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AirHelp is an online platform that can help you get compensation for canceled or delayed flights and lost or delayed luggage. AirHelp's pitch to travelers is that they “know the rules”. As experts on air-passenger regulations around the world, they can win claims that airlines often quash by wearing you down until you give up.
When you engage AirHelp to handle your claim, you agree to pay a percentage of the compensation received from the airline if your claim is successful. If it fails, there is no cost to using the service.
There are plenty of situations where filing a claim on your own should be straightforward and relatively painless. But if you don't know your rights or whether you “should” be entitled to compensation, AirHelp can be a great ally. Here's our review of the platform and thoughts on when you should use the service and when you should go it alone.
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How Does AirHelp Work?
AirHelp's basic service works on a “no-win, no-fee” basis. There is no up-front cost to file a claim through AirHelp; instead, you agree to pay AirHelp 35% of the compensation received from the airline. If AirHelp needs to get their attorneys involved to resolve your claim through legal action, their fee increases to 50% of your compensation.
AirHelp also offers a subscription plan which waives these percentage fees and offers guaranteed payouts in certain situations. We'll cover the Airhelp+ subscription in more detail below.
How to check if you're entitled to compensation
To start a claim, you'll be asked for your flight itinerary, what went wrong (delay, cancellation, denied boarding, etc), and how the issue impacted your arrival at your final destination. Based on this limited information, AirHelp can often tell you whether you should be entitled to any sort of compensation for the flight.
This initial feedback can be a huge time saver. If there is no basis for filing a claim based on the air-passenger regulations in force, you can avoid slogging through a claims process that is doomed to fail from the start.
It's also worth noting that AirHelp does some basic checks that can help you avoid a mistake. In the example below, I entered the details for my replacement flight (which was on-time) instead of my original flight which was delayed by 4 hours.
If AirHelp thinks your claim has merit, you'll be prompted to provide additional documentation to support your claim.
If you have a legitimate case for compensation under the law, you can always assert your rights on your own — without giving up part of your compensation to a third party like AirHelp. But in some cases, AirHelp's ability to navigate the process and interact with the airline on your behalf can be well worth the fee.
When Should You Use Airhelp?
With the most straightforward claims, there is a good case to file for compensation on your own. In situations where a passenger is clearly entitled to compensation, the airlines may not put up much resistance. They'd prefer to focus their attention on claims that are easier to fight.
But it's important to keep in mind that airlines are really good at getting out of their obligations entirely or offering far less than what is required by law when you don't know your rights. Two situations come to mind:
Improper airline reporting of the reason for the delay
First, the airline may try to claim that your travel was disrupted for one of the reasons that doesn't require compensation. For example, they might tell you that your flight was delayed due to bad weather when, in reality, they didn't have a crew available due to poor operations planning.
AirHelp has a huge advantage here since they handle so many claims. They can see if other airlines have been able to get away with the “bad weather” excuse at your departure airport. They also have a lot more experience to determine if the weather on your travel date was bad enough for the airlines' excuse to hold up under scrutiny.
Improper airline compensation for delay
Airlines are great at offering less than the compensation to which you're entitled. If you don't realize that the law says you should receive $800 in cash, you might be inclined to accept a $500 flight voucher with an expiration date and pages of limitations in the fine print.
Although the law typically spells out the compensation owed, the airline may be off the hook if you accept an inferior offer voluntarily. In short, it's easy to get less than you deserve if you don't know your rights — especially if you've been worn down by multiple rounds of back-and-forth communication about your claim.
If you aren't willing to do the research to understand what caused your travel disruption and what the law says about compensation, AirHelp can be a huge asset throughout the claims process.
AirHelp's Legal Action Fee
AirHelp's assistance can really pay off if the claims process gets complicated. Although the service fee increases to 50% of your compensation when legal action is required, these are typically claims you won't have a good shot at winning on your own.
If the airline denies your claim, AirHelp's attorneys may still be able to enforce your rights under the law. If this is necessary, you may be asked to take additional steps like signing a power of attorney document that authorizes them to continue working on your behalf.
Although this isn't the ideal outcome, it's nice to know that AirHelp doesn't make it easy for the airlines to trample your rights. If they want to be difficult, the airlines know they'll be incurring legal costs of their own to fight your claim. If you think about it from the airlines perspective, AirHelp's willingness to put legal resources into the fight is a strong disincentive to deny valid claims.
When an individual passenger files their own claim, the airline can be pretty confident they won't be hearing from the passenger's lawyer. But if they know AirHelp will pursue every valid claim to the full extent of the law, it starts to look a lot less expensive to just approve your claim and move on.
Is AirHelp+ Worth It?
As noted previously, frequent travelers can also opt for a paid AirHelp+ membership plan that waives the percentage fee and offers guaranteed payouts in certain situations.
AirHelp+ has two plan options: Smart and Pro. Smart costs $42.99 annually and covers three trips. Pro costs $99.99 per year and covers nine trips. A trip is defined as a complete journey, whether one-way or round-trip.
Both plans offer €100 AirPayout compensation for flight disruptions, €100 AirLuggage compensation for delayed bags, lounge access during disruptions, and “no fees on up to $650 in compensation.”
If you file even one successful claim during the year, you're likely to come out ahead with a subscription since you won't pay a percentage fee on the first $650 in compensation. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's the right choice for everyone. AirHelp wouldn't offer these packages if they were losing money on them compared to their fixed-fee model. That means at least some travelers who opt for the subscription don't travel enough on average to recoup the annual cost with a successful claim.
If you're the type of person who will do the extra legwork for a simple claim, the value of AirHelp+ hinges on its other benefits. And although these can be useful if you encounter one of the covered situations, it's important to remember that many of the best rewards cards offer similar coverage automatically when you use your card to pay for travel.
Here are the other AirHelp+ benefits and how they compare to credit card travel protections.
AirHelp AirPayout
AirHelp will track your flight and automatically issue you compensation for a flight delayed by three or more hours, canceled within 28 days of departure, or diverted for any reason. All you need to do is fill in your trip details before departure. AirHelp will track your flights and issue your compensation directly into your bank account “within hours.” The payout is in addition to any compensation received by the airline.
Trip delay protection worth between $300 and $500 per incident is available on many of the best rewards cards. Typically, the coverage takes effect after a delay of six or 12 hours (rather than three hours with AirHelp), and you'll need to file a claim instead of receiving the compensation automatically. To be eligible for the credit card protection, you'll need to use your card to pay for your flight (or pay the taxes and fees on an award ticket).
AirHelp AirLuggage
With this benefit, you can receive €100 within hours of reporting a lost or delayed bag to AirHelp. Unlike AirPayout, AirLuggage compensation is not automatic. Passengers must obtain a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) number from the lost luggage desk at the airport and submit that to AirHelp.
On the plus side, this coverage doesn't require you to document or prove what was in your bag, and you get paid no matter how quickly your bag turns up. AirLuggage compensation is in addition to any money the airline owes you for the luggage problems. AirHelp will also help you file a claim with the airline for up to $1,700 for lost, delayed, or damaged bags.
Many rewards cards come with baggage delay coverage that overlaps with this AirHelp+ perk. A typical credit card policy will kick in after six hours without your bag and pay up to $100 per day for three-to-five days until your bag is located. However, you'll need to save your receipts because coverage is normally limited to your actual expenses for essential items. Some cards cover only the cardholder while others extend coverage to immediate family members traveling on the same itinerary.
If your bag isn't found or shows up badly damaged, a good credit card lost baggage policy might cover up to $3,000 per traveler. But most will only cover the difference between what you receive from the airline and the policy's coverage limit. That means you'll still have to file a claim with the airline before you can benefit from coverage offered by your credit card.
AirHelp lounge access
With AirHelp+, you will get a lounge pass if your flight is delayed more than an hour or canceled less than six hours before departure. The pass is valid for three months at over 1,100 airport lounges worldwide. Passengers can use the lounge finder to search for a participating lounge.
There are a lot of credit cards that offer lounge access through Priority Pass, but most of them charge a big annual fee. If you already have lounge access, you'll be all set when a delay extends your time at the airport. But for those without another way to get in, this AirHelp+ benefit could be handy.
AirHelp Goodwill Claims
AirHelp is available in every country, but many jurisdictions don't have consumer-friendly regulations that force airlines to pay up. For example, no law in the U.S. requires airlines to give compensation for late or delayed flights, and AirHelp has numerous reviews that point out this limitation.
If you aren't entitled to compensation by law, AirHelp may offer to file a “Goodwill Claim” with the airline. AirHelp notes that compensation is “often valued at around $125,” whether that's a refund, vouchers, or mileage compensation. Regardless of the compensation, AirHelp charges $29.99 if you succeed in getting compensation.
On the AirHelp page that explains fees, terms, and conditions, they also note that the Goodwill Claim fee is waived for AirHelp+ subscribers and for non-subscribers in cases where the “Flight Compensation is (i) monetary and less than $30, or (ii) in kind and less than 3,000 fidelity points.”
A Case for Not Using Airhelp
Travelers have a few points to consider before choosing to use AirHelp for flight compensation.
Are you willing to give up 35% of your compensation?
If your flight is covered by regulations that require compensation, it should be possible to keep 100% of that money with a little effort. Not all airlines turn filing a justified claim into nightmare. In fact, some make getting compensation pretty easy. If you're willing to do enough research to understand the basic rules, you can avoid a significant cost by filing on your own.
AirHelp can't do all the work for you
Although AirHelp can save you time by guiding you through the process, it's important to remember that you'll still need to submit the same documentation to AirHelp that you could send directly to the airline. As noted previously, AirHelp may be able to tell you whether your claim is solid before you put in any work, but you'll still need to substantiate your claim regardless of whether you decide to use the service.
Will you follow through on your claim independently?
To state the obvious, it's better to give up a percentage of your compensation than to get nothing at all. If you're the type of person who won't follow through on a claim, you aren't giving anything up by engaging AirHelp to make it easier. It takes only a few minutes to get a claim started, and then you can sit back and wait for instructions on exactly what you need to do next.
Resources for Filing Your Own Claim
If you decide to go it alone, we have assembled some useful information in our post on claiming flight compensation in the U.S. and Europe. For European flights, you'll also want to be familiar with the two regulations below.
What is EU Regulation EC261?
In the EU, EU Regulation EC No 261, a.k.a. EU261, gives passengers up to €600 in compensation if they were given less than 14 days' notice of the canceled flight.
But that's only for an international flight of over 3,500 km (2,175 miles). Short flights under 1,500 km (932 miles) only get €250 (~$270) in compensation. Travel distance, flight location, and length of the delay all affect the compensation amount.
What about Regulation UK261?
Since Brexit in 2019, the UK is not subject to EU laws and regulations. As such, regulation UK261 went into effect on January 1, 2021, emulating EC No 261 but for flights arriving in and departing from the UK. Compensation is similar, offering £220 to £520 depending on the flight.
Which credit cards offer flight compensation?
While there are passenger rights laws in Europe and certain passenger rights offered by airlines in the U.S., these payouts may not cover all expenses you encounter during a delay or when rebooking after a canceled flight. You may have extra childcare costs, need a hotel room, etc. And then there are meals and buying clean clothes to change into.
If the airline doesn't cover your costs, paying for your trip with the right credit card can make a big difference. Consult the following resources:
- Best Credit Cards for Free Travel Insurance
- Which Credit Cards Have the Best Flight Delay Insurance?
- Top Credit Cards for Trip Interruption And Trip Cancellation Insurance
We've also included insurance perks for these situations in our list of credit card benefits every traveler should know about.
Related: Best Cards for Free Travel Insurance
Our Take
Ultimately, using or not using AirHelp for flight delay/cancelation compensation is a personal decision. Claiming compensation directly from the airline is free and might be a relatively simple process. However, AirHelp — or one of its competitors — might be worth considering if you find the airline's process frustrating or are getting stonewalled for the compensation you feel you're due.
AirHelp can help you avoid putting effort into a claim that isn't on solid legal ground and potentially save you time by negotiating with the airline on your behalf. Their knowledge of the rules can ensure that you don't settle for less than the law prescribes and simply having them in your corner might reduce the likelihood that the airline will put up a fight.
On the other hand, you might end up forgoing hundreds of dollars in compensation for something you could have easily handled yourself. For jurisdictions like the EU, which have clear and strong passenger protections, you may be better off going it alone.
Have you ever used AirHelp? What was your experience?
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