Flight Delayed or Cancelled in the UAE? Your Passenger Rights Under UAE Law

Direct answer. If an airline cancels your flight to or from the UAE for a reason on its side, the UAE Commercial Transactions Law says you do not owe the fare, and you keep the right to claim compensation for loss you can prove. Even when force majeure stops the flight before departure, Article 322(1) says the airline is not entitled to the fare; it only escapes paying compensation. If the flight is delayed, the air carrier is liable for the damage the delay causes you, unless it proves force majeure, your own fault, or a third party's act. Checked bags carry hard deadlines: 7 days from receipt to report damage, and 21 days from the day the bag is placed at your disposal to report a delay. The official English translation says "business days", but the Arabic original of the law says "days", so count calendar days to be safe. What UAE law does not give you is a fixed cash sum per hour of delay. We found no UAE federal rule that sets one, so under UAE law, passenger rights after a flight disruption work as a claim for actual, provable loss. If your trip is international, first ask whether the Montreal Convention 1999, which the UAE has joined, governs it; the national figures in this guide apply where it does not.

Which law decides your UAE flight disruption passenger rights

Three layers of law can apply. Which one fits your trip decides the limits and the deadlines.

The Commercial Transactions Law. The main national source is Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022 Promulgating the Commercial Transactions Law, in force since 2 January 2023. You can read it on LEXAI's legislation page or on the official UAE legislation portal. Articles 321 to 340 set general rules for carrying passengers. Articles 353 to 370 add specific rules for air carriage, which Article 353 defines as carrying persons, luggage and goods by airplane for a fee.

International conventions. Article 354 applies the Law's general carriage rules, including the passenger rules in Articles 321 to 340, to air carriage, subject to the air-specific articles that follow and "without prejudice to the international conventions to which the State is a party". The Civil Aviation Act, Federal Law No. 20 of 1991 (LEXAI page), says in Article 47 that the Warsaw Convention and other air-carriage agreements the UAE has joined apply to carrying persons and baggage. Article 19 of the same Act gives those conventions priority if they conflict with the Act.

The Montreal Convention 1999. According to the ICAO depositary list, the UAE acceded to the Montreal Convention, and it has been in force for the UAE since 4 November 2003. ICAO's list also records revised limits, effective 28 December 2024: 6,303 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per passenger for delay, and 1,519 SDR per passenger for baggage destruction, loss, damage or delay. The SDR value in dirhams changes daily, so we do not convert it here. Whether the convention, rather than the national law, governs your claim depends on your ticket's departure and destination points. Confirm that with a licensed UAE lawyer before you rely on either set of limits.

The General Civil Aviation Authority's list of UAE aviation laws contains no passenger-rights or fixed-compensation instrument, so treat any article quoting set amounts for a UAE delay with caution. If your flight departed from Europe or the UK, other regimes may apply; ask a lawyer.

When the airline cancels: the fare and compensation

The key rule is Article 327(1). If carriage is cancelled before it starts or before it is completed, for a reason attributable to the carrier, its staff or the aircraft it uses, the passenger "shall not be required to pay the fare". The article adds that this is "without prejudice to the passenger's right to claim compensation, if applicable".

A cancellation that is the airline's responsibility gives you two claims:

• The fare. The statute says you do not owe it. Airlines often answer with the fare conditions: a voucher, a rebooking, or a "non-refundable" label. How Article 327(1) applies to your specific fare conditions turns on the facts, but the statutory starting point is clear.
• Compensation, where you have a real loss. Examples are a non-refundable hotel night you could not use, or a replacement ticket you had to buy. Keep every receipt. Our guide to compensation for damages in UAE civil law explains how courts assess loss.

The position changes when the cause is outside the airline's control. Under Article 322(1), where a force majeure event prevents the flight from starting, the carrier pays no indemnity, and it is also not entitled to the fare. If the force majeure event arises after the journey has started, Article 322(2) lets the carrier keep the fare only for the part it actually performed. Whether bad weather or an air traffic restriction counts as force majeure in your case is a question of fact, so ask the airline to state its reason in writing.

When the flight is delayed: liability and the airline's defences

Article 331(1) obliges the carrier to carry you and your luggage to the destination on the agreed date. Article 333(1) makes the carrier liable for delayed arrival. In the air chapter, Article 357 says it directly: "An air carrier shall be held liable for damage caused by the delayed arrival of passengers or the registered luggage or goods."

The airline has three ways out under Article 333(2). It must prove that the delay was due to:

1. force majeure;
2. your own fault; or
3. a third party's act.

Article 367 adds that an air carrier escapes liability if it proves the entire damage was caused by the injured person's fault, and a court may reduce the liability where that person's fault contributed.

Liability under Article 357 covers the loss the delay caused you, such as a separately booked connection you missed, a lost booking, or extra travel costs. It is not a set sum for the delay itself.

What about meals or a hotel during a long delay? We found no UAE statute that sets a duty to provide them. That depends on the airline's conditions of carriage, so ask the airline what it offers and keep receipts for what you pay yourself.

Can the ticket terms exclude liability for delay?

Two articles deal with clauses that exclude liability:

• Article 335 (general passenger carriage) lets a carrier stipulate relief from liability for passenger delay, in full or in part. The condition must be in writing, or the official English translation treats it as void; on printed forms it must also be clear and explicit, or a court may void it. The Arabic original lets a court disregard a condition that is not written clearly enough to draw attention. It can never be relied on where fraud or gross fault is proved.
• Article 362(2) (air carriage) says any condition relieving the air carrier from liability, or limiting it below the Article 359 amounts, "shall be null and void", subject to narrow exceptions for items damaged by their own nature or an inherent defect.

Article 354 applies the general rules to air travel subject to the air-specific articles, which points to Article 362(2) controlling for flights. A court still decides how they apply to a given ticket, but a fine-print exclusion does not settle the matter. Do not accept it as the last word.

Downgrades, missing paid extras and journeys cut short

Some disruptions are partial. The law covers three common ones:

The rules also bind you. Cancel with notice before the travel date and no fare is due, though the carrier may claim its own damage (Article 324). A no-show pays the full fare and may ask to travel later unless the ticket says otherwise (Article 326). If death, illness or another compelling impediment prevents travel, the contract ends with no fare due (Article 323).

Delayed, damaged or lost luggage: deadlines and limits

Check this first. If your trip is international, first ask whether the Montreal Convention governs it. The figures below are the national rule and apply where it does not.

For luggage, the deadlines come first. Article 364 sets the notice periods, and missing them makes the claim inadmissible unless the carrier committed fraud or deception. Count these periods in calendar days: the official English translation of Article 364 says "business days", but the Arabic original says "days".

The airline can rely on these caps only if the air carriage document states that the carriage is subject to the Article 359 limits (Article 362(1)), so check your ticket and baggage terms. Article 356 makes the air carrier liable for checked luggage while it holds the bag, in flight or while the aircraft is at an airport. Article 363 says that collecting a bag without any reservation creates a presumption that it arrived in good condition. The notice can take the form of an objection recorded when you collect the bag, under Article 364(2). For an international trip, the Montreal baggage limit of 1,519 SDR per passenger may apply instead of the dirham caps; that is the scope question to check with a lawyer.

How to make a claim, step by step

Step 1: At the airport. Ask the airline for the reason for the delay or cancellation in writing. Keep your boarding pass, booking confirmation and bag tags. If a bag is damaged or missing, report it before you leave and record an objection on collection.

Step 2: Write to the airline. Set out the facts, the articles that apply, your losses with receipts, and what you are asking for: the fare under Article 327(1), a fare difference under Article 329, or specific costs. If the trip had several airlines, Article 369 makes the carrier that contracted for the whole journey liable for all of it, even for legs another carrier flew. Our guide on evidence in UAE civil courts explains which documents carry weight later.

Step 3: Consider a consumer complaint. Federal Law No. 15 of 2020 on Consumer Protection (LEXAI page) applies to services inside the State, including free zones, and to e-commerce sales where the provider is registered in the State, without prejudice to international conventions (Article 3). A ticket bought online from an airline not registered in the UAE may fall outside it. Among consumer rights it lists fair and quick settlement of disputes and fair compensation (Article 4). The Ministry of Economy and Tourism receives complaints (Article 22) on 800 1222. In Dubai, the Department of Economy and Tourism runs its own consumer complaint channel, and Abu Dhabi has the Department of Economic Development. The UAE Government's consumer protection page lists these channels but says nothing specific about airlines, so a given authority may or may not take up an airline case. See our guides to the Consumer Protection Law and how to file a consumer complaint. The GCAA also lists a "Feedback and Complaints" channel and a toll-free line, 8004466. Nothing we found states that the GCAA decides individual compensation disputes.

Step 4: Go to court if the claim is worth it. Article 368 lets you sue in the court where the carrier is domiciled, where its head office is, where it has the establishment that made the contract with you, or at the place of destination. The civil lawsuit process guide covers filing and timelines.

How long you have

Article 370 bars a liability action against an air carrier two years after the day the plane arrived, should have arrived, or the carriage stopped. Article 340(2) sets one year from the scheduled arrival date for other actions arising from a passenger carriage contract, and a party who committed fraud or serious error cannot rely on that bar (Article 340(3)). Which limitation period applies to your claim is a legal question. The safe course is to act well within one year.

Mistakes that cost passengers their claim

• Collecting a damaged bag without objecting. Article 363 then presumes it arrived in good condition.
• Missing the 7- or 21-day window. Count calendar days. Article 364(3) makes a late luggage claim inadmissible.
• Treating "force majeure" as the end of the matter. It affects your compensation claim, not the fare: if it stopped the flight before departure, Article 322(1) says the airline is not entitled to the fare. For a delay, the airline must prove it, so ask for the reason in writing.
• Expecting a fixed sum. UAE law compensates proven loss. Without receipts, there is little to claim.
• Treating a voucher as the only option. If the cancellation was the airline's responsibility, Article 327(1) is your starting point. See our answer on getting a refund for a service that was not delivered.
• Waiting too long. Time bars of one and two years apply, and evidence fades.

When to speak to a lawyer

Start by writing to the airline and citing the article that applies. A lawyer is worth a call when the loss is large, when the airline relies on force majeure or an exclusion clause you dispute, when several carriers and countries are involved, or when the Montreal Convention may change the limits. You can find lawyers who handle civil claims in the LEXAI directory and contact them directly. Searching and contacting lawyers on LEXAI is free.

This is general legal information, not legal advice. Confirm current procedure with the relevant authority or a licensed UAE lawyer.