Flight delay compensation: the full ladder of rights

A departure delay of 5 hours or more, but less than 8, does not by itself give fixed cash compensation under Israeli law. What you do get: a choice between a full refund of the ticket price and an alternative ticket, mainly relevant if you gave up the flight, and assistance: food, drinks and communication, plus a hotel if the flight moved to the next day. From 8 hours the flight is treated as cancelled.

A delay of 5-8 hours does not, on its own, give the right to the fixed cash compensation. What you do get: a choice between a full refund and an alternative ticket (mainly relevant if you gave up the flight), and assistance: food, communication, and a hotel if you were moved to the next day. If you suffered actual damage, there may be other grounds that need an individual review.

From a departure delay of 8 hours. Section 1 of the law says a flight that took off 8 hours or more after the time on the ticket is treated as a cancelled flight, with all the rights that come with it: fixed compensation of ₪1,530-₪3,670 per eligible passenger, a refund or alternative, and assistance, subject to the conditions and exceptions in the law.

Not automatically. The refund right in a 5-8 hour delay mainly matters if you chose not to fly because of the delay. If you did fly, you are entitled to assistance according to your waiting time. If the airline did not provide it, reasonable documented costs for that assistance may be recoverable, so keep receipts.

Under Israeli law the key question is the actual departure time compared with the time on your ticket. (Under the European regulation 261/2004, by contrast, the focus is the arrival delay. It applies to flights departing from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, and to flights from Ben Gurion to those countries on an EU/EEA/Swiss airline.)

A photo of the flight board or the app showing the actual time, messages from the airline (with the time you received them), your boarding pass, and receipts for every expense at the airport. With FlyBack the main evidence is saved automatically: snapshots of the Ben Gurion flight board, fingerprinted.

For an international flight under the ordinary Israeli delay rules, a 3-hour departure delay does not by itself give fixed compensation. It falls in the assistance band (from 2 hours: food, drinks and communication), and fixed compensation comes into play for a cancellation, or a departure delay of 8 hours or more, which counts as a cancellation. The 3-hour rule you may have heard of belongs to the European regulation 261/2004: it applies to flights departing from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, and to flights from Ben Gurion to those countries on an EU/EEA/Swiss airline. Different rules apply to domestic flights within Israel.

Assistance depends on how long you wait, starting from a 2-hour departure delay: food, drinks and communication, and a hotel and transfers when the alternative flight is only the next day (sections 7(a) and 3 of the Aviation Services Law). If the required assistance was not provided, reasonable documented costs you paid to get it yourself may be recoverable, depending on the circumstances. Important: the assistance rights generally remain even when the airline is exempt from the fixed compensation, so keep your receipts.

Connecting trips need an individual check. A single booking and the final destination are important, but the airline that operated each leg and how the ticket was issued can also affect your rights under Israeli law. With two separate bookings, each flight is assessed on its own, and missing the connection does not by itself give a right against the first airline. We check these cases by hand, for free.