The short answer
A rejection letter is not a decision. It is one side of an argument, written by the party that owes the money. Four routes go over its head and three cost you nothing.
| Route | What it costs you | Can it force payment | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complain again, in writing | Nothing | No | Up to 8 weeks |
| ADR (UK): AviationADR or CEDR | Nothing | Yes, once you accept it | Up to 3 months |
| CAA PACT (UK, airlines in no scheme) | Nothing | No | Weeks to months |
| Enforcement body (EU) | Nothing | No, opinion only | Varies by country |
| County court or European Small Claims | £35 to £455, recoverable if you win | Yes | Months |
| Claims company | 35% of the award, 50% if it goes legal | Yes, via the routes above | Months |
Take them in that order. ADR and the courts both expect you to have complained first, so the eight week wait is a step, not a delay. This page covers the UK and the EU and assumes the claim is sound. For that part, start with what counts as an extraordinary circumstance.
When is the airline’s no final?
The UK Civil Aviation Authority sets the trigger. You can take the complaint to your airline’s ADR provider once it has given you a final response, or once it has failed to respond within eight weeks of your written complaint. Silence at eight weeks counts as a rejection, so a carrier that ignores you does not buy itself time.
Before you escalate, reply once. Most rejections name a reason, usually a technical fault or a knock-on delay dressed up as an extraordinary circumstance. Answer that reason in writing and keep it short. It builds the paper trail the adjudicator reads first.
Which route is yours?
In the UK it turns on whether your airline has signed up to an approved ADR scheme. If it has, that scheme can bind it. If not, nobody outside a courtroom can.
- AviationADR: Air Astana, Air Baltic, Air Canada, Air France, Asiana, Buzz, Delta, easyJet, EgyptAir, Garuda, KLM, Lauda, Malta Air, Royal Brunei, Ryanair, TAP, TUI Airways, Turkish, Virgin Atlantic, Wizz Air.
- CEDR: British Airways, BA CityFlyer, Cathay Pacific, Norse Atlantic UK, Scandinavian Airlines SAS.
- Schlichtung Reise & Verkehr, the German scheme, which can still take a UK complaint: Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Swiss.
Anything off those lists, including several large carriers on UK routes, means PACT or the county court. Check the CAA list before you file, because membership moves. In the EU the ladder differs: you complain to the enforcement body of the country where the disruption happened and it gives an opinion, not an order. EU residents can also use a national ADR entity, and anyone can use the European Small Claims Procedure.
What does ADR decide, and what does it cost?
Nothing, and that is the point. ADR is free to the passenger and the decision usually lands within three months. The adjudicator does not investigate. They read what you filed and what the airline filed, so a claim with the boarding pass, the arrival time and the rejection letter attached beats one described from memory.
Accept the decision and the airline has to follow it. It is generally final and cannot be appealed to the scheme or the CAA. Reject it and you keep the right to sue. That asymmetry is why ADR goes first: it can win the money at no cost and losing does not shut the courtroom door. One restriction catches people out. You see the airline’s defence and can comment on it, but you cannot raise new points then, so put the whole argument in the first submission.
What can a regulator make an airline do?
Less than the word regulator suggests. The CAA’s Passenger Advice and Complaints Team will say whether it thinks your complaint is valid and take it up with the airline, but in its own words it does not have the legal powers to impose a solution. It handles UK261, UK1107 and Montreal baggage only, and only where the airline is in no ADR scheme.
The EU side has the same shape. Article 16 of Regulation 261/2004 makes each member state designate an enforcement body and set sanctions that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Those sanctions punish the airline, they do not pay you, and the Commission says the national authority gives a non-binding legal opinion. Do not look for the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform either. It was switched off on 20 July 2025 under Regulation (EU) 2024/3228, so airline pages still linking to it are out of date.
What does court actually cost?
In England and Wales the issue fee follows the claim value plus interest, and a second fee falls due if it reaches a hearing.
| Claim value | Fee to issue | Small claims hearing fee |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £300 | £35 | £27 |
| £300.01 to £500 | £50 | £59 |
| £500.01 to £1,000 | £70 | £85 |
| £1,000.01 to £1,500 | £80 | £123 |
| £1,500.01 to £3,000 | £115 | £181 |
| £3,000.01 to £5,000 | £205 | £346 |
Run the numbers. Two passengers refused UK261 compensation on a long haul flight claim 520 pounds each, so 1,040 pounds, and that is an 80 pound issue fee. The 123 pound hearing fee only falls due if the case gets that far, and HM Courts and Tribunals Service confirms it is not payable if you settle first.
One rule decides whether this is worth doing. Civil Procedure Rule 27.14(2) lets the court order the loser to pay your court fees, so winning usually makes it free, and it caps what the other side can recover from you on the small claims track, so losing does not expose you to an airline’s legal bill. Section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 lets the court add simple interest on top at a rate it thinks fit, and a judgment debt then carries 8 per cent a year.
In the EU, the European Small Claims Procedure under Regulation 861/2007 covers claims up to 5,000 euros, starts with Form A, needs no lawyer, and produces a judgment enforceable in any member state without a declaration of enforceability. On an EU carrier you can bring it where the flight departed or where it landed.
What does a claims company cost you?
AirHelp’s published tariff is 35 per cent of the compensation including VAT, plus a further 15 per cent if legal action is needed, so half the money in the cases that go legal. On a 600 euro EU261 claim that is 210 euros, or 300 euros in court. On the two passenger claim above, 35 per cent of 1,040 pounds is 364 pounds, against an 80 pound court fee you get back if you win.
The CAA puts it plainly: a claims company may refer your complaint to the same approved ADR provider you can use yourself for free, then deduct a significant proportion of the award. The fee buys convenience, not access. It is fair value only if you genuinely will not file the paperwork, because a third of something beats all of nothing.
Which deadline kills your claim first?
- ADR: file within 12 months of the airline’s final response, or of your last written contact if it never replied.
- Court in England and Wales: six years from the flight under section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980. Scotland: five years.
- Baggage: two years, full stop. Article 35 of the Montreal Convention extinguishes the right to damages, so a lost or delayed bag claim dies four years before a delay claim does.
- PACT: it refuses cases with less than a year left to sue.
The twelve month ADR window is the one people lose. The rejection goes in a folder, and a year later the only route left is the one with a fee attached.
Where do escalations go wrong?
- Forwarding the adjudicator the same email you sent the airline, without answering the reason it gave for refusing. The rejection letter is the case you have to beat.
- Holding back an argument. ADR does not let you introduce new points once the airline has filed its defence.
- Claiming the ticket price instead of the fixed sum. UK261 pays 220, 350 or 520 pounds by distance and EU261 pays 250, 400 or 600 euros. The fare you paid is irrelevant to that figure.
- Accepting a voucher. Take one and you have settled, which ends the ADR route and the court route together.
Frequently asked questions
Does ADR cost anything if I lose? No. Both approved schemes are free whatever the outcome, and losing leaves your right to sue intact.
Will I pay the airline’s legal costs if I lose in court? On the small claims track, Civil Procedure Rule 27.14(2) stops the court ordering you to pay the other side’s costs beyond a short list that excludes their lawyers. Behaving unreasonably is the exception.
Will the CAA fine an airline that refuses valid claims? Enforcement and your money are separate tracks. Article 16 requires sanctions and your complaint feeds the evidence, but no penalty reaches your account.
Is a 250 euro claim worth escalating? Through ADR, yes, because it is free. In court a claim up to 300 pounds costs 35 pounds to issue and 27 pounds at a hearing, both recoverable if you win. Your time is the real cost.
If the airline has collapsed rather than refused, none of this applies. Read what to do when an airline goes bust instead.
Sources: UK Civil Aviation Authority, Alternative Dispute Resolution and How the CAA can help (caa.co.uk/passengers/resolving-travel-problems). HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Civil court fees (EX50), updated 13 July 2026 (gov.uk/government/publications/fees-in-the-civil-and-family-courts-main-fees-ex50). Civil Procedure Rules Part 27, rule 27.14 (justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27). Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Articles 7 and 16, and the UK retained version, legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261. Limitation Act 1980 s5; County Courts Act 1984 s69; Judgment Debts (Rate of Interest) Order 1993; Carriage by Air Act 1961 Schedule 1B Article 35, all legislation.gov.uk. European Commission, Consumer Redress in the EU, site relocation notice on Regulation (EU) 2024/3228. European e-Justice Portal, European Small Claims Procedure, Regulation (EC) No 861/2007. Your Europe, Air passenger rights. AirHelp price list, airhelp.com/en-int/price-list.
Researched from primary sources and checked September 2026. General information, not advice.
