PLAY flight delay and cancellation compensation

PLAY flight delay compensation is €250 to €600 per passenger under EU261, the same as on any full-service airline. Iceland is in the EEA, so the rules apply in full. You can claim when you land three or more hours late, when PLAY cancels with under 14 days' notice, or when it denies you boarding.

Does a low-cost PLAY ticket still carry full EU261 rights?

PLAY is a low-cost carrier based at Keflavík, connecting Iceland with Europe and, over Iceland, North America. Because Iceland is a member of the EEA, PLAY holds an EEA operating licence and sits fully inside EU261 — its low-cost model changes nothing about the statutory rights:

• Departures from any EU/EEA airport, including Keflavík, are covered whoever operates the flight
• Arrivals into the EU/EEA from outside it are covered because PLAY holds an EEA licence
• Departures from the UK on PLAY fall under UK261, in sterling; a flight from Keflavík into the UK is a departure from the EEA, so EU261 covers it

Low-cost pricing sometimes leads passengers to assume their rights are thinner. They are not. EU261 cannot be reduced or waived by an airline's terms and conditions, and whether you bought bags, a seat or priority boarding makes no difference to a compensation claim.

Compensation is triggered by arriving at your final destination three or more hours late, a cancellation with under 14 days' notice, or denied boarding on an oversold flight when you presented for check-in on time.

How much you could receive

The amount is fixed by distance, not by the fare — a low headline price and a bundled fare carry the same entitlement.

• EUR 250 — routes of 1,500 km or less
• EUR 400 — intra-EU/EEA routes over 1,500 km, and any other route between 1,500 and 3,500 km, which is where much of the network sits
• EUR 600 — routes over 3,500 km, reached on the transatlantic side of the map

UK261 claims use GBP 220 / GBP 350 / GBP 520. Each named passenger claims separately. Under Article 7(2) the top figure may be halved where a long-haul re-routing arrives less than four hours late.

When PLAY doesn't have to pay

No compensation is due where the airline proves extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures — severe North Atlantic weather, volcanic ash and airspace closures, ATC restrictions, airport closures, security incidents or a bird strike.

• The airline carries the burden of proof. A bare reference to weather or "operational reasons" is not evidence, and can be tested against the conditions recorded that day.
• A strike by PLAY's own staff would generally not be extraordinary, following EU case law on staff disputes. A third-party or ATC strike usually would be.

Routine technical faults found during ordinary maintenance normally remain the airline's responsibility. A reactionary delay carried through an aircraft's day is not automatically excused — the airline has to trace it to a genuinely extraordinary root cause and show it took reasonable steps to recover.

How do you make a claim against PLAY?

Keep the booking reference, boarding passes, the notification message, and receipts for meals or a hotel if none was provided. Note the actual arrival time at your final destination.

Response times vary between airlines and between individual claims, and lengthen after weather or airspace events. If a claim is refused without adequate reasoning, it can go to the Icelandic Transport Authority for departures from Iceland, to the enforcement body of another departure state, or to court within the applicable time limit.

What it costs

The eligibility check is free. If we recover your compensation we charge a fixed EUR 39 success fee — the same whether you're owed EUR 250 or EUR 600 — and the airline's payment goes to you. No win, no fee.

How to claim PLAY compensation

Start with the flight itself. Our free flight check reads the recorded times for your PLAY flight and tells you which band it falls in, in about two minutes.

For the law behind the figure, the flight delay compensation guide covers arrival delays and the cancellation compensation guide covers a flight that never operated. If PLAY has already refused you, the case law summary sets out what the courts have said about the usual excuses.