Flight Delayed or Cancelled in Pakistan: What Airlines Must Give You and How to Claim

If your flight from or to a Pakistani airport is delayed, cancelled or overbooked, the airline owes you care and a choice. After a 2 to 4 hour delay, depending on distance, it must give meals and refreshments. After 5 hours you can take a full refund. If you are bumped against your will, you get 50% of the fare. If the airline refuses, email the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority.

These rights come from the PCAA's Air Navigation Order ANO-001-ATCP-2.0, "Air Passenger Rights". We downloaded the order from the PCAA's own publications list and read it on 7 October 2026. It applies to every airline flying to and from Pakistani airports, so a foreign airline leaving Lahore is covered as well as PIA.

What the airline must give you for a long delay

The order sets the delay that triggers care by flight distance. Once you pass it, the airline must serve meals and refreshments, give you a way to call or message, and a hotel and transfers if you are stuck overnight. At 5 hours you can cancel and get a full refund.

There is one condition. Article D14.1 applies when you "checked in on time". It covers scheduled and charter flights leaving a Pakistani airport, and flights into Pakistan run by a Pakistani airline.

Bad weather does not cancel your right to food and a hotel

The order says airlines must give meals, drinks, communication and a hotel when needed to all stranded passengers "even if the delay or cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances or a force majeure incident". Bad weather can excuse cash compensation. It does not excuse care.

That line, Article D12.2.5, is the one passengers most often miss. If you are told "it's weather, nothing we can do", quote it. For the mountain routes specifically, the choices after a cancellation are covered in getting a refund or new seat for a cancelled Skardu or Gilgit flight.

Cancelled flights and overbooking: refunds and 50% compensation

When your flight is cancelled, you choose: a full refund of the ticket, or another way to your destination. Meals and a hotel come with it when needed. If you are denied boarding because the flight is overbooked, you also get compensation of 50% of the ticket's face value, not counting taxes.

• Cancellation compensation: the airline "may also have to" compensate you at the denied boarding level, unless it gave you "sufficient advance notice". The order does not define sufficient. PIA's own rights page reads it as 12 hours.
• Overbooking: the airline must first ask for volunteers. If you do not volunteer, it pays 50% of the face value excluding government and airport taxes.
• Half rate: that 50% can be halved if your new flight gets you there no more than 4 hours late.
• How refunds are paid: in cash, by bank transfer, or by travel voucher only if you sign to accept one, and "as soon as practicable".

So if you want money back, do not sign for a voucher. The booking side of a PIA refund, including online refunds, is set out in PIA booking, changes and refunds.

Money for the cost of a delay under the Carriage by Air Act

Beyond care and refunds, you can claim the actual loss a delay caused you, such as a missed connection or an extra hotel night. On international flights the cap is 6,303 Special Drawing Rights a passenger. On domestic flights it is your proven loss or double the fare, whichever is smaller.

Special Drawing Rights are the International Monetary Fund's basket currency. The 6,303 figure was set by an amendment to the Carriage by Air Act 2012 in 2026, which we read on the Pakistan Code. In both cases the airline escapes liability if it proves it took "all measures that could reasonably be required" to avoid the damage.

A claim for loss needs receipts. If you bought travel insurance, it may pay faster, and the steps are in claiming travel insurance in Pakistan. Lost or damaged bags follow separate deadlines, explained in claiming lost or damaged baggage.

Domestic airlines' on-time records, from the PCAA's own chart

The latest airline ranking the PCAA has published covers domestic departures from major airports from July to December 2024. Fly Jinnah had the best punctuality at 64.52% of flights on time, and PIA the lowest at 37.58%. On regularity, meaning fewest cancellations, Fly Jinnah also led at 98.76%.

These figures are almost two years old, and the PCAA had not posted a newer chart when we checked. Your bag allowance also differs by airline, compared in the domestic baggage allowance of 5 airlines.

How to claim, and how to complain if the airline refuses

Ask at the airport first, then complain in writing to the airline. If it refuses or ignores you, email the PCAA's Air Transport and Economic Regulation directorate with your flight details. You can also take the airline to a consumer court for breaking its conditions of carriage.

1. At the airport, ask the counter for meals, a hotel or the refund the order gives you. Get the delay or cancellation in writing, or photograph the departure screen.
2. Keep everything: boarding pass, ticket, SMS or email about the change, and receipts for food, taxis and hotels.
3. Write to the airline within a few days. Quote ANO-001-ATCP-2.0 and the article: D12.2.5 for care, D12.3 for denied boarding, D13 for cancellation, D14 for delay.
4. Email the PCAA at Director.ATER@pcaa.gov.pk and AdldAT.CP@pcaa.gov.pk if the airline refuses.
5. Use the PCAA's format: airline name, flight number, date and time, your name and PNR, origin and destination, and the category: cancellation, delay, denied boarding or mishandled baggage.
6. Go to a consumer court if you want compensation the regulator cannot order.

Article D19.2 says the director "will investigate the case and take necessary action to settle the issue". The PCAA can fine an airline Rs 20,000 for a first breach, Rs 40,000 for a second and Rs 60,000 for a third, and up to Rs 100,000 or more for serious cases. That fine goes to the regulator, not to you, which is why the consumer court route exists. The steps for that are in taking a business to consumer court.

Common questions

How long must a flight be delayed before the airline gives food in Pakistan?

Two hours for flights up to 1,500 km, three hours for longer domestic flights and flights of 1,500 to 3,500 km, and four hours for flights over 3,500 km.

Can I get a refund if my flight is delayed 5 hours?

Yes. The PCAA order says the airline must offer a refund of your ticket when the delay reaches 5 hours.

Do foreign airlines have to follow Pakistan's passenger rights rules?

Yes, on flights leaving Pakistan. The order covers "all airlines operating to and from Pakistani airports", though its delay rules for flights into Pakistan apply only to Pakistani airlines.

How much compensation do I get if I am bumped from an overbooked flight?

50% of the ticket's face value without taxes, halved if your replacement flight arrives no more than 4 hours late.

Does the airline owe me anything if weather caused the delay?

Yes, care. Meals, drinks, communication and a hotel when needed are owed even in extraordinary circumstances. Cash compensation usually is not.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Last checked on 7 October 2026. We read ANO-001-ATCP-2.0, Air Passenger Rights, issued 30 September 2015, the PCAA's passenger complaint page and its airline ranking charts, all from pcaa.gov.pk. We read the Carriage by Air Act 2012, as amended in 2026, on the Pakistan Code. The order is a scanned document, so we quote it from the page images. The order says its rights apply in addition to any other rights under applicable law.