Gran Canaria flight delay and cancellation compensation

Gran Canaria flight delay and cancellation: your rights

Gran Canaria mixes holiday charter traffic with the inter-island network, and the two have very different delay patterns.

Spain is in the EU, so EU261 covers every flight out of Gran Canaria. Land three or more hours late at your final destination and the airline owes you a fixed sum. UK and northern European routes run about 2,800 km, which puts them in the €400 band.

Which rules apply at Gran Canaria

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

An arrival into Gran Canaria 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.

Is a cheap holiday fare worth claiming on?

Yes, and this is where people talk themselves out of money they are owed.

The sum is set by the distance flown. It has nothing to do with what you paid. A seat bought in a sale, or as part of a package, carries exactly the same figure as a flexible one.

On a family booking it multiplies. Four passengers on a delayed Canaries route are owed €1,600 between them, which is often more than the holiday's flights cost.

What goes wrong at Gran Canaria

Holiday flying runs on tight turnarounds, so a delay early in an aircraft's day often lasts to its last rotation. Late inbound aircraft are the most common cause of a late departure here.

Mediterranean and Atlantic weather cuts the landing rate at times, and European flow limits on busy weekends do the rest. Weather can be an extraordinary circumstance and take the money away. Even then the airline must prove it for your flight.

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

How to claim Gran Canaria flight delay compensation

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

Your Gran Canaria 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 Gran Canaria cancellation compensation too. Has the airline said no? The case law summary sets out what the courts make of the usual excuses.