<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWhen a plane is delayed, most parents panic about how to keep the kids entertained and completely forget that strong European legislation protects them<\/strong>. So you don’t stand helplessly at the airport waiting for someone to take pity on you, I’ve put together the ten most important points you need to have at your fingertips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>1. Flight Delay Compensation Under EU Regulation 261<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nThe basis for everything is European Regulation 261\/2004, which gives you a clear right to financial compensation<\/strong> if the delay was the airline’s own fault. This covers situations like a technical fault with the aircraft, missing crew or poor scheduling, whereas bad weather or an air traffic controllers’ strike count as so-called extraordinary circumstances. The amount doesn’t depend on your ticket price at all, only on the distance of the flight, so you can get \u20ac250, \u20ac400 or up to \u20ac600 per person<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYou become entitled to this money the moment you arrive at your final destination with a delay of more than three hours<\/strong>. Under established case law, this time isn’t measured from when the wheels touch the runway, but from the moment the aircraft doors open and you can actually get off. You have exactly the same right to compensation if the airline cancels your flight and tells you less than 14 days before departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udca1 Tip: Always photograph the departure board showing the delay<\/strong> and carefully hold on to all your boarding passes. If you only have digital boarding passes in an app, take screenshots of them before they vanish from your phone for good after the flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>2. The Right to Care Saves You Right There in the Terminal<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tA delay with kids throws off the routine more than anything else. Photo: Yender Fonseca \/ Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhile you’ll deal with financial compensation calmly once you’re back home, the airline has to provide the right to care immediately<\/strong> right at the airport. This is absolutely crucial for families with kids, because this right applies regardless of whose fault it was, so even if a hurricane is raging outside and compensation is off the table. It mainly covers food and drinks proportionate to the length of the wait, which you’ll usually get in the form of vouchers you can use in the airport restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf your delay drags on overnight, the airline has to pay for a hotel<\/strong> and also arrange transport between the airport and that hotel. Especially with a baby, the chance to give them a bath and settle them in a clean hotel room is a thousand times more valuable than the prospect of euros landing in your account later. So don’t let yourself be brushed off, and insist that spending the night on hard airport benches with a toddler simply isn’t an option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udca1 Tip: As soon as it’s clear the delay is going to be long, head straight to the airline desk and ask for meal vouchers<\/strong>. If there’s nobody there and you have to buy food yourself, carefully keep all your receipts so you can have these reasonable costs reimbursed after you return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>3. Lap Infants and Compensation: a Grey Area<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nThis is a huge topic that regularly stumps lawyers and airlines alike, because the rules are anything but clear-cut. When you fly with a child under two who doesn’t have their own seat and sits on your lap, their right to compensation is a demonstrably disputed area \u26a0\ufe0f<\/strong>. Some sources argue that Regulation 261\/2004 doesn’t grant compensation to a lap infant without a seat, because they aren’t travelling on a standard ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOther legal interpretations, on the other hand, argue that the right arises even without a purchased seat, as long as some payment was made for the child<\/strong>, which in practice is the single most important criterion. If you pay a fixed fee for an infant, such as \u20ac25 with a low-cost carrier like Ryanair, or 10% of the adult fare with the major airlines, the child has a valid ticket and has demonstrably paid for transport. Case law across Europe, however, is still not uniform and carriers’ practices differ enormously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udca1 Tip: Always file a compensation claim for an infant with the airline<\/strong>, because filling in the form costs nothing. Just be aware that the first response may be a refusal, so if you paid for the child, don’t give up after the first email and escalate the case further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>4. A Big Revolution in Family Rights Arrives in 2027<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nAfter years of debate, the European Union has finally approved a massive revision of passenger rights, which brings absolutely fundamental relief for families with kids<\/strong>. This joint text was approved by the European Parliament by an overwhelming majority, and the Council of the EU gave its final green light on 13 July 2026. The new rules will actually take effect after a transitional period, so we can look forward to them roughly from mid-2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe biggest and most eagerly awaited change is the rule that a child under 14 will have to sit next to a parent completely free of charge<\/strong>. That will put an end to the nonsense of families being split up all over the plane and the forced fees just to sit together with your schoolchild. Under the new rules the airline will have a strict 30 days to pay out compensation and you’ll have 9 months to make your claim, plus the cancellation of return tickets if you don’t board the first leg will be expressly banned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udca1 Tip: \u26a0\ufe0f During negotiations there was a fight over a guaranteed free cabin bag, but for now the approved text only confirms one personal item. We’ll only learn the exact dimensions from the Official Journal<\/strong>, so until then keep a close eye on the limits of your specific airline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>5. How to Survive a Delay in Crisis Mode<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tA delayed return journey and yet everyone’s still relaxed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe theory of European law is all well and good, but when you’re standing in a packed hall and your child’s patience is running out, you mainly need to act fast. The first two hours of a delay decide<\/strong> what mental state the whole family ends up handling the situation in. One mum on the Mumsnet forum summed it up very honestly, describing how she spent a twelve-hour flight covered in sick after her eight-month-old threw up shortly after take-off, because the delay had thrown off their entire routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\nKids soak up your stress absolutely reliably, so when you know what you’re entitled to, you’ll be far calmer<\/strong>. Top up your water at the fountains past security, buy some small snacks and find an airport kids’ play area to tire the children out. Luk\u00e1\u0161 and I fly most often out of two home airports, and one of them has fantastic play zones in both terminals that make the wait so much easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udca1 Tip: Don’t give your child all the toys and activities from your backpack at once<\/strong> \u2014 flight attendants recommend rotating them roughly every twenty minutes. With older kids a fully charged power bank is a lifesaver, because if they’ve got something to do and understand the situation, they cope with the wait surprisingly well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>6. Your Lifeline in the Carry-On and Those Tricky Liquids<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tYour own snacks are priceless during a delay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhen a flight is delayed or cancelled, you usually can’t get back to your checked suitcase, so everything for the next 24 hours has to be on you<\/strong>. With babies that means plenty of spare clothes not just for the child but, to be safe, for you too, because a delay means more feeds and therefore a greater chance of an accident. Packing liquids and baby food is often the single most stressful part of the whole trip right before the security check.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSince 1 October 2025 some EU airports fitted with new CT scanners have introduced new rules, where you can carry a container with liquid of up to 2 litres<\/strong>, but there’s a huge catch. At many other terminals, especially for non-Schengen destinations, the old 100 ml limit still applies. The rules depend on your departure terminal, not your airline, so even with the same low-cost carrier you can fly from two different terminals with different rules. Always check the current situation at your specific airport before you travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udca1 Tip: Baby food and milk are exempt from the 100 ml limit in the quantity needed for the journey<\/strong>, but be prepared for security to ask you to show the contents. \u26a0\ufe0f If you’re thinking about sleep aids for children, remember that melatonin must not be given to children under 2, and for older ones only ever after consulting a doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>7. A Cancelled Flight and the Right to Rerouting<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nIf your plane doesn’t take off at all and the airline cancels the flight, your rights don’t change; on the contrary, you have a clear right to a refund or to rerouting<\/strong>. The carrier must offer you a replacement flight on comparable terms at the earliest opportunity to get you to your final destination. This is the moment when, as parents, you need to be assertive and not settle for the first unfavourable offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAirlines really hate rerouting you onto their competitors’ flights, even though under European rules they should. Don’t let yourself be pushed onto a flight three days from now<\/strong> if in reality a competing airline is flying tomorrow morning and you could safely leave with them. Insist on it at the desk and refer to EU Regulation 261, which guarantees you the right to the earliest comparable flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udca1 Tip: Even while waiting for a rerouted flight you keep the right to care<\/strong>, so if the airline rebooks you onto a flight the next day, they have to pay for a hotel, transfer and meals for the entire waiting time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>8. How to File a Compensation Claim Step by Step<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nIf your delay exceeded the magic 3 hours and it wasn’t just a summer thunderstorm, once you’re back home sit down calmly at your computer and claim compensation directly through the airline’s website<\/strong>. Most carriers have a special EU 261 form on their site where you just enter the flight number, your booking details and attach copies of your boarding passes. The new rules will also give carriers a hard 30-day limit to process your claim, so the whole process should speed up significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSpecialist intermediary services, such as AirHelp, keep as your backup plan B<\/strong>. These companies charge a hefty commission on the amount recovered, so for clear-cut cases like a technical fault you’d needlessly lose part of your money. An intermediary is worth using only when the airline turns you down with a generic weather excuse but you strongly suspect they’re lying and just trying to avoid paying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udca1 Tip: Under the new rules you’ll have up to 9 months to file a compensation claim<\/strong>, but it’s best not to put it off and to fill everything in the very first weekend after you get back, while you still have all your boarding passes and receipts together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>9. A Damaged Stroller and What to Do About It<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWithout the tag and boarding pass you can’t make a claim.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis is an absolutely specific nightmare for all travelling families: you hand over the stroller at the aircraft and at your destination it comes out on the belt with a snapped wheel. In these cases it’s not the European regulation that applies, but the international Montreal Convention<\/strong>, which sets the airline’s liability limit for baggage at around $2,175. We swear by our compact travel stroller, the Joolz Aer, which flies in the cabin with us, but if you’re checking in a big stroller, the risk of damage is huge.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe most fatal mistake tired parents make is discovering the damage, with the child crying beside them, and heading straight to the hotel thinking they’ll sort it out tomorrow by email. Really, never do this, because you have to report the damage ideally immediately at the airport<\/strong> at the claims desk (Baggage Claim). There you’ll fill in a so-called PIR report (Property Irregularity Report), which absolutely dramatically increases your chance of the airline accepting and paying out your claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udca1 Tip: If you really can’t manage it at the airport, you have 7 days to report the stroller damage in writing<\/strong>, but keep the baggage tag and boarding pass for it, and photograph the stroller in great detail from every angle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>10. Insurance Versus Your European Rights<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nParents often confuse the EU regulation with commercial travel insurance, even though each of them addresses a completely different problem<\/strong>. EU Regulation 261 protects you in situations where the airline itself cancels or delays a flight. Good cancellation insurance, on the other hand, is what you use when you can’t fly, because your child came down with a high fever or chickenpox the day before your dream holiday and you have to stay home.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut good travel insurance can also help you right there during a delay at the airport. Under current terms, many travel insurance policies, for a flight delay of more than 2 hours, cover access to an airport lounge<\/strong> or pay out a small cash amount (around \u20ac20) as compensation for the wait. That’s hugely handy with kids, because a lounge is quiet, has free food and more comfortable seating, which makes those first uncertain hours incredibly easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udca1 Tip: A practical trap lurks in the timing of a cancellation, because if a child falls ill the night before an early morning departure, you usually won’t manage to cancel with the airline in time. For the insurer you’ll then need confirmation from the airline that you didn’t board the flight<\/strong> (a so-called no-show), and of course a medical report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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