Start with the route and the event.
Passenger rights / four jurisdictions / seven checks
A cancelled flight is not one universal legal event. The journey, operating carrier, reservation, notice, cause, accepted alternative, and current authority can all change the path. Write down what happened before chasing a number.
Route the seven checks
One disruption / seven checks
Write down the journey before checking rights.
Keep each record exact, dated, and attributable. An unknown cause, carrier role, notice time, or accepted alternative stays unknown until a responsible source resolves it.
- 01 JR
Journey
Origin, destination, connections, reservation, and unused sectors
- 02 JD
Jurisdiction
Departure, arrival, operating carrier, and current scope test
- 03 CR
Carrier
Seller, ticket issuer, marketing carrier, and operating carrier
- 04 EV
Event
Cancellation, delay, denial, downgrade, bag, or assistance issue
- 05 NT
Notice
What changed, when, how, why, and which alternative was offered
- 06 ED
Evidence
Original itinerary, messages, boarding documents, notes, and receipts
- 07 RM
Remedy
Current authority, requested outcome, response, and next check
Build the case file
Choose the most relevant guide.
These guides organize your own evidence locally. None receives a booking, contacts an airline, checks status, predicts a legal outcome, or submits a claim.
United States refunds
Compare the trip as sold with what changed.
Keep the original and revised itineraries, carrier notice, seller, payment record, alternatives, and travel choice on separate lines. Open the US refund guide
United States denied boarding
Identify why boarding was refused.
Separate oversales from aircraft, document, check-in, safety, cancellation, and other events before applying Part 250. Open the denied boarding guide
European Union delays
Check route, operator, and final arrival.
Separate coverage, immediate care, travel choice, final-destination timing, possible compensation, cause, and complaint path. Open the EU delay guide
United States tarmac delays
Build the ground-delay timeline.
Track time aboard on the ground, opportunities to deplane, carrier notices, services, and stated exceptions. Open the tarmac delay guide
Ticket structure
Find the edges of the reservation.
Keep the reservation, issued ticket, marketing carrier, operating carrier, and every separately purchased flight on distinct lines. Check who is responsible between tickets Immediate recovery
Work the next broken commitment.
Secure the next useful travel option, identify who controls it, and save the messages before a rushed counter exchange becomes the only account. Open the recovery sequence
Responsibility
Name who sold, issued, and operated.
Put operator identity, ticket structure, flexibility, and disruption exposure beside the fare before the trip begins. Check who is responsible
Journey geography
Route the legal question before the route.
Keep departure, arrival, connection, surface sector, local date, ticket, and operating carrier visible before choosing an authority. Check the route and ticket
Baggage details
Trace the bag separately from the passenger.
Keep the bag tag, receipt, collection instructions, recheck details, reroute, and any later property report. Follow what happens to the bag
Flight and aftermath
Keep the remedy beside the next deadline.
Write down the flight problem and the next fixed commitment it affects, such as a hotel, pickup, or event. Build the private journey clockFour maps / no universal shortcut
Check the authority's scope test.
These are routing prompts, not coverage verdicts. Another national law, treaty, tariff, contract, package rule, insurance policy, or card benefit may also matter.
United States
Is the flight to, from, or within the United States, and who is the merchant of record?
Write down the cancellation or change, alternative offered, choice you made, unused service, seller, and operating airline. A voucher and a refund are not the same.
Open 14 CFR Part 260European Union
Where does the flight depart and arrive, and is the operating airline an EU airline?
Use the current scope table first. Then keep cancellation, delay, denied boarding, connection, bag, and assistance questions separate.
Open EU passenger-rights guidanceUnited Kingdom
Does the flight depart the UK or arrive on an airline covered by the current UK test?
Keep care while waiting separate from refund, alternative transport, expenses, and compensation. Separate bookings can change the onward-flight analysis.
Open UK CAACanada
Is the flight to, from, or within Canada, and what reason and control category is documented?
Do not classify the cause from an airport rumor. Save each stated reason and any later update; the answer may remain unclear during travel.
Open CTA and APPRBefore choosing an alternative
Write down how each choice affects the trip.
A refund, rebooking, rerouting, voucher, expense, and compensation question can be different records. Capture the offer in its own words and use the current authority before responding.
Do you still need to reach the destination?
Write down the next fixed commitment, realistic arrival need, and current alternative. Do not assume accepting transport preserves or waives every other issue.
What exactly was offered and accepted?
Preserve the amount, form, validity, restrictions, itinerary, response action, time, and channel. A button label is not the whole agreement.
Which question is still unanswered?
Separate transport, care, unused service, expenses, baggage, compensation, insurance, and complaint paths. Ask the authority responsible for that record.
Private notes
Keep the original documents and updates.
Iliamna does not collect these files. Save them in a place you control, with local dates, time zones, and the source of every statement.
Open private disruption notes- Original journeyConfirmation, ticket numbers, sectors, times, airports, and operating carriers.
- Changed journeyEvery proposed replacement, acceptance action, unused sector, and arrival outcome.
- NoticesEmail, text, app, airport display, announcement, conversation note, and timestamp.
- ExplanationsEach reason attributed to a named source, including later corrections or reclassification.
- CostsItemized receipt, currency, payer, purpose, necessity note, and related carrier guidance.
- Request trailWhat you asked for, authority used, channel, reference, response, and next deadline.
Change watch / 26 July 2026
Check whether an agreement applies to your flight.
Passenger-rights frameworks are actively changing. Check formal publication, entry into force, application date, transitional rules, journey date, and the authority's current consumer guidance.
This page avoids fixed payout tables and legal calculators for that reason. Recheck every source for the actual event before relying on it.
