Skip to content
Letter library

Flight disruption

Flight compensation — refusing a voucher

Use when the airline has offered a travel voucher instead of cash. The entitlement is to money unless the passenger agrees in writing to a voucher; many passengers do not know this and accept.

flight.rebuttal-voucher-offer8 languages14-day reply window

What it actually says.

Rendered live from invented facts: A four-hour arrival delay on a 2,900 km flight, with the carrier citing an operational problem of its own making. The claimant is fictional and the figures are illustrative — your own claim produces its own numbers and its own citations.

The authority in the preview

It cites the article, not the act.

A document has to name the provision it relies on or it gets filed. These are the citations the sample evaluation put into the letter above; a real claim substitutes the ones its own regimes produced.
  1. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 7(1)(b)Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilArt. 7(1)(b)
  2. Sturgeon v Condor (C-402/07)Judgment of the Court of Justice of 19 November 2009paras 60–61
  3. Germanwings v Henning (C-452/13)Judgment of the Court of Justice of 4 September 2014para 25

Where it comes from

The laws that can produce this document.

A rule module declares the documents its evaluation can render into. These are the regimes in the current catalogue that offer this one — each with its own citations, deadlines and escalation ladder.
EU Regulation 261/2004 (air passenger rights)EUSupranational — 31 countriesRegulation (EC) No 261/2004Confidence: highMoldova — air passenger rights under the EU–Moldova Common Aviation Area AgreementMDNational — MoldovaEU–Moldova Common Aviation Area Agreement, Annex IIIConfidence: mediumUkraine — Air Code of Ukraine, Arts. 103–107 (passenger compensation)UANational — UkraineПовітряний кодекс України, ст. 104 (Компенсація пасажирам у разі відмови у перевезенні — denied boarding)Confidence: highUK Regulation 261 (assimilated air passenger rights)GBNational — United KingdomRegulation (EC) No 261/2004 as retained in UK lawConfidence: highWestern Balkans — air passenger rights under the European Common Aviation Area AgreementECAA-WBSupranational — 5 countriesMultilateral Agreement establishing a European Common Aviation Area, Art. 3 and Annex IConfidence: mediumUS DOT airline refund and consumer-protection rulesUSNational — United States14 CFR Part 260Confidence: highGeorgia — air passenger rights under the EU–Georgia Common Aviation Area AgreementGENational — GeorgiaEU–Georgia Common Aviation Area Agreement, Annex IIIConfidence: mediumRepublic of Korea — Consumer Dispute Resolution Standards (KFTC), air transportKRNational — South Korea소비자분쟁해결기준 (공정거래위원회 고시), 별표 II — 항공업Confidence: medium

The rest of the sequence

Documents are written to be worked through in order: the opening demand, then the answer to whatever they refuse with, then the escalation. Sending the last one first usually costs you the first two.

Flight compensation — opening demandThe first letter to send an airline. States the facts, cites the exact provision, demands a specific sum in cash, and pre-empts the standard refusal.flight.initial-demand8 languages14-day reply windowFlight compensation — follow-upChase an airline that has not replied to your first letter.flight.followup8 languages7-day reply windowFlight compensation — rebutting an "extraordinary circumstances" refusalUse when the airline has refused, citing extraordinary circumstances. Puts the burden back on the carrier, addresses the reasonable-measures limb most refusals ignore, and demands the specific evidence.flight.rebuttal-extraordinary8 languages14-day reply windowFlight compensation — rejecting a partial offerUse when the airline has offered less than the statutory amount. Airlines routinely open below the figure the law fixes, and a partial offer is not a compromise on a sum that is not negotiable.flight.rebuttal-partial-offer8 languages14-day reply windowFlight compensation — complaint to the national enforcement bodyEscalate to the regulator after the airline has refused or gone silent. Include this chronology; enforcement bodies triage on it.flight.escalation-regulator8 languages30-day reply windowFlight compensation — referral to an ADR schemeRefer the dispute to an approved alternative dispute resolution scheme. Most schemes require the airline to have been given eight weeks first.flight.escalation-adr8 languages30-day reply windowFlight compensation — particulars of claimA structured statement of case for a small-claims filing. Written to be read by a judge rather than a claims handler.flight.small-claims-particulars8 languages14-day reply windowFlight refund — US DOT automatic refund demandDemand a refund the carrier should have paid automatically. Since October 2024 the refund is owed without the passenger having to ask, which makes non-payment a compliance failure rather than a declined request.flight.dot-refund-demand8 languages14-day reply windowFlight disruption — reimbursement of expensesClaim meals, hotel and transport costs incurred during a disruption. This is a separate entitlement from compensation and is not defeated by extraordinary circumstances.flight.duty-of-care-expenses8 languages14-day reply windowFlight downgrade — reimbursementClaim back a proportion of the fare after being moved to a lower cabin than booked.flight.downgrade-reimbursement8 languages14-day reply window

You send it

Fill in your own facts and this letter writes itself.

The claim wizard produces this document with your figures, your citations and your deadline already in it. You still print it, sign it and post it yourself — that part is not delegable and we would not take it if it were.

Start a claimAll documents

Duesday is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. This document is an editable template assembled from publicly available law. You are responsible for checking that the facts and the law stated are correct for your situation, and you send it yourself in your own name. Nothing here creates a solicitor–client or attorney–client relationship, and no outcome is promised.