Heavy snow, freezing fog and icy runways are once again disrupting Europe’s winter flight schedules, leaving passengers facing long delays and last minute cancellations.

While airlines and airports point to safety concerns and “extraordinary circumstances,” EU and UK rules still give travellers clear rights to rebooking and refunds when their plans are derailed by the weather.

Understanding exactly what you are entitled to, and what winter conditions do and do not change, can make the difference between getting home quickly or being left out of pocket.

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Which flights are covered by EU and UK rules?

The central protection for passengers caught up in winter disruption is Regulation 261/2004, known as EU261. Since Brexit, the United Kingdom has kept almost identical rules in domestic law, often referred to as “UK261.”

Together, these regimes cover most flights within and from Europe, including those affected by snow closures and de-icing delays.

You are covered if your flight departs from any airport in the EU or UK, regardless of which airline you are flying with. You are also protected if you are arriving in the EU or UK on an EU or UK airline.

That means a New York to Paris flight on a French or German carrier is covered, but the same route on a US airline is not, unless it leaves from Europe.

These protections apply whether you booked directly with the airline, through a travel agent or as part of a package holiday. The airline operating the flight is responsible for providing care, refunds and rerouting, even if another company sold you the ticket.

Package tour organisers may add further rights on top, but they cannot take away the core protections of EU261 and UK261.

It is also important to distinguish between EU and UK versions of the law when your journey crosses borders. A London to Rome flight on a US airline is covered because it departs from the UK, and a Rome to London service on the same carrier is covered because it departs from the EU.

However, a New York to London flight on a US airline is only covered by UK rules on arrival, not by the EU regime, which can affect how and where you file any claim.

Winter weather and “extraordinary circumstances”

Both EU261 and UK261 draw a sharp line between delays caused by factors within the airline’s control and those blamed on so called extraordinary circumstances.

Heavy snow, severe icing, storms and airport closures for de-icing or runway clearing almost always fall into this latter category.

That means passengers should not expect fixed cash compensation for time lost when winter weather is the direct cause of disruption.

Regulators and courts have consistently treated extreme weather as beyond an airline’s control, alongside events such as volcanic ash, certain air traffic control restrictions, security incidents and political unrest.

By contrast, technical faults, routine mechanical issues, crew shortages and many scheduling problems are considered part of normal operations. In those cases, airlines may still have to pay compensation if delay thresholds are met.

However, the link between weather and disruption is not always straightforward. Legal experts note that “knock on” problems can shift from extraordinary to ordinary.

If snow closed an airport in the morning but your evening flight was cancelled because aircraft and crew were left out of position and the airline did not take reasonable steps to recover its schedule, compensation may still be due.

Recent complaint cases involving major European carriers have hinged on this distinction, forcing airlines to re examine automatic denials that cite weather when the real cause was later operational decisions.

For travellers, the key is to ask the airline for a clear written explanation of why the flight was delayed or cancelled and to keep records.

If the stated reason changes over time, or seems at odds with what other passengers on the same route were told, that can be important evidence if you challenge a compensation refusal with a regulator or dispute resolution body.

Your core rights to refunds and rebooking

Whatever the cause of disruption, passengers covered by EU261 or UK261 are entitled to a choice when a flight is cancelled or severely delayed: a refund or rerouting.

Winter weather does not remove these basic options, even when it wipes out a large portion of a day’s schedule.

If your flight is cancelled, or if you are delayed by more than five hours and decide not to travel, you can request a full refund of the unused parts of your ticket.

If the disruption leaves a connecting journey useless, you can also claim for any legs already flown that no longer serve a purpose, for example if you are stranded at a hub and no longer wish to continue to your final destination.

Alternatively, you can ask to be rebooked on a later service to your destination at the earliest opportunity. In practice, that might be the next available flight on the same airline, or on another carrier if your original airline has no reasonable options.

Regulators have reminded airlines that they cannot simply leave passengers waiting for days if rival carriers have seats; they are expected to explore alternatives, even when those involve higher costs or competitor airlines.

Passengers may instead choose rerouting at a later date of their own convenience, subject to seat availability. This can be useful when snow chaos means a journey no longer makes sense, but you still want to use the value of the ticket for a future trip.

Once you opt for a later departure by choice, however, your airline’s duty to provide meals and hotels during the gap generally ends, so it is vital to weigh immediate care needs against flexibility.

Duty of care: meals, hotels and getting home

One of the most misunderstood parts of EU261 and UK261 is the duty of care. Even when extreme winter weather counts as an extraordinary circumstance and cancels out cash compensation, airlines must still look after stranded passengers for as long as the disruption lasts.

This obligation has no fixed time limit and does not disappear just because conditions are outside the airline’s control.

In practice, duty of care means providing a reasonable amount of food and drink during long waits, usually via meal vouchers or reimbursements. Airlines must also ensure passengers have a way to communicate, such as covering the cost of phone calls or providing WiFi access.

If the delay stretches overnight, they are expected to arrange hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and the hotel or your home, if you live close enough to return.

Thresholds for when care must begin depend on the length of the journey. For short haul flights of under about 1,500 kilometres, assistance generally kicks in after a two hour delay.

For medium haul routes up to 3,500 kilometres, it begins at three hours, and for long haul flights beyond 3,500 kilometres, after four hours. Once those limits are passed, weather does not excuse an airline from providing support while you wait for a replacement flight.

However, passengers often find desks understaffed during mass snow events and some choose to make their own arrangements rather than queue. Regulators advise keeping all receipts for “reasonable” expenses, such as modest hotel rates, meals and local transport, and submitting them to the airline afterwards if support was not offered or was clearly inadequate.

Airlines may push back on luxury hotels or high restaurant bills, but they are expected to reimburse sensible costs where their duty of care was not met.

How winter weather affects cash compensation

The headline amounts in EU261 and UK261 are the fixed cash compensation figures, which can reach several hundred pounds or euros depending on distance and delay.

For cancellations with short notice or long delays on arrival, short haul passengers may be owed around 220 pounds, medium haul travellers about 350 pounds and long haul passengers up to 520 pounds under current UK guidance, with equivalent sums set in euros within the EU.

These payments are separate from refunds and duty of care. In other words, if your disruption falls within the scope of the rules and was within the airline’s control, you can receive compensation as well as a refund or rerouting and any hotels and meals that were required.

But bad winter weather usually rules out this extra cash layer, because it is classed as an extraordinary circumstance.

The timing of a cancellation also matters. Flights cancelled more than 14 days in advance do not trigger fixed compensation, even if the cause was within the airline’s control.

When notice is between seven and 14 days, or less than a week, the thresholds shift depending on how much earlier or later the replacement services depart and arrive.

Those calculations remain the same in winter, but passengers rarely reach them when snow or ice is the primary cause.

That said, travellers are increasingly challenging airlines’ reliance on weather exemptions, particularly when disruptions continue for days after the last snowfall and schedules have not been rebuilt quickly.

If an airline cites bad weather as the reason for a cancellation you experienced, but other carriers managed to operate similar flights at the same time, it may be worth lodging a complaint and asking an alternative dispute body or regulator to review whether extraordinary circumstances genuinely applied.

Connecting flights, missed holidays and insurance gaps

Complex itineraries are particularly vulnerable to winter disruption. Under EU261 and UK261, protection is strongest when your journey is on a single ticket, such as a London to Frankfurt to Warsaw itinerary booked as one through fare with a single airline group.

If snow delays your first leg so that you miss the connection, the airline normally remains responsible for getting you to your final destination at no extra cost, and for providing care at transfer airports while you wait.

Problems arise when travellers stitch together separate tickets, for instance a low cost hop into a hub and then a long haul flight on another carrier. If a snow delay on the first airline causes you to miss the second, the second airline may treat you as a no show with no liability to rebook.

In those situations, travel insurance that covers missed connections due to bad weather can be crucial, although policies vary widely and often demand detailed proof of the cause and timing of disruption.

Package holidays add another layer of rights. When your flights form part of a package protected by EU or UK package travel rules, the tour organiser must help find alternatives or offer refunds if significant parts of the holiday are lost to disruption.

Travel insurers and consumer bodies urge passengers not to cancel packages unilaterally during winter weather without first speaking to the organiser, as doing so can complicate any claim for unused accommodation and activities.

Across Europe, insurers and consumer advocates also warn of gaps in coverage. Some basic policies exclude compensation for airport closures or treat snow as a “known risk” in peak winter weeks, limiting payouts.

Others cap daily hotel costs at levels far below what is available near major hubs once mass cancellations drive up demand.

Checking winter weather provisions in your policy before you travel, and taking screenshots of airline and airport updates, can help strengthen any eventual claim.

How to document and pursue a claim

When flights succumb to ice and snow, conditions on the ground can be chaotic. Airlines and airports typically urge passengers to check apps and websites before travelling, but systems often struggle under heavy demand.

Despite the confusion, experts recommend keeping meticulous records if you expect to seek a refund, expenses or compensation later.

That starts with preserving your boarding passes, booking confirmations and any messages the airline sends about delays or cancellations.

Screenshots of departure boards and airline apps showing new departure and arrival times can be valuable, as can photos of airport information screens and weather conditions.

If staff make announcements that contradict written explanations, making brief notes of what was said and when can also be useful.

Once you are home, most airlines require claims to be made through online forms. For EU261 and UK261 cases, the operating carrier must handle the claim, even if you booked via a code share partner or travel agent.

Consumer groups advise attaching copies of receipts for meals, hotels and transport, along with a simple timeline of events. If the airline rejects a claim on the grounds of extraordinary circumstances and you disagree, you can then escalate to the relevant national enforcement body or an approved alternative dispute resolution scheme.

While regulators in both the EU and UK have criticised airlines in recent years for slow or inconsistent handling of disruption claims, they also stress that clear documentation from passengers makes it easier to challenge unjustified refusals.

With winter weather incidents becoming more frequent and complex, well prepared travellers are more likely to recover what they are owed.

FAQ

Q1. Do I get cash compensation if my flight is cancelled because of snow?
In most cases, no. Severe winter weather is treated as an extraordinary circumstance under EU261 and UK261, which means airlines do not have to pay fixed cash compensation, although they still owe you a refund or rerouting and a duty of care.

Q2. If I choose not to travel after a long delay, can I get my money back?
Yes. If your flight is delayed by more than five hours and you decide not to fly, you are entitled to a refund of the unused parts of your ticket, and of any parts already flown that no longer serve a purpose, such as a missed connection.

Q3. Does it matter whether my airline is European when bad weather hits?
It matters for which law applies, but not for your basic rights on many routes. Any flight departing the EU or UK is covered regardless of airline, while flights arriving in the EU or UK are covered only if operated by an EU or UK carrier.

Q4. Will the airline pay for my hotel if I am stranded overnight by snow?
Yes, if your flight is covered by EU261 or UK261, the airline has a duty of care to provide accommodation and transport between the airport and hotel for overnight delays, even when snow and ice are beyond its control.

Q5. Can the airline make me wait days for its own next flight instead of booking me on another carrier?
Airlines must reroute you at the earliest opportunity, which can include using other carriers if that gets you to your destination significantly sooner. Regulators have warned that airlines should not leave passengers waiting for days when reasonable alternatives exist.

Q6. What happens if I miss a separately booked onward flight because of a weather delay?
If your tickets are on separate bookings, the second airline usually has no obligation to help if you miss its flight, even if the first delay was weather related. In that scenario, travel insurance that covers missed connections becomes particularly important.

Q7. Are de-icing delays treated the same as snow closed runways?
De-icing that is necessary because of freezing conditions is normally treated as part of the same extraordinary weather event, so it will usually not lead to cash compensation, although your rights to care, refunds and rerouting still apply.

Q8. How do I prove that my delay or cancellation was not really caused by weather?
Request a written explanation from the airline, keep records of what you were told at the airport, and compare this with how other flights were operating. If the airline later changes its stated reason or evidence suggests operational problems were the main cause, you can challenge a refusal of compensation.

Q9. Does booking through a package holiday company change my flight rights?
Your EU261 or UK261 rights against the airline remain the same, but package travel rules may give additional protection. The tour organiser can be responsible for arranging alternatives or refunds if major parts of the holiday are lost to disruption.

Q10. Where should I take my complaint if the airline rejects my claim?
After receiving a final response from the airline, you can escalate your case to the appropriate national enforcement body or an approved alternative dispute resolution scheme for the country where the disruption occurred or where the airline is based.