What is Departure Delay?

Industrial action, adverse weather or a mechanical fault will all cause havoc to travel schedules and could mean you are sat in the departure lounge for hours on end.

If your departure is delayed, there are two options available under travel insurance; trip disruption and trip cancellation.

Trip disruption will cover a small amount of compensation for each block of set time you are delayed (usually every full 12 hours you are delayed, although you can also get policies that will pay out for every full 6 hours) – provided you have checked in on time! Trip disruption is designed to cover additional expenses such as food and refreshments.

Trip cancellation will cover any pre-paid holiday costs that are not refundable from another source if you decide to not travel or cancel your trip following a 24-hour delay.

The majority of travel insurance policies will cover for departure delay but be sure to check your policy wording carefully before purchasing as the level of cover available can differ a lot between insurers.

Before contacting your travel insurer, it is worth checking if your airline provider will provide alternative transport arrangements or compensation if the delay is caused by inadequate turnaround times, poorly organised flight plans or a technical fault caused by the airline.

The Civil Aviation Authority state if you are travelling out of the EU or on an EU airline you will be entitled to compensation from the airline following a delay of three hours or more – although amounts will differ depending on the length of flight (in kilometres) – as long as the delay wasn’t caused by ‘extraordinary circumstances’.

An ‘extraordinary circumstance’ is clarified by the CAA as an occurrence outside of the airline control and despite the airline taking reasonable measures, would still delay the flight. For example; adverse weather or strike action.