Flight delays and cancellations to and from the UAE

Up to four things can follow a delayed or cancelled flight, each from its own source: care at the airport, fixed compensation where EU or UK rules apply, a refund or re-routing under the airline’s contract, and a payment from your travel policy. Which rules apply depends on your route and airline, not your nationality.

What must the airline do for you at a UAE airport?

Keep you informed, give you meals and refreshments once the expected delay reaches 3 hours, and give you a hotel once it passes 8 hours. The General Civil Aviation Authority’s Passenger Welfare Program (CAR PWP) sets these duties for denied boarding, cancellation, delay and diversion.¹

The rules do not say whether you can enforce these duties yourself. They apply to airlines flying to and from UAE airports, airlines diverting to a UAE airport, and UAE airport operators. The GCAA’s guidance says they cover disruptions at UAE airports, and that disruptions elsewhere fall under local rules. It also says they do not apply to passengers travelling free or on reduced fares not available to the public.¹

Table 2 lists the duties of UAE airlines. A foreign airline flying to or from the UAE must give the airport operator an equivalent programme and commit to running it.¹

Ask the airline’s desk for meals or a hotel once your delay passes the times in Table 2.

Does the cancellation duty cover you if you live in the UAE?

The text leaves this open. The cancellation duty applies to all transit flights and to flights that do not start from the passenger’s city of residence or domicile. A definition makes a passenger eligible for welfare if the flight is cancelled within 48 hours of scheduled departure.¹

Ask the GCAA whether the duty covers you when your cancelled flight starts in the UAE city where you live.

Can you get cash compensation under EU or UK rules?

Only if your flight falls inside their scope. EU261 covers flights departing an EU airport on any airline, and flights from outside the EU to an EU airport on an EU airline, unless you received benefits or compensation and assistance in that other country.² It pays EUR 250, 400 or 600 by distance for denied boarding and cancellation. The EU Court of Justice held in 2009 that passengers who reach their final destination 3 hours or more late can claim the same amounts, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances.³ No compensation is due for a cancellation if the airline proves extraordinary circumstances it could not have avoided by all reasonable measures. The regulation lists political instability and security risks among them.²

UK261 covers flights departing a UK airport, flights to the UK on an EU or UK airline, and flights to an EU country on a UK airline, with the same exception for benefits received elsewhere.⁴ A journey of more than one leg booked as a single unit counts as one, departing from the first leg’s departure point. It pays GBP 220, 350 or 520, including for a delay of 3 hours or more in reaching your final destination, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances.

On the text, a single-leg flight from the UAE to the EU or UK on Emirates or Etihad is outside both regulations, and a single-leg flight from the EU or UK to the UAE on the same airlines is inside. Table 3 covers single-leg flights only.

The EU Council and Parliament agreed a reform on 15 June 2026. It describes compensation for arriving more than 3 hours late or a cancellation less than 14 days before departure, at EUR 250, 400 and 600, a 30-day reply to claims and a non-exhaustive list of extraordinary circumstances. It was not law on that date, because both institutions still had to adopt it formally.⁵ Check the EU’s Official Journal before you rely on it.

Check Table 3 for your route before you claim from the airline.

How much can an airline owe for your proven loss?

Up to 6,303 SDR for a delay, under the Montreal Convention. These are ceilings on loss you can prove, not fixed payments. ICAO revised the limits from 28 December 2024.⁶ The Convention has been in force for the UAE since 4 November 2003.⁷ SDR values move, so no AED figure is given.

Keep receipts for any costs the delay caused you.

What do the UAE airlines’ own terms offer you?

Another flight, re-routing or a refund. On the text, neither the GCAA rules nor the four airlines’ conditions of carriage set a cash sum per hour of delay. Conditions of carriage are contract terms, not law and not insurance.

The airlines differ on how you get your money back. Air Arabia lists an involuntary refund as your choice. Emirates lists it as one of three remedies and chooses the remedy itself. flydubai refunds as a voucher unless the law requires otherwise. When force majeure stops a flight, Etihad may, at its sole discretion and subject to law, give a refund, a travel credit or transport to an agreed alternate airport. The GCAA rules do not mention a refund to your original payment method.

• Etihad. Refunds requested on its website are paid within 30 days if eligible. EU261 claims go to Etihad directly, and it allows 28 days. Where the Montreal Convention applies, it is liable for proven delay damage up to 6,303 SDR, unless it took all reasonably required measures or that was impossible. Its force majeure examples include war and a terrorist act.⁸
• flydubai. The voucher rule applies to cancellations and delays other than the examples it lists as beyond its control. Where the law requires otherwise, the choice is your original form of payment or a voucher. Separate rules apply to flights involving Israel, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Oman and Thailand.⁹
• Air Arabia. Its force majeure definition includes war, hostilities and government actions.¹⁰
• Emirates. It limits delay liability to 6,303 SDR where the Montreal Convention applies. It names government actions, pandemics, bad weather, air traffic control delays and strikes as circumstances beyond its control, and says it has no liability for them except as its conditions set out.¹¹

Check the airline’s terms in Table 5 before you accept a voucher or travel credit.

What does your travel insurance pay for a delay?

A fixed sum or your extra costs, once the delay passes the policy’s threshold, usually 4 or 6 hours. A policy benefit does not cancel what the airline owes you. Policy thresholds differ from each other and from the 3-hour line in the EU reform text. Most delay benefits list causes such as weather, strikes or breakdowns. Conflict and airspace closures are covered in war, conflict and airspace closures.

• Salama. From a 4-hour delay. Plan Traveller pays up to USD 250 to 1,000 and Plan Pearl up to USD 125 to 500, by hours delayed, against original invoices. It excludes delays caused directly by a strike of airline or airport staff or their subcontractors, and charter or non-regular flights. You need written confirmation from the airline.¹²
• GIG Gulf Travel Smart. From a 6-hour delay, USD 100 for the first completed 6 hours and USD 100 for each further 6 hours, up to USD 500. Or up to USD 500 of costs you cannot recover if you cancel after 6 hours, but not both.¹³ The product page says the benefit is for strikes or bad weather.¹⁴ The wording excludes a strike, industrial action or air traffic control delay that existed or was announced when you bought the policy, and an aircraft or sea vessel withdrawn on the recommendation of a civil aviation authority, port authority or similar body.¹³
• Liva. A departure delayed more than 6 hours by a strike, industrial action, bad weather or mechanical breakdown. USD 100 for each further 6 hours, up to the schedule amount. Up to USD 500 if you abandon the trip after more than 24 hours.¹⁵
• AIG Travel Guard. USD 50 an hour, up to USD 1,000 or USD 500 by plan, after a 4-hour excess. The causes it covers are equipment failure, bad weather, industrial action, natural disaster and strikes, and it pays reasonable extra expenses. It excludes an aircraft withdrawn from service on the orders or recommendation of a civil aviation authority or similar body.¹⁶
• Allianz Partners UAE, underwritten by Alliance Insurance PSC. From a 4-hour delay, up to USD 100, 200 or 500 by plan, for expenses less any refunds. It does not pay expenses the airline or supplier is responsible for.¹⁷
• Orient Easy Journey. Serious fire, storm or flood at the departure point, industrial action, bad weather, breakdown of a train or vessel, and an aircraft grounded for a defect. You need a letter from the airline. It excludes a carrier withdrawn on the order or recommendation of a government or civil aviation authority. The document gives two different thresholds, 3 hours in its summary tables and more than 6 hours in section 7.¹⁸
• Daman Alami. A delayed departure on the outward journey caused by a strike, industrial action, bad weather, mechanical breakdown or technical fault. The amount and hours are in the policy schedule. You need an Airline Report of Delay.¹⁹
• Mastercard World cards MENA (card benefit). USD 300 for a delay of more than 4 hours, and USD 300 for a missed connection. The delay must be without prior notice and due to a covered event.²⁰
• Emirates NBD Visa Infinite and Signature (card benefit). Up to USD 75 or USD 42 an hour, up to USD 1,000, after a 4-hour deductible.²¹

A delay claim can affect other benefits in the same policy. Daman’s cancellation cover excludes costs you can recover elsewhere.¹⁹ Ask the airline for a written report of the delay, and see the claim document checklist for what each policy asks for.

The small print

• GCAA rules. CAR PWP Issue 01 was dated 26 January 2022 and applied from 1 November 2022. Issue 02 is dated 25 December 2024 and applied from 1 January 2025, and removed the word compensation from the definition of Cancellation. The rules’ purpose is PWP.A.002 and their scope PWP.A.003. The guidance material is stated to be non-binding. The text does not say whether passengers have a directly enforceable right, and states no exception for airspace closure or force majeure. Subpart B addresses UAE operators. Foreign operators’ programmes are PWP.D.001. UAE operators keep records for at least 3 years (PWP.B.001(h)). The cancellation limit is PWP.B.006(b).¹
• Montreal Convention. The UAE deposited its accession on 7 July 2000. The ICAO list shows 145 parties.⁷ ICAO invited States Parties to make domestic provision to give full effect to the new limits from 28 December 2024.⁶
• EU261 and UK261. EU scope is Art 3(1), compensation Art 7, reached through denied boarding (Art 4) and cancellation (Art 5). Art 6 on delay sets assistance only. The extraordinary circumstances defence for cancellation is Art 5(3), and Recital 14 lists political instability and security risks.² The Court of Justice case is Sturgeon, Joined Cases C-402/07 and C-432/07, 19 November 2009.³ UK scope is Art 3(1), the single-booking rule Art 3(1A), delay compensation Art 6(3) and its exception Art 6(4).⁴
• Airline articles. Etihad’s force majeure terms are Art 3.1.11 and its examples Art 1. Its Art 10.2 refunds are subject to Art 3.1.11. Delay liability is Art 15.3.1, website refunds Art 10.1.7 and EU261 claims Art 9.4.2.⁸ flydubai’s voucher rule is Art 9.2(b), its examples beyond its control Art 9.2(a), refund form Art 3.3(c), and the country rules Arts 9.2(d) to (h).⁹ Emirates’ delay limit is Art 15.6 and its examples Art 9.2.1.¹¹
• GIG Gulf. Chapter M of the wording names no list of causes for the delay benefit.¹³
• Orient thresholds. The summary tables show 3 hours and amounts per 3 hours. Section 7 shows more than 6 hours, with payment for the first completed 12-hour delay and each full 6 hours.¹⁸