One of the things you don't want to face when traveling abroad is having your flight delayed or canceled. If you have planned your travel itinerary around flight times and your departure and arrival times change, all your plans will be ruined.

In fact, Mr. A, a 30-year-old office worker who was recently using a domestic flight in the United States, had his flight cancelled, but did not receive any compensation due to bad weather.

In the case of foreign airlines, in the event of a natural disaster such as bad weather, there is no convenience provided by the airline other than arranging the next flight.

Person A said, “I have experience with domestic airlines providing hotel or food vouchers when there is a long delay, so I thought that foreign airlines would naturally provide similar benefits, but I was shocked when there was no compensation.” He added, “I had a hard time hurriedly booking a hotel for the next day.”

Domestic airlines provide compensation in case of flight delays in accordance with relevant regulations approved by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, such as the Consumer Dispute Resolution Standards and Passenger Transport Terms and Conditions.

When a delay occurs on an international flight, the airline must cover reasonable accommodation costs and other expenses when necessary. If the delay is △2 hours or more but less than 4 hours, 10% of the fare for the delayed section is compensated. If it is △4 hours or more but less than 12 hours, 20% is compensated. If it is more than 12 hours, 30% is compensated.

However, compensation for flight delays or cancellations is only applicable to technical issues, flight connection problems, airport conditions, etc., and it is difficult to compensate for delays or cancellations due to natural disasters.

However, in the case of domestic airlines that value their brand image, they often provide moral compensation even in situations where they are not responsible for compensation.

An airline official said, “Although airlines are using it as a kind of guide according to the consumer dispute resolution standards, it has no legal binding force, so even if it falls under the airline's exemption from liability, they can set their own compensation amount on a moral basis and pay it to passengers.”

In the case of domestic airlines, when there is a long delay, they provide changes to the itinerary, hotels, transportation, meals, etc. for the convenience of passengers, and as a moral compensation, they provide vouchers that can be used when purchasing airline tickets, in-flight duty-free, and various services.

A Korean Air official explained, “According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's standards, prior maintenance for safe operation is considered force majeure and there is no separate compensation responsibility, but we are providing a recovery service for passenger inconvenience according to our internal standards.”

Each airline has its own criteria for providing compensation for each situation, but the specific criteria are confidential and are not disclosed. The airline explains that in addition to the criteria for each compensation plan, they often provide additional compensation by taking into account factors that are qualitatively considered for each flight delay situation.

Recently, Air Seoul refunded the full airfare of passengers on a flight from Tokyo, Japan to Incheon, which was delayed, and provided compensation of 100,000 won to Koreans and 10,000 yen to some foreigners. In addition, it provided two meal coupons that could be used at the airport and a bus to travel around Seoul after arriving at Incheon Airport.

Industry insiders advise against booking separate flights if you are connecting on two or more flights.

An airline official said, “If you purchase separate flights for your connecting itinerary to save a little on airfare, you may not be able to find a replacement flight if a delay occurs.” He added, “You should be careful because you can conveniently receive a replacement flight if there is a delay by paying for the entire itinerary as one package.”

Cha Eun-ji, Hankyung.com reporter chachacha@hankyung.com