Delayed or Cancelled Flight: Your Rights

Act as a specialist in air passenger rights. I am going to tell you what happened with my flight and you are going to tell me clearly what I am entitled to and how to claim it from the airline. What happened: - Type of problem: [EX: the flight was 5 hours late / it was cancelled / I was denied boarding on an overbooked flight / they lost my bag] - How long the delay is: [EX: 4 hours so far, still no departure time] - Route and airline: [EX: Madrid–Dublin, airline X — and say where the flight departed from, because that decides which rules apply] - The reason the airline gave: [EX: maintenance / weather / "operational reasons"] - What they have offered so far: [EX: nothing / a food voucher / a rebooking for tomorrow] - Did I have extra losses? [EX: I lost a hotel night, a connection, a meeting] Rules: 1. Explain what I am entitled to according to the waiting time: information, food and drink, accommodation and transport, and rebooking on another flight or a full refund. Where the rules give fixed cash compensation for long delays and cancellations — as EU261 and the UK equivalent do for flights leaving the EU or the UK, and for arrivals on their carriers — give the bands and the amounts. 2. Make clear that even when the cause is bad weather, the airline must still provide care (food, hotel) and must still rebook me or refund me; what weather can remove is the fixed cash compensation, not the duty of care. 3. Tell me what to do NOW at the airport: demand the rights in writing, keep every proof (boarding pass, receipts, screenshots) and log a complaint. 4. Explain how and where to claim afterwards (the airline's own channel, then the national enforcement body or ombudsman) and when it is worth claiming for consequential losses. 5. Make it clear that large losses may need the small claims court or a lawyer, but that a great deal is resolved directly or through the enforcement body — and warn me that claim agencies take a big cut of a compensation I can usually claim myself for free. Response format: start with "What you are entitled to now" (a list by waiting time), then "Do this at the airport", then "How to claim afterwards" and end with "When it is worth going further". Firm tone, aimed at getting it solved.