Claim Flight Delay Compensation with ChatGPT

What does this setup do?

You paste your booking and what went wrong, ChatGPT or Claude checks whether EU passenger rules or the US refund rule may apply, and it drafts the claim text for the airline's own form. You file it and handle the follow-up.

Who is it for?

For anyone whose flight was delayed, cancelled, or rescheduled and who isn't sure whether to ask for compensation, a refund, or both.

How do you set it up?

Tools

• ChatGPT Free or Claude Free
• Your booking confirmation: flight numbers, route, scheduled times, and the airline that operated each flight
• What happened: your actual arrival time, any notice the airline sent, and receipts for meals or hotels

Steps

1. Collect the booking email, the delay or cancellation notice, and your receipts.
2. Paste the facts into the chat with the prompt below. Leave out passport and payment numbers.
3. Read which rules it thinks apply and why. EU rules cover flights within the EU, flights leaving the EU, and flights into the EU on an EU airline.
4. Under EU rules, arriving 3 or more hours late earns a fixed amount by distance unless the airline can show extraordinary circumstances such as bad weather. Under the US rule, you get a full refund if the flight was cancelled or significantly changed and you turn down the alternative. A significant change means 3 or more hours for a domestic trip or 6 or more for an international one.
5. Have the chat draft the claim text for the airline's own claim form, plus a list of receipts to attach.
6. File it yourself with the airline that operated the flight. In the EU, if the airline doesn't reply within 2 months, you can complain to the national authority.

Help me claim compensation or a refund for a disrupted flight. Don't file anything or contact the airline for me.

Booking: [airline that sold the ticket, airline that operated each flight, flight numbers, route, scheduled departure and arrival]
What happened: [delay, cancellation, or schedule change; actual arrival time; when I was told]
What I spent because of it: [meals, hotel, transport, with amounts]
Did I accept a rebooking, voucher, or refund? [yes/no, which]

1. Tell me which rules may apply: EU air passenger rights (Regulation 261/2004), the US DOT refund rule, both, or neither. Explain why in two lines each.
2. If EU rules may apply, estimate the flight distance, show your estimate, and say which compensation band it falls in.
3. If the US refund rule may apply, say whether my facts fit a cancellation or a significant change.
4. Draft the claim text for the airline's own claim form, under 150 words, with dates, flight numbers, and what I'm asking for.
5. List the receipts and documents to attach.

Rules: Use web search to check the official EU or DOT page before you state any amount or threshold, and link it. Don't invent facts about my flight. If extraordinary circumstances might apply, say so.

Which chat tools work with this prompt?

Paste the prompt into any of these assistants (free or paid tiers).

• ChatGPT
• Claude

What tips make it smoother?

• Claim from the airline that operated the flight. Under EU rules, the operating airline is the one responsible, even if you bought the ticket elsewhere.
• Keep every receipt. Under EU rules, the airline should repay necessary, reasonable costs if it didn't offer meals or a hotel while you waited.
• Note when you were told about a cancellation. Under EU rules, notice more than 14 days ahead means no compensation.

Where do the claims come from?

Summaries use public sources linked below, not independent verification. How setups are picked.

• Read Your Europe (European Union)’s write-up (europa.eu)

  Your Europe (European Union): When EU air passenger rights apply, compensation bands by distance and arrival delay, extraordinary circumstances, and how to complain.

• Read eCFR, 14 CFR 260.6’s write-up (www.ecfr.gov)

  eCFR, 14 CFR 260.6: US rule: airlines owe a full refund, including taxes and fees, for a cancelled or significantly changed flight when you turn down the alternative.

• Read Federal Register (DOT final rule)’s write-up (www.federalregister.gov)

  Federal Register (DOT final rule): Defines a significant change as 3 or more hours domestic or 6 or more hours international, and sets refund timing.

• Read OpenAI Help Center’s write-up (help.openai.com)

  OpenAI Help Center: Web search is available on every ChatGPT plan, Free included, within plan usage limits.

• Read Anthropic’s write-up (www.anthropic.com)

  Anthropic: Claude Free is $0 and includes web search, file creation, memory, and connectors.