AirHelp

AirHelp exists to answer one question: your flight went wrong, and you want to know whether money is owed and to have someone else chase it. It is worth being precise about what that means. This is not insurance, and buying it does not make a payment more likely; it is a claims service that assesses a disruption against air passenger rights rules and, where it takes the case on, handles the correspondence with the airline for a share of whatever is recovered. If you have already tried the airline and been ignored, that is the situation this is built for. If you want protection against costs that no regulation covers, such as a hospital bill or a lost bag valued above a statutory cap, you are looking at the wrong product and want a travel insurance policy instead.

Which rules AirHelp works under

The breadth of frameworks is the main reason to start here rather than with a single-regulation service. AirHelp lists EC 261 covering flights to, from and within the EU, a separate UK 261 for flights to, from and within the UK, rules for flights to, from and within Brazil and Turkey, Canadian coverage, flights from and within the US, and liability under the Montreal Convention for international routes. A disrupted journey often touches more than one of those, and knowing which set applies is the first thing that determines whether a claim goes anywhere.

On the conditions themselves, AirHelp describes claims arising from delays of three or more hours under EC 261, and from short-notice cancellations, with a threshold of a flight cancelled less than 14 days before departure. It also handles other categories including strikes and denied boarding. Two limits are stated plainly and are worth taking seriously before you invest hope in a claim: airlines are not required to compensate where extraordinary circumstances or force majeure apply, with severe weather and natural disasters given as examples, and the airline must be at fault. None of this is a determination about your specific flight, which is what the assessment is for.

AirHelp publishes compensation by flight distance rather than making you guess: up to 270 US dollars for flights up to 1,500 km, up to 430 US dollars between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and up to 650 US dollars over 3,500 km, checked August 2026. Regional maximums are also published, with up to 1,900 US dollars listed for Brazil and up to 650 US dollars in lira for Turkey. Seeing the ceiling before you file is genuinely useful, because it tells you whether the claim is worth any of your attention at all.

On timing, AirHelp states that limits vary by country but that in most cases a claim can be made up to three years after the disruption. That is long enough that an old flight from a previous year is often still worth checking, which is a category of claim most people assume has expired.

The fee, stated plainly

AirHelp describes a standard 35 percent fee, stated as including VAT, which comes directly from the compensation it secures and never out of the traveller pocket, on a no-win-no-fee basis. That is the trade in one sentence. Handling the claim yourself keeps 100 percent of anything you recover, and costs you the letters, the follow-ups and the willingness to keep going after the first refusal. Using the service costs a third of the outcome and removes all of that. Which side of that is right depends entirely on how much you value not doing it, and there is no wrong answer.

AirHelp+, and when a membership makes sense

AirHelp+ is a different product sold alongside the claims service. It is priced annually by trip count: 179.99 US dollars a year covering six trips, listed as 14.99 a month, and 249.99 a year covering nine trips, listed as 20.75 a month, checked August 2026. In return it adds fixed payouts that do not depend on regulatory eligibility at all: 200 US dollars for a flight disruption covering delays of three or more hours, cancellations and diversions, 200 US dollars for a missed connection, and 200 US dollars for lost or delayed luggage. It also lists up to 650 US dollars in airline compensation for eligible international disruptions, access to over 1,300 airport lounges with a free lounge pass on delays of an hour or more, dedicated round-the-clock support, real-time flight tracking, and no service fee deducted from compensation claims.

The arithmetic is straightforward. If you fly six or more times a year and disruption is a regular feature of your route, the fixed payouts and the removal of the 35 percent deduction can outweigh the annual price. If you fly twice a year, they will not, and the pay-per-claim route with nothing paid up front is the sensible shape.

Who it fits

AirHelp suits the traveller who has had a flight go wrong on a route touching one of the frameworks it lists, does not want to write to the airline, and is comfortable trading a share of the outcome for that. The breadth of regulations covered makes it a reasonable first place to check even when you are not sure which rules apply. It fits less well if the cause was weather or another circumstance outside the airline control, if you would rather do the correspondence yourself and keep everything, or if what you actually need is cover for costs rather than statutory compensation.

What you are handing over, and what you get back

AirHelp assesses a disrupted flight against air passenger rights rules and, where it takes the case, deals with the airline for you. The commercial terms are published rather than negotiated: a standard 35 percent fee, stated as including VAT, taken from the compensation secured and never out of pocket, on a no-win-no-fee basis. Handling the claim yourself keeps everything and costs you the correspondence. That is the whole trade, and it turns on how much you want to avoid the correspondence.

Breadth is the reason to start here

AirHelp lists EC 261 for flights to, from and within the EU, UK 261 for the UK, plus Brazil, Turkey, Canada, flights from and within the US, and Montreal Convention liability. Compensation ceilings are published before you file: up to 270 US dollars under 1,500 km, up to 430 between 1,500 and 3,500 km, up to 650 above 3,500 km, and up to 1,900 for Brazil, checked August 2026. AirHelp states time limits vary by country but that in most cases a claim can be made up to three years after the disruption, so an old flight is often still worth checking.

The membership is a separate decision

AirHelp+ costs 179.99 US dollars a year for six trips or 249.99 for nine, checked August 2026, and adds fixed payouts of 200 US dollars each for flight disruption, missed connections and lost or delayed luggage, over 1,300 airport lounges with a free pass on delays of an hour or more, and no service fee deducted from compensation. It pays off at six or more disrupted-prone flights a year and not at two.

Who should look at something else

AirHelp notes that airlines are not required to compensate where extraordinary circumstances or force majeure apply, so if your worry is being covered whatever the cause, a travel insurance policy such as EKTA is the product for that and works alongside rather than instead. If your route falls squarely under EU 261 and you want a single published fee structure to compare, Compensair covers that ground too. And if you fly rarely, skip the membership and file individual claims with nothing paid up front. Start a claim here when the flight has already gone wrong and you would rather not argue with an airline.