Cork flight delay and cancellation compensation

Cork flight delay and cancellation: your rights

Cork serves Ireland's south, with a compact schedule to the UK, mainland Europe and a handful of holiday destinations. Aer Lingus and Ryanair carry most of it.

Ireland is in the EU, so EU261 covers every flight out of Cork. Land three or more hours late at your final destination and the airline owes a fixed sum, set by distance rather than by fare.

Which rules apply at Cork

Ireland is in the EU, so EU261 covers every departure from Cork, whoever flies it. A non-European airline leaving here is bound on the same terms as a European one.

An arrival into Cork is narrower. It is covered only when an EU or EEA airline operates the flight. A flight in from outside Europe on a non-European airline falls outside the rules, even though it lands in the EU.

The sums are fixed by distance, never by the fare:

• €250 on routes up to 1,500 km
• €400 between 1,500 and 3,500 km
• €600 beyond 3,500 km

A cancellation inside fourteen days pays the same, and so does denied boarding.

My connection was through Dublin. Where is the delay measured?

At your final destination, if both flights were on one booking.

That matters more here than at a bigger airport, because much of Cork's traffic connects onward. A ninety-minute delay out of Cork that costs you a transatlantic connection can be worth €600, not €250.

Two separately booked tickets are two journeys, and the connection is not protected.

What goes wrong at Cork

Atlantic weather, low cloud and wind all feature, and a late inbound aircraft is the most common cause of a late departure.

Technical faults, crews running out of hours and commercial cancellations of thin routes are the airline's own doing, so the money still stands.

How to claim Cork flight delay compensation

Start with the flight itself. Our free flight check reads the recorded departure and arrival times for your flight from Cork and tells you which band it falls in.

Your Cork compensation claim turns on two things: the arrival time, and the reason the airline gives.

For a late arrival, read the flight delay compensation guide. For a flight that never flew, read the cancellation compensation guide. It covers Cork cancellation compensation too. Has the airline said no? The case law summary sets out what the courts make of the usual excuses.