Avoiding holidays from hell

If there is one thing which can really ruin a holiday it’s having to hang about for hours in an airport rather than jetting off to your destination. All that happy expectation slowly evaporates as you’re forced to wander time and again around the duty free shops or order yet another coffee while being holed-up by an aeronautical hold-up.

It’s no wonder that in a recent Which? survey of more than 2000 adults, flight delays and cancellations came top of the list of holiday gripes.

The one ray of sunshine is that you can be compensated or get a refund - depending on the circumstances.

Certainly if you’re travelling with an EU-based airline - or even a non European airline flying from an EU airport - you’re protected by the Denied Boarding Regulation (DBR).

The DBR means your airline must offer assistance if your flight is delayed beyond a certain point and your journey is of a certain length.

You can be entitled to meals, refreshments, phone calls and emails if a flight under 932 miles - say from London to Venice - is delayed by at least two hours. Similarly if a flight within the EU of more than 932 miles - London to Athens for example - is delayed by at least three hours then the DBR kicks in.

And if the delay lasts five hours or more then you can choose not to travel and get a refund of your ticket cost.

Compensation, on the other hand, is dependent on the reason for the delay. If an airline can prove a cancellation or delay was caused by “extraordinary circumstances” - situations beyond the control of the airline such as severe weather, security risks or political instability - then they won’t have to pay you anything.

But it can be worth challenging your airline if you don’t agree there were extraordinary circumstances - for example, other airlines were flying but your flight was cancelled because of the weather.

As with all consumer problems, it pays to know your rights so always check your airline’s conditions of carriage.