What claims companies charge, and when they are worth it

What they actually charge

Every one of these companies works on no win, no fee. If the claim fails you pay nothing. The question is what happens when it succeeds, and that is where the numbers get uncomfortable.

The VAT trap

The comparison people make is between a 35 per cent fee and a 42 per cent fee, and it is the wrong comparison. AirHelp quotes its fee with VAT already included. Bott and Co and Flightright quote theirs excluding it.

A 42 per cent fee excluding VAT is a little over 50 per cent once VAT is added, which is more than a 35 per cent inclusive fee, not less. The only number worth comparing is what actually leaves your compensation, and that is the inclusive one.

When paying is the right call

There is a real case for using one, and it is not the case the adverts make. It has nothing to do with them being better at asking.

• The airline has already refused you. This is the strong case. Once an airline says no, your options are an independent adjudicator or court, and most people stop there. A firm that takes half of something is better than all of nothing.
• The airline is disputing why the flight was late. Arguments about whether a technical fault counts as an extraordinary circumstance turn on case law. That is genuinely specialist.
• The claim is old or the paperwork is gone. The limit for going to court is six years in England and Wales and five in Scotland, and reconstructing a flight from years ago is real work. Note the squeeze at the end: the aviation regulator will not take on a complaint when there is less than a year of that left, so an old claim can fall between the two routes.
• You will not otherwise do it. An unclaimed £520 is worth less than half of £520. This is the honest reason most people should weigh, and there is no shame in it.

When it is not

For a straightforward claim, handing over a third to a half of the money is a poor trade. A straightforward claim looks like this: the flight was more than three hours late arriving, it was the airline's own problem rather than weather or air traffic control, you still have the booking reference, and you have not asked yet.

In that situation the airline's own form is short, the entitlement is fixed by law, and there is nothing to negotiate. You are paying a percentage for form filling.

Worth being clear about one thing: the amount does not change. UK261 pays £220, £350 or £520 depending on the distance flown. The airline does not pay more because a company asked, so every pound of the fee comes out of your side.

What doing it yourself involves

Less than people think for a clean claim, and more than people think once an airline digs in. We have written up the whole route, including what to do at the point of refusal, on claiming flight compensation yourself.

If you want to know what you are owed before deciding either way, the estimator works it out without an account and takes nothing.

Trains are a different story

Everything above is about flights, because that is where the fees are large enough to matter. Train delay compensation works differently: the amounts are smaller, the operator forms are short, and the regulator has spent years shortening them further. See claims companies and Delay Repay.