Getting cheap flights is one thing, but what if your flight is delayed for hours or it gets cancelled altogether? Here is the first part of a Skyscanner Australia guide to your rights when you fly.
What happens if my flight is delayed or cancelled in Australia?

You arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Then you see the Departure Board and check your flight status. You notice some flight delays and even some flight cancellations. You gulp. Then you find your flight has been delayed by two hours. Or, worse, it’s been cancelled entirely. This means you will probably miss your connecting flight, or you’ll arrive at your destination too late to do what you’d planned. It might also means a lot of time hanging around the airport, being bored.
If you were lucky you might have received an email or text from the airline before you left home, telling you that your flight was delayed or cancelled. That’s nice of them. But, it still means your plans are messed up.
So, what are your rights when it comes to delays and cancellations? Well, in Australia you don’t really have any. In Australia, airlines don’t have to guarantee their timetable. They have agreed to get you from one place to another, but when they do this is up to them. If you miss a connecting flight then they don’t have to help you out either.
Of course, it’s good business practice to keep customers happy, even on cheap flights, so in reality an airline will try and smooth things out for you if they want you to fly with them again.
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What happens if my flight is delayed or cancelled in the USA or Europe?
What about flights to and from the USA? In the US the situation is very similar to Australia when it comes to delays and cancelled flights.