airline denies you boarding anyway, against your will, that's involuntary denied boarding, and the fixed compensation below is owed automatically. No negotiation needed, and no discretion on the airline's part.

Why this is different from every other claim on this site

Two things set involuntary denied boarding apart from a delay or cancellation claim, and both work in your favour.

• • No extraordinary circumstances defence. Weather, strikes and air traffic control excuse delays and cancellations. None of them excuse denied boarding, because overbooking is a commercial decision the airline made on purpose, selling more tickets than seats. There is no outside cause to blame.
• • No minimum delay. Delay compensation only starts at 3 hours late arriving. Denied boarding compensation is due the moment you're refused a seat against your will, whether you end up an hour behind or a day behind.

No 14-day notice defence either

Cancellations have a loophole: tell passengers 14 or more days ahead and no compensation is due. Denied boarding has no equivalent. It happens at check-in or the gate, on the day, so there's no advance notice the airline could ever give. However last-minute the bump, the compensation is owed.

What you're owed

The same fixed scale as a 3-hour delay, based on the flight's distance.

Per passenger, children included. One carve-out: if the airline gets you to your final destination within 2 hours (short-haul), 3 hours (medium) or 4 hours (long-haul) of your original arrival time, the amount is halved.

What the airline still owes on top

Compensation isn't the whole entitlement. You also get the same choice as a cancellation: a full refund of the unused ticket, or rerouting to your destination at the earliest opportunity, even on another airline if yours has nothing suitable. And while you wait, the airline owes care: food, drinks, two calls or emails, and a hotel with transfers if you're stuck overnight.

What actually counts as denied boarding

You need a valid ticket and reservation, and you need to have checked in and arrived at the gate by the deadline the airline published, doing everything right. Refused a seat anyway, for no reason you caused? That's denied boarding. It doesn't count if the airline had a genuine reason connected to you: missing travel documents, a security concern, health and safety, or you arrived late yourself.

What to do at the gate

• • Don't accept a travel voucher as the full deal without knowing the fixed cash amount you're already owed by law. Vouchers are a negotiating offer, not a substitute.
• • Ask the gate staff for a denied boarding form or written confirmation of what happened, on the spot if you can.
• • Keep your boarding pass and check-in confirmation, your proof you did everything right.
• • If you're not sure whether you volunteered or were bumped, that distinction alone is worth getting checked before you accept anything.

Old denied boardings still pay

Same time limits as any other claim: up to 6 years back in England and Wales, 5 in Scotland. Airlines rarely volunteer that you were ever entitled to more than the voucher they handed you at the gate.

Bumped because a delay made you miss a later leg, rather than overbooking? See missed connection compensation instead.