Canceled or Delayed Flight: Passenger Rights Beyond a Refund

This page is a translation of the original Portuguese text, provided for convenience. It deals with Brazilian law. If there is any discrepancy, the Portuguese version prevails. Read the original in Portuguese

If your flight is delayed or canceled, you are entitled to free material assistance, you may choose between a refund and rebooking, and you can also claim compensation, under ANAC (Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency) rules and the settled case law of Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice.

Material assistance and the time thresholds in the ANAC Resolution

When a flight is delayed, canceled, or you are denied boarding because the airline bumped you, the airline takes on immediate obligations, regardless of what caused the problem. Resolution No. 400/2016 of Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency provides that material assistance begins after a certain waiting time and increases the longer the delay lasts.

The scale follows a simple logic. After one hour of delay, the airline must offer a means of communication, such as internet access and phone calls. After two hours, it must provide food appropriate to the time of day, usually through vouchers. After four hours, you are entitled to lodging, if you have to stay overnight, and to round-trip transportation between the airport and your accommodations.

These deadlines are cumulative and progressive. The duty to provide food does not replace the duty to provide lodging, just as offering internet access does not excuse the airline from providing a meal. It is up to the airline, not the consumer, to provide these items in advance, without the passenger having to ask for them. If the airline fails to do so at this stage, that failure is a separate violation in its own right and can give rise to compensation.

Refund, rebooking, and rescheduling: your options as a passenger

In addition to material assistance, the same resolution gives you the right to choose when the delay exceeds four hours, when the flight is canceled, or when you are denied boarding. The decision belongs to you, never to the airline, which must explain the alternatives clearly and in accessible language.

The first option is rebooking, on the airline’s own flight or on another carrier, at the first available opportunity or on a date and time that suit you. The second is rescheduling, at no additional cost, for a future date of your choosing. The third is a full refund, including the airport boarding fee, paid within a reasonable time.

Some specific situations expand your options. If the flight leaves after a significant delay and the purpose of your trip no longer exists, or if the disruption happens on a connection, you may ask to complete the journey by another mode of transportation or to receive a proportional refund for the unused portion. The purpose of the rule is to keep you from bearing a loss caused by someone else’s failure.

It is important to document everything that happens at the airport. Service protocol numbers, photographs of the flight information boards, vouchers you received, and messages exchanged with the airline make up the body of evidence that will support any administrative or court claim. Without documentation, your claim is weaker, even if the right exists in principle.

Keep in mind that accepting a voucher or a rebooking does not mean you give up the right to seek compensation later for the harm you suffered. These are separate matters: material assistance meets your immediate needs, while civil compensation addresses the moral or financial harm caused by the airline’s faulty service.

After one hour of delay, the airline must offer a means of communication, such as internet access and phone calls.

Force majeure or the airline’s convenience: what removes liability

Not every delay leads to the same legal outcome. The key distinction is between a truly external and unforeseeable event and a problem that arises from the airline’s own business operations. That difference determines whether the airline can escape the duty to pay compensation, although material assistance remains owed in almost every case.

Adverse weather that prevents safe operation, an airport closure ordered by an authority, and similar situations are usually recognized as grounds that exclude liability for moral damages (compensation for non-economic harm such as distress), because they amount to force majeure. Even so, the airline must prove the event it alleges and show that it provided all the material assistance required during the wait.

The burden of proving the cause of the delay falls on the carrier, which controls the operational information. All you need to show is that you contracted the service and that it was not properly performed. This reversal of the burden stems from the consumer relationship and from the passenger’s informational disadvantage compared with the technical structure of the aviation industry.

Compensation and the precedents of the Superior Court of Justice

Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice has developed a balanced approach to compensation in these cases. On one hand, it recognizes that significant failures in air transportation service give rise to moral damages, especially when you miss commitments, wait a long time without assistance, or face disorganization that puts you in a distressing situation. On the other hand, it rejects the idea of automatic compensation for mere annoyance.

The court has rejected the theory of presumed moral damages in minor delays where the passenger was well assisted, requiring proof of a concrete impact on the passenger. When the disruption is significant, however, compensation is granted, with amounts set according to the principles of proportionality and reasonableness, avoiding both the trivialization of claims and unjust enrichment.

As for the amount, the court favors case-by-case assessment. There is no fixed schedule, and each case is examined according to the seriousness of the failure, the length of the delay, the airline’s conduct, and the actual consequences for the consumer. Missing a business meeting, an international connection, or an event that could not be postponed weighs on how the amount is calibrated.

For international transportation, one additional point deserves attention. Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court has held that, in claims for property damage arising from lost baggage and delays on international flights, the limits set by international conventions prevail over Brazil’s Consumer Protection Code. Moral damages, however, remain governed by Brazilian consumer protection law.

Step by step: how to protect your rights as a passenger

When your flight is delayed or canceled, staying organized makes a real difference in the outcome. The first step is to demand, while you are still at the airport, the material assistance that corresponds to your waiting time, noting the service protocol number and keeping any vouchers you receive. Make your request in a direct, objective way, without waiting for the airline to offer help on its own.

The second step is to decide among a refund, rebooking, or rescheduling, and to communicate your choice in writing whenever possible. The third is to gather evidence: your boarding pass, receipts for extra expenses, photographs of the flight information board, and any official communication from the airline. This collection will support your later complaint.

The fourth step is to file a formal complaint through the airline’s channels and, if necessary, through the official consumer protection platform and the regulator’s ombudsman office. If the administrative route is exhausted without an adequate solution, the path to court opens, where you can claim reimbursement of documented expenses and compensation for the moral damages you suffered.

Analyzing each situation individually makes it possible to identify the best strategy, because factors such as the real cause of the delay, whether assistance was provided, and proof of the loss directly affect your chances of success. Complete documentation, together with knowledge of the applicable rules, strengthens your position at every level.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who decides between a refund and rebooking when a flight is canceled?

The choice always belongs to you, never to the airline. If your flight is canceled or delayed by more than four hours, you may choose a full refund, rebooking on another flight, or rescheduling at no cost. The airline must explain all the alternatives clearly, and accepting one of them does not prevent you from seeking additional compensation for the harm you suffered.

After how long a delay must the airline offer lodging?

The duty to provide lodging arises after four hours of delay, when an overnight stay is necessary. From that point on, the airline must also pay for transportation between the airport and your accommodations. Before that, assistance is progressive: communication after one hour and food after two hours. Each stage is cumulative and applies even if you do not ask for it.

What situation removes the right to compensation for moral damages?

Force majeure events, such as weather that prevents safe operation or an airport closure ordered by a competent authority, usually remove moral damages, as long as the airline proves the event and provides the required assistance. Problems such as unscheduled maintenance, overbooking, or commercial restructuring, by contrast, are considered a risk of the business, and as a rule the airline remains liable for compensation.

As informações deste artigo são de caráter informativo e não substituem consulta jurídica individualizada. Cada caso possui particularidades que exigem análise específica.