Flight delay evidence: the 8 documents to keep

You're entitled to €250-€600 in compensation, but the airline will refuse unless you can prove the delay. Without evidence, your right exists in theory but vanishes in practice. Here are the 8 documents to systematically gather, and the timeline of evidence loss to understand.

The 8 essential documents

1. Booking confirmation (PNR / reservation reference)

The 6-character alphanumeric code from your booking. Found in the confirmation email, on the e-ticket, in the airline's app. Save the original confirmation email in a dedicated folder.

2. Boarding pass (paper or digital)

The most important document. Contains: passenger name, flight number, scheduled departure time, seat, gate. Photograph it before throwing it away. The PDF or screenshot of the digital boarding pass is fully acceptable.

3. Proof of arrival time at destination

The hardest to remember but the most decisive. Options:

• Photo of arrival board showing your flight + actual landing time
• Photo of your phone with timestamp visible just after deplaning
• Customs/immigration stamp (passport)
• Geolocated photo at airport (e.g. baggage carousel with phone time visible)

4. Delay notification (email, SMS, push)

Most airlines send a notification of delay. Save these emails/SMS — they constitute admission of the delay from the airline itself.

5. Departure board photo

At the airport, photograph the official departure board showing your flight with the actual delay. The most neutral evidence — neither passenger nor airline produced it.

6. Care expense receipts

If the airline didn't provide meals/hotel/transport, keep receipts. Reimbursable up to "reasonable" amounts (typically €30-50/meal, €100-200/hotel night).

7. Photo or video of airport situation

Particularly useful for chaotic situations: long queues, no staff, no information board. Reinforces the claim of disorganised handling.

8. Onward connection ticket (if applicable)

If you missed a connection because of the delay, keep the second-leg ticket too — even if it was a separate booking. Distance is calculated to the FINAL destination, regardless of how many bookings.

Evidence loss timeline

Practical rule: the sooner you claim, the higher the chance of success. 90% success rate within 6 months. 50% beyond 24 months. Claim quickly.

Reconstructing missing evidence

If you've already thrown things out, don't panic — partial reconstruction is possible:

• Bank statement: shows the ticket purchase, the airline name, often the flight reference
• Email search: search "[airline name]" + month — confirmations are often still findable
• Calendar app: most phones auto-create calendar events from booking confirmations
• Travel insurance: insurer may have your booking history
• Photo metadata: photos taken at the airport contain GPS + timestamp
• Social media: Instagram story, Facebook post, Twitter complaint about the delay
• Third-party flight data sites: FlightAware, Flightradar24 keep historical schedules for 2-3 years

Special case: short-haul boarding pass thrown away on arrival

The most common case. The boarding pass is in the bin, the flight was 6 months ago. You can still:

1. Find the booking confirmation email
2. Ask the airline for a "passenger record certificate" (PNR retrieval)
3. Use Flightradar24 to confirm the actual arrival time
4. File the claim with this combo

It works in 70% of cases. The 30% that fail are typically those over 2 years old.

How Robin des Airs helps

We have legal access tools to airline databases and historical flight data sources. We routinely reconstruct claims from a simple booking number + the passenger's name. If you've lost most of your evidence, contact us anyway — we have a 75% recovery rate even with partial evidence.

Related: Complete EC 261/2004 summary, Airline refuses your claim: next steps.