Save these before leaving the airport
- Boarding pass, booking confirmation and the original itinerary.
- Flight number, operating airline, date and every airport in a connecting booking.
- Airline emails, app messages, text alerts and photographs of relevant airport displays.
- The final arrival time, including when the aircraft reached the arrival stand or gate where known.
- The airline's stated disruption reason and any written notice of passenger rights.
- Replacement-flight documents, denied-boarding notice or cancellation notice.
- Itemised meal, hotel and transport receipts if the airline did not provide care.
Write a short contemporaneous note of what staff said, including the time and desk or role. Treat it as your recollection, not as proof of the airline's internal cause record.
Four folders make the file easier to review
- Booking: ticket, passenger names, booking reference and payment proof.
- Disruption: messages, timings, rerouting and the airline's explanation.
- Money: a numbered receipt schedule and copies of each itemised receipt.
- Correspondence: claim, acknowledgement, case reference, follow-ups and final response.
Use consistent filenames such as 01-booking-confirmation.pdf,
08-airline-rejection-2026-08-10.pdf and expense-03-hotel.pdf. Keep originals and
send only through the airline's or ADR provider's official secure channel.
If you no longer have a boarding pass
The CAA says other material can help show that you were on the flight: airline emails, baggage tags, airport receipts, phone records, passport stamps, or bank and card statements. Ask the airline to check its own passenger records. The CAA also points to a subject access request where an airline refuses to handle the complaint because you have no proof at all, but that is a separate data-rights process rather than a guarantee that the compensation claim succeeds.
Evidence for the amount
- Delay: actual arrival at the final destination, not only late departure.
- Cancellation: when notice reached you and the exact replacement departure and arrival times.
- Denied boarding: proof of timely check-in, whether you volunteered and the replacement arrival.
- Connection: one through booking versus separate tickets, plus the final arrival time.
- Distance: first to final airport for a protected connecting booking, using a reliable great-circle calculation.
Evidence about the cause
News reports and weather screenshots can add context but may not show why your individual flight was disrupted. Ask the airline for the specific event, its operational connection to the flight and the reasonable measures it took. Preserve the answer even if you disagree with it.
Prepare a one-page chronology
| Date/time | Event | Supporting file |
|---|---|---|
| [scheduled time] | Scheduled departure/arrival | Booking confirmation |
| [actual time] | Disruption announced | Airline message |
| [actual time] | Reached final destination | Arrival evidence |
| [claim date] | Written claim submitted | Claim copy/reference |
Privacy boundary
DelayDesk does not need your passenger names, booking reference, passport, banking information or copies of this file. Keep them on your own device and send them only to the operating airline, its current ADR provider or another service you deliberately instruct.