Easter travel chaos: your rights if you are affected by delays or Covid

theguardian.com:

With many schools breaking up at the start of the month, the Easter getaway was supposed to be well under way by now – but instead it’s been a week of travel chaos.

Airlines have cancelled scores of flights a day, there have been delays at at airports and ferry terminals and Covid cases are sweeping the country. We look at your rights if you find yourself seriously delayed or unable to travel.

Airlines have cancelled more than 1,000 UK flights in recent days because of high levels of crew absences in part related to Covid infections, but also because they have not rehired enough staff since lockdowns eased.

If your flight was cancelled in the two weeks before its departure date and you have chosen to abandon the whole trip rather than find another way to get to your destination, you are entitled to a full refund of the fare you paid, plus compensation.

EU regulation 261/2004 compensation rules have been written into UK law, meaning you have exactly the same rights to claim flight compensation as you did before Brexit.

If your flight was short-haul – less than 1,500km – you are entitled to compensation of £220 a passenger. For middle-distance flights of 1,500 to 3,500km the figure rises to £350 and for a long-haul destination more than 3,500 km away it is £520.

If a flight is cancelled before you are due to depart, irrespective of the reason, you have the right to ask to be rerouted on an alternative flight, either with the same airline or another one. In some cases the airline will offer this – BA told us this week it had been doing so – but it may not always be the case.

If an airline cancels your flight at the last minute and you are forced to buy a new flight with a rival carrier, you can claim the cost of the replacement