Has anyone received compensation from an airline for a flight delay? My initial air canada flight from Toronto was delayed by two hours resulting in us missing two international connections to India. We ended up in a hotel for two nights and our travel plans were messed up. Are there travel laws for these kind of things? Are airlines obliged to provide compensation, or just to get us to our final destination (which they did, but two days after our original arrival date.)

all depends, was your initial air canada flight that was delayed on the same ticket as the flights that were missed? or did you have separate tickets?

Here's a site to help you check: https://www.getairhelp.com/us

Jason Well They were all on the same ticket.

Was it a weather delay?

The Right to Compensation in cash applies to international flight delays that are not weather related, and lasting more than four or six hours. I'm not sure if that applies in this case.

Our flight to india was a nightmare. We were told that the delay in Toronto was because of a problem in the baggage area. Our flight arrived in Heathrow two hours late, and we missed our flight to Abu Dhabi by an hour. Because Heathrow had that problem with their system the day before, they were already backlogged with people trying to get rebooked. So we line up in a queue in Terminal 2 for 9 hours, only to be told that their ticket transfer counter was closing. AC put us up in a hotel, and said their staff would work overnight and when we woke up, all of our flights would be rebooked. When my mom and I woke up, our flights here not rebooked and he hotel staff told is we had to go back to the airport. So we went back to Heathrow and lined up in a queue again, this time for 5 hours. When we were finally rebooked we had a flight the following day, flying through Doha to our final destination of Bangalore, India. So in all AC put is up for two nights, covered our meals through vouchers for airport food and hotel food, and we arrived two days late. When I wrote to AC's customer service, they apologized for the problem and offered me a 15% discount on future travels, which to me is a slap in the face after all we went through. I haven't had a chance to look into the legalities of what we are entitled to, but I feel like we deserve more than what they offered.

Purchase insurance before your next trip, it covers trip interuption.

Also, never queue up, call the 1-800 number ASAP instead. You'll get much better service and the problem solved right away.

I flew american airlines and they don't give anything except a voucher for a "hotel discount". Still cost me almost $100 for the stay in the hotel and $50 for the cab ride. No meal vouchers. Missed the connecting flight because of delay caused by mechanical issues on plane.

I had a first delayed and then cancelled air canada flight once on my way from LA to Toronto (the cancelled flight was supposed to take us from San Francisco to Toronto, but didn't due to an engine problem).
After they tried to arrange another flight the same evening, which didn't work out, we had to stay at a hotel (which we didn't have to pay for ourselves, of course) and got a promo code for a 25% discount for the next AC flight. So yeah, sometimes they obviously compensate the passengers....

Yes, I had to pay for my own hotel. You had to call the number on the voucher to book with an agent. I chose the cheapest hotel that was supposed to have a free shuttle. In fact, it was the only hotel that had a free shuttle operating at that time (it was about 10pm). When I called the hotel they said the shuttle is not operating so I had to pay $50.00 for a one way cab ride. I got a free shuttle in the morning back to airpirt. If you look at american airlines FB page it is full of complaints from others. It was the first and last time I will ever fly American Airlines.

You might want to check your Credit Card (the one used to purchase the flight tickets) travelling insurance to see if it covers this type of incidents, some do.

I just read your full story and realized AC paid for your 2 nights of hotel and food. Probably drove you back to the airport. You deserve nothing after that. I feel for you but that sounds about right. Credit card travel insurance typically doesn't even cover extra costs for lodging say if you missed your India hotel booking and they let the room go. That would be something I'd be mad about. But yeah, you had a shitty travel experience to your destination. End of story. Unless you wanna make a real stink, talk to managers and threaten never to fly AC again. I know AC staff. Let me ask for you today.

Thanks, I will look into it.

Xena Coleman Did you purchase travel insurance? That hotel expense would have been covered by even some travel cards. As long as it's an issue with the plane that was beyond your control. Mechanical failure is for sure covered.

Igor is right. But did you keep your receipts? If not, your bank and credit card transactions should suffice.

No, I didn't purchase it but I will for future vacations.

Or get a travel card. No need to buy insurance if you have a good card. I love my Visa First Class Infinite. It has covered so many things in the past. Lost luggage is a must. I will never travel for long periods without this coverage. If they don't want to give you a good travel card, go directly to the bank and ask your Financial Advisor. They will approve you in 5 minutes. This year alone, I redeemed about $1000 back in cash through this credit card on my travel purchases. It even includes restaurant meals and tax! No blackouts. I can't pitch this card enough. Worth the fee that they will waive for you if you ask.

I just had an icelandair flight that was delayed 24 hours due to mechanical issues. Since it was a delay over 6 hours, they put us up in a hotel, provided food. For EU flights it falls under the Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and I was able to get 600 Euros refunded. You can find the information here. http://europa.eu/.../passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm
EUROPA.EU
EU - Air passenger rights - Your Europe

I have the same credit card but I did not use that one. I used my U.S. Dollar Visa. I always use that one when I am paying in US currency. Next time I will use the Visa First Class Infinite for insurance purposes. I did not fly out of Toronto this time due to time constraints with my schedule. I live in a border city, I am much closer to American airports.