A cancelled flight, or one delayed five hours or more that you decide not to take, gives you the choice between a full refund and re-routing. Article 8(1)(a) requires reimbursement within seven days by the means in Article 7(3): cash, bank transfer, bank order or cheque. A voucher counts only if you agree to one in writing.
[Your full name]
[Your address]
[Email]
[Phone]
[Today's date]
[Airline name] — Customer Relations / Refunds
[Airline claims address or online claim form]
Re: Refund demand under Article 8, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004
Flight [Flight number]
Route [Departure airport] to [Final destination airport]
Date of flight [Flight date]
Booking reference [Booking reference]
Dear Sir or Madam,
Flight [Flight number] on [Flight date] was
[cancelled / delayed more than five hours and I chose not to travel].
Under Article 8(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 I am exercising my
right to reimbursement rather than re-routing.
Article 8(1)(a) requires reimbursement within seven days, by the means
provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price
at which it was bought — for the parts of the journey not made, and for
the parts already made where the flight no longer serves any purpose in
relation to my original travel plan. I also require a return flight to my
first point of departure at the earliest opportunity.
The sum due is [Currency] [Refund amount], covering
[the full fare / the unused portion], including taxes and charges.
Article 7(3) provides for payment in cash, by electronic bank transfer,
bank order or bank cheque. A travel voucher requires my signed agreement,
which I do not give. Please pay to: [Payment details].
This reimbursement is separate from, and does not affect, any
compensation owed under Article 7.
Yours faithfully,
[Signature]
[Your full name]
How to use it
- Decide first: refund or re-routing. You cannot have both, and the choice is yours under Article 8(1).
- Delete the return-flight sentence unless you are stranded away from where the journey started.
- State the fare including taxes and charges. Airlines sometimes refund the base fare and keep the rest.
- Send it to the refunds team, not the general contact form, and date the seven days from that day.
- If day seven passes, open a card chargeback or Section 75 claim while you keep chasing.
If you chose re-routing and the airline will not actually put you on another flight, use the refused-to-rebook letter instead.
“Original payment method” is not what the regulation says. Article 8(1)(a) points to Article 7(3), which names cash, electronic bank transfer, bank order and bank cheque. That usually means your card in practice, but an airline can correctly refuse a demand framed as a legal duty to use the original card. Ask for payment in one of the named forms, and refuse the voucher.
What is the return flight to the first point of departure?
It is the second half of Article 8(1)(a), and it is often forgotten. If a cancellation leaves you part-way through a journey and continuing has become pointless, the airline owes you the fare back for the parts not flown, the parts already flown, and a flight back to where you started, at the earliest opportunity.
Does a five-hour delay really let me demand my money back?
Yes. Article 6(1)(c)(iii) gives a passenger delayed at least five hours the assistance in Article 8(1)(a) — the full refund. You do not have to fly. If you take the refund and abandon the trip you keep the right to delay compensation as well, because the two rights sit in different articles. If instead the airline voided your return leg because you did not fly the outbound one, that is a different claim — see the no-show return flight ban letter.
I already clicked “accept voucher” on their website. Is it final?
Not necessarily. Article 7(3) requires the passenger’s signed agreement for a voucher, and a pre-ticked box or the only visible button on a page is weak evidence of that. Write and say the choice was not freely offered, ask for the cash, and if the airline refuses, escalate to the national enforcement body. Keep the screenshot of the page you were shown, because the question is what choice you were actually given, not what the airline says its policy is.
For a US flight the mechanics are different and often automatic — use the US DOT refund letter instead. If the airline has stopped trading altogether, see how to recover the fare.