u/Simple-Bee1935

Traveling light means I never keep physical paper receipts or boarding passes the second i land , everything gets tossed into the nearest airport trash bin. so when a buddy told me last week that I could still claim cash compensation for an atrocious United flight UA904 from Frankfurt to Chicago that was delayed by five hours last summer, i literally laughed in his face. how am i supposed to file a formal claim when I don't even have the ticket number or confirmation stub anymore? the delay completely ruined my arrival evening and forced me into an expensive midnight hotel.

Did anyone else realize that EU261 lets you claim compensation for flights going back up to three years or more depending on the jurisdiction?

I thought there was a strict 30-day window to complain, so I never bothered looking into an awful experience I had on an Iberia flight IB6250 from Madrid to Miami.

The plane had an electrical malfunction just before pushback, keeping us locked inside the cabin for five hours with flickering lights and spotty ventilation. by the time we reached Miami, my connecting domestic leg was long gone and my luggage didn't show up for three days. i was so traumatized by the ordeal that I threw away all my travel paperwork the moment I unpacked.

What a nightmare of a travel day. Our initial flight from Italy got delayed by over an hour, which nuked our connection to the US through Munich. After we landed, we sat on the tarmac for ages waiting for a bus gate because our stand was not ready. By the time we sprinted across the terminal, we literally watched them close the boarding gate right in our faces. Lufthansa put us up in a sketchy airport hotel that smelled of damp carpet and gave us voucher meal tickets for a depressing dry sandwich. Now we are stuck here for 24 hours. Are we entitled to any cash compensation under EU261 for this mess or just the crappy hotel room?

Thanks in advance.