The escalation ladder: ADR, the CAA and small claims

Airlines refuse valid claims regularly, and they also ignore them, which is worse because there is nothing to argue with. The escalation route is a ladder with four rungs and you have to climb them in order. This guide sets out what each rung does, how long you must wait before moving up, which body covers your airline, what a decision actually binds, and the limitation periods that eventually close the whole thing off.

Rung one: the airline, and the eight-week clock

Everything starts with a written complaint to the operating carrier. Written matters - a phone call leaves you with nothing to escalate. Use the airline's own claim form if it has one, because that generates a reference number, and keep a copy of what you sent.

The number to hold on to is eight weeks. If the airline has not resolved your written complaint within eight weeks, you can take it to its dispute resolution body. You can also move sooner if the airline has already sent you a final response, sometimes labelled a deadlock letter. There is no need to keep exchanging emails once the airline has stated its position, and repeated rounds of correspondence do not improve your case.

What does help is making the first complaint complete: the flight and booking reference, the actual arrival time, the reason the airline gave, the regulation and article, the exact figure you want - which the compensation checker will work out - and receipts for any care costs. The structure is in claiming it yourself, for free.

Rung two: approved ADR

Alternative dispute resolution is the main event. Two providers are approved for UK aviation - AviationADR, run by Consumer Dispute Resolution Limited, and the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution. Which one you use is not your choice. It depends on which scheme your airline has joined, and the current list is published by the CAA.

Three features are worth understanding before you file.

• It is free to you. The airline pays the case fee. There is no risk of costs.
• It binds the airline if you accept it. An outcome you accept is enforceable against the carrier. An outcome you reject leaves you free to sue.
• It is documents-only. There is no hearing. Everything is decided on what the two sides upload, which puts a premium on the evidence you kept.

Two deadlines apply. You must submit within 12 months of receiving the airline's final response, and the underlying incident must have happened within the last six years, or five years if you live in Scotland.

Rung three: CAA PACT

Not every airline has joined a scheme. Where yours has not, the CAA's Passenger Advice and Complaints Team will look at the complaint instead. PACT is free and it will give a view on whether the airline has applied the regulation correctly, but the CAA is explicit that unlike an approved ADR provider it cannot make a binding decision on the airline.

That sounds weaker than it is. Airlines outside a scheme have no formal adjudicator, and a regulator writing to say the refusal looks wrong is often enough to produce a settlement. If it is not, PACT's view is a useful document to attach to a court claim.

Rung four: the small claims track

A fixed-sum compensation claim is close to the ideal small claim. The amount is set by law rather than argued over, the facts are usually a handful of times and dates, and there is no need for a lawyer. Claims are issued online through Money Claim Online in England and Wales, through the equivalent process in Northern Ireland, or as a simple procedure claim in Scotland.

You pay an issue fee that scales with the amount claimed, and you can ask for it back as part of the claim if you win. Costs on the small claims track are limited, which is what makes it accessible - a losing claimant is not normally exposed to the airline's legal bill. Many claims settle once proceedings are issued, because defending costs the airline more than paying.

The ladder at a glance

Time limits

The outer boundary is the ordinary limitation period for a contractual claim. In England and Wales that is six years from the flight, under the Limitation Act 1980. In Scotland it is five years, under the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973. Northern Ireland follows the six-year period. The CAA uses the same windows when deciding which complaints it will consider.

Two traps sit inside those generous periods. The 12-month ADR deadline runs from the airline's final response, not from the flight, so sitting on a refusal letter for a year can shut the free route while the court route remains open. And evidence decays - app histories are purged, screenshots are lost, memories of what the gate agent said become unusable. Claiming early is not a legal requirement but it is a practical one.

Choosing between ADR and court

For most passengers ADR first is the obvious answer, because it costs nothing, it binds the airline if you accept it, and rejecting the outcome leaves the court route intact. Court first makes sense mainly where the airline is in no ADR scheme and PACT has already failed to move it, or where the claim includes consequential losses beyond the fixed compensation, which ADR schemes may not deal with.

Whichever rung you are on, the argument rarely changes. If the refusal rests on extraordinary circumstances, the burden is on the airline to prove both that the event was outside its control and that it took all reasonable measures, which is set out in extraordinary circumstances explained. If the refusal is about notice on a cancellation, it turns on the bands in cancelled flight rights. And before you hand any of this to a claims firm for a share of the proceeds, read the honest maths - every rung of this ladder up to court is free.