I was flying back to India on December 10, 2017 with Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Mumbai. Due to heavy snowfall that day they had to cancel the flight. They gave me the option of flying next day, which I accepted.

Now my friend told me that I am eligible for compensation Flight_Compensation_Regulation_261/2004

Please let me know whether I am really eligible and how can I ask for it.


You are not eligible for EU261 compensation if the flight was delayed or cancelled due to exceptional conditions such as extreme weather. You would think that Munich would expect reasonable amounts of snowfall, so it would have to be exceptional to avoid having to pay compensation. If only your flight was affected, or just a few flights, then perhaps you may have a successful claim, but if half the flights of the day were cancelled, you would probably have a much lower likelihood of success.

Nevertheless, nothing stops you claiming no matter what the conditions. If you make a claim, the airline will hopefully present its justification of the cancellation which will help yout to make a determination.

Irrespective of compensation, the airline should have paid for your hotel and food for the delayed flight as part of their duty of care.

  • That sounds fair to me. Though the flight was canceled due to snowfall, the crew mentioned that they have exceeded their flight time and cannot proceed with this flight today. – Anand G Mar 12 '18 at 9:17
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    I'd posit that a crew timing out is within the airline's control. It would be the circumstances that lead to the timeout that needs to be examined though. – Berwyn Mar 12 '18 at 9:26

Generally according to the legal rule (The EC Regulation 261/2004) if your flight gets cancelled without any prior notice then you are eligible for compensation. However, if you are offered an alternative flight and you voluntarily accept the offer then this might rule you out from claiming compensation.

Also keep in mind that cancellations caused due to an extraordinary circumstance such as extremely bad weather, earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami, etc. would not give you compensation. As such circumstances cannot be controlled by the airline. Your case fits into the "Extraordinary Circumstance" case. Hence, you are not eligible to claim compensation from the airline.

Happy Flying

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