Passenger rights on cancellation are defined by regulation and vary substantially by where you are flying.
Rerouting and refund
The airline's core obligation.
Which is generally the passenger's choice between them.
Care obligations
Meals and accommodation during delay.
Which apply regardless of the cause in several regimes.
Compensation
Fixed amounts depending on distance and notice.
Which do not apply for extraordinary circumstances.
Claiming
Direct to the airline first, then regulators or ombudsman schemes.
Which is free and does not require a claims firm.
What airlines are actually obliged to do
Under the stronger regimes, get you to your destination or refund you, and look after you while you wait, regardless of whose fault the cancellation was.
Which is separate from compensation, which depends on the cause and the notice given.
Staff at a disrupted airport are frequently under pressure and may not volunteer the full picture, and knowing what you are entitled to before you ask makes a material difference.
Rerouting with other airlines
Obligations extending beyond the airline's own network in some regimes.
Which is frequently not offered unless requested.
Extraordinary circumstances
Weather and air traffic control removing compensation liability.
Which does not remove care and rerouting duties.
Keeping evidence
Receipts, boarding passes and written communication.
A general note
Rights differ substantially by jurisdiction and route.
What to do at the airport
Ask specifically to be rerouted, including on other airlines, ask what care is being provided, and keep every receipt.
Which is a different conversation from accepting the next available flight on the same carrier.
Staff dealing with a disrupted operation are working through a queue, and a passenger who knows what to ask for generally gets a better outcome than one who waits to be offered something.
Meals and accommodation
Provided by the airline or reimbursed against receipts.
Which is separate from compensation entirely.
Missed connections
Protection depending on whether the journey was a single booking.
Which is a strong argument for booking through connections rather than separately.
Making a claim
Airline first, then the national enforcement body.
Which is free.
A general note
Rights vary substantially by departure point, destination and carrier.
The distinction that decides compensation
Whether the cancellation was within the airline's control. Technical faults generally are; weather and air traffic control restrictions generally are not.
Which determines compensation and does not affect the duty to reroute or refund and to provide care.
Airlines sometimes describe controllable causes as extraordinary, and enforcement bodies and courts have repeatedly disagreed with them.
Notice periods
Compensation reducing or disappearing with sufficient advance notice.
Which is defined in the regulations.
Downgrades and denied boarding
Separate provisions with their own remedies.
Claim companies
Firms taking a share of compensation.
Which do work you can do free.
A general note
Passenger rights regimes differ substantially by region.
Why the travel industry is so hard to see into
Almost every part of a holiday is sold by one company, delivered by another and regulated by a third, frequently across several countries. The traveller deals with a single price and a single confirmation, and the arrangements behind it are invisible.
That structure is not designed to confuse anyone. It exists because travel involves aviation, accommodation, ground transport, insurance and consumer protection, and no single business does all of those well. The consequence is that when something goes wrong, working out who is responsible is genuinely difficult, and the answer frequently depends on how the booking was assembled rather than on what actually happened.
The questions worth asking before booking
Who is the organiser, what protection applies if a supplier fails, what exactly is included in the price, and what happens if plans change. Four questions, all answerable at the point of booking, and between them they cover most of the situations that produce complaints afterwards.
None of this makes travel more complicated than it is. It makes visible a set of decisions that are being made whether or not the traveller notices them.
A general note
Consumer protection, aviation passenger rights, classification schemes and insurance regulation all differ substantially between countries, and change. National regulators and consumer bodies publish the applicable rules, and they are the authoritative source for anything with money or a legal position attached.
One habit worth adopting
Before paying for anything in travel, read the part of the confirmation that describes what happens if it does not go ahead. Not the terms in full, just that section.
It takes two minutes, it is where the meaningful differences between apparently similar offers actually sit, and it is the only part of the documentation that matters on the day something goes wrong.
Where to find reliable information
National tourist boards, aviation regulators and consumer protection bodies all publish material aimed at travellers rather than at the industry, and it is free, specific and rarely promoted.
It is considerably more useful than the general advice that circulates, and it has the advantage of being current for the country you are actually going to.