Flight compensation: my airline changed flight times, can I claim anything?

Have a travel question that needs answering? Ask our expert Simon Calder

Our reader wanted to know if a change to his flight time with American Airlines could mean he was due compensation (Getty)

Q I'm wondering if I've any case for compensation or at least a goodwill gesture from American Airlines? When I booked our forthcoming trip to Las Vegas my girlfriend and I were due to change planes in Chicago, transferring to a service that landed in Las Vegas at 3.35pm. The airline has since changed us to a flight that arrives around 7pm. Having been to Las Vegas before I know early evening is a busy time to arrive, and we're now looking at the half-day we had to start enjoying ourselves reduced to a few hours.

Can we expect any compensation or benefits to make up for this inconvenience?

Joseph Ward

A Let me try to be positive about the schedule change that now extends your stopover in Chicago from two hours to nearly six. How fabulous to have some meaningful time in this, the most American of cities. Once you clear immigration and customs, and re-check your bags for Las Vegas, you could leave the airport on the rapid and reliable L train to downtown, and grab lunch from any one of the numerous restaurants offering dozens of different cuisines. Or take a local bus from the airport to the nearby town of Des Plaines, where you’ll find the original McDonald’s restaurant - now a museum.

In terms of compensation: I can’t see that you have any legal basis for a claim, or for demanding to be switched to another airline, because the affected sector is outside the European Union on a non-EU airline. All I can suggest is that you ask before your transatlantic flight if there is anything the staff can do for you, after this disappointing turn of events. Don’t expect an upgrade, though you might possibly get something like lounge access during your now-prolonged stopover.

Every day, our travel correspondent, Simon Calder, tackles a reader's question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder