Thailand flight compensation: what you can claim when flights are disrupted

Did your flight from Thailand not go to plan? You may be entitled to compensation. Thailand flight compensation is set out in Regulation 101, the country's air passenger rights law, which protects everyone on a scheduled flight leaving a Thai airport, whether they booked with a Thai carrier or a foreign airline. It applies to delays, cancellations, denied boarding and long waits on the tarmac.

Thailand's flight delay and cancellation law goes by its formal name, the Regulation of the Civil Aviation Board No. 101. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) enforces it, and it fixes the minimum rights passengers can count on whenever a flight is delayed, cancelled or overbooked.

Its reach is broad. Every scheduled flight leaving a Thai airport falls under the rules, domestic and international alike. The airline's nationality makes no difference: whether you board a Thai carrier such as Thai Airways or Bangkok Airways or a foreign one, the deciding factor is simply where the flight takes off.

In practice, the regulation grants passengers three core protections. First, the right to care while you wait, which covers meals, a hotel room when an overnight wait is needed, and a way to stay in contact. Second, cash compensation when a delay, cancellation or denied boarding is serious enough to qualify. Third, the right to choose between a refund and re-routing when your original flight no longer works for you.

Regulation 101 entitles you to a cash payment when a flight is delayed for several hours, cancelled or overbooked, provided the cause is not an extraordinary circumstance. Every figure is fixed in Thai Baht, and the amount you are owed turns on three things:

1. The kind of disruption

2. The length of your wait

3. How far your flight was due to travel

Here is how the amounts work for international flights leaving Thailand:

On domestic flights the amount is flat, whatever the distance:

• ฿1,200 (~£25) for a delay beyond 5 hours

• ฿1,500 (~£35) for a cancellation or denied boarding

An airline may settle in cash, a travel voucher, a credit shell or frequent flyer miles, but only with your agreement. The choice stays with you, and you can always opt for cash.

Under Thai law, what an airline owes for a delay grows with the length of the wait. The longer you are held up, the more the carrier has to do for you. On international flights the tiers work like this:

• From 2 hours: meals, drinks or food vouchers, plus a way to make calls or send emails.

• From 5 hours: all of the above, plus ฿1,500 (~£35) in compensation. If staying overnight becomes necessary, the airline also covers a hotel for at least one night and transfers to and from the airport. At this point you may instead cancel the journey and recover the fare for the portion you did not fly.

• From 10 hours: all of the above, with compensation rising according to distance, from ฿2,000 to ฿4,500 (see the table). You also have the right to choose between a full refund, re-routing on the next available flight at no extra cost, or alternative transport to your destination.

If the delay stems from extraordinary circumstances, no compensation is due.

Domestic flights work along similar lines, with two thresholds set lower. Re-routing becomes available at 3 hours and compensation of ฿1,200 (~£25) at 5 hours. Most journeys covered here are international, so the figures above are the ones worth keeping in mind.

Tarmac delays

A separate set of rules applies once you have boarded and the aircraft is still on the ground, waiting on the tarmac. For as long as you are kept there, the airline must keep the cabin properly ventilated and at a reasonable temperature, ensure the lavatories remain accessible and arrange urgent medical assistance for anyone who needs it.

If the wait passes three hours with no take-off time confirmed, you have the right to leave the aircraft, unless safety, security or air traffic control prevents it.

The ordinary delay rights set out above (meals, compensation and so on) still apply here, on top of these tarmac-specific rules.

A cancellation, or being kept off an overbooked flight against your will, comes with stronger protection than a delay. The compensation is set at the same level as a delay beyond ten hours, ฿2,000 to ฿4,500 on international routes by distance (see the table above), and it sits alongside full care and a right to re-routing.

If your flight is cancelled, the airline has to provide:

• Care: meals, drinks, a way to stay in contact and a hotel room if you are left waiting overnight.

• Compensation: ฿2,000 to ฿4,500 for international flights, scaled to how far you were flying.

• A choice of how to continue: a full refund of the unused ticket, re-routing to your destination on the next available flight or a later date of your choosing, or alternative transport the airline arranges.

Denied boarding works differently. When a flight is overbooked, the airline must first call for volunteers prepared to give up their seats in return for agreed benefits. If not enough passengers come forward, those denied boarding involuntarily are owed the same care and compensation as anyone caught by a cancellation.

How re-routing works

Where re-routing applies, the airline has to put you on the next available flight to your destination at no added cost, using either its own services or those of another carrier. If no seat can be found that day, you decide which day to travel instead.

If the only workable option lands you at an airport other than the one you booked, though close to it, the airline has to cover your transport on to the airport you originally booked.

When airlines don't have to pay compensation

A disrupted flight does not always mean compensation is owed. In three situations the airline does not have to pay:

• Early notice: the airline told you at least 7 days before an international departure, or 3 days before a domestic one.

• A close alternative: the warning came later, but the replacement flight it offered reaches your destination within 3 hours of the original arrival time.

• Extraordinary circumstances: the cause lay in events the airline could neither foresee nor prevent, even after taking every reasonable step. Severe weather, political unrest, security threats and air traffic control decisions all count here.

If you are upgraded or downgraded

Should the airline seat you in a higher class than the one you paid for, there is nothing more to pay.

A move the other way, into a lower class, entitles you to a partial refund of your fare:

A downgrade always needs your agreement: the airline cannot move you down a class without it.

1. Start with the airline

Your first step is to contact the airline directly. Regulation 101 requires it to make a reimbursement form available, whether at check-in, in its offices or on its website. Set out your flight details, how you paid and how much it cost.

2. Check the payment deadlines

Once your form and supporting documents reach the airline, it is bound by firm deadlines:

3. Take it further if needed

If the airline ignores your claim or refuses to pay what it owes, you can lodge a formal complaint with the CAAT through its online Complaint Management System at complaint.caat.or.th. Attach your booking confirmation, boarding pass and any messages exchanged with the airline.

Could you be owed more?

AirHelp does not handle claims under Regulation 101. A flight from Thailand to the UK flown by a British or European airline is another matter: it can fall under UK law, where compensation reaches £520, and AirHelp can take that claim on for you.

Checking is free and takes around two minutes, with nothing to lose, since AirHelp works on a no win, no fee basis.