Simon Calder's travel question of the week: What to do if your flight is delayed

Our Travel Correspondent reports from the poolside in Florida

Flight delays are a constant issue, and plenty of people are first annoyed by a long wait to reach their destination, and then an absence of compensation. If the airline can successfully plead “extraordinary circumstance” then it avoids having to pay out under the EU passenger rights rules (though it still has to provide meals and accommodation as necessary until it can get you to your destination).

However, there may still be a chance for you to claim — but not from the airline. If you have booked a package holiday, i.e. the flights and resort in a single transaction, then the holiday company you booked through is obliged to recompense you for the time you lost.

Under the Package Travel Regulation, the tour operator is obliged to “compensate the consumer for the difference between the services to be supplied under the contract and those supplied”. So if you arrive 24 hours late for a £1,000 holiday, you should be able to claim for one-seventh of the cost of the trip: around £140. Watch our video for more details.