Travel question of the day: Simon Calder on claiming compensation for US flights

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Dallas-Fort Worth (Shutterstock)

Q I’m waiting at Dallas-Fort Worth airport for a delayed American Airlines flight to Heathrow. How long must the delay be before compensation can be claimed?

Jack Walton

A You could wait until the twelfth of never and, under current legislation, you would still have no entitlement to compensation for a severe delay from Dallas-Fort Worth to Heathrow. That’s because, as a non-EU airline flying from outside Europe, American Airlines has no obligation to offer compensation under the passengers’ rights rules known as EC261.

I’m assuming you chose to book on “real” American Airlines rather than British Airways. The two carriers are partners, and all four services between DFW and LHR carry both airlines’ codes. But only the 6.10pm departure, BA192, is operated by BA. The remaining three are all American Airlines services. If you were booked on the BA flight, and were delayed by three hours or more arriving at Heathrow, you could be in line for compensation of up to €600. But since you are on American, no payment is due.

Most transatlantic travellers between the UK and US are travelling with one of two airline pairs: BA/AA and Virgin Atlantic/Delta. When you are booking, check carefully which airline is actually doing the flying: only passengers on BA and Virgin Atlantic qualify for delay compensation when flying from the US. Against that, though: Dallas-Fort Worth is the home of American Airlines, which means that it has maximum flexibility to shuffle its fleet if disruption occurs. But that doesn’t appear to have happened in your case.

Every day, our travel correspondent, Simon Calder, tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet@simoncalder