If your flight out of a UAE airport is delayed more than three hours, the airline must give you free meals, refreshments and a means of communication. Past eight hours, it must add a hotel room and transport to it. Those duties come from the General Civil Aviation Authority’s Passenger Welfare Program, CAR-PWP Issue 02, which has applied since 1 January 2025.

What the UAE regulation does not give you is the fixed cash payout that European passengers get. There is no UAE equivalent of the EU’s set compensation scale for a long delay or a cancellation. The UAE rule is a duty of care and re-routing rule, not a compensation rule, and any cash beyond that depends on the airline’s own policy or on proving actual loss. This guide sets out exactly what you are owed at each delay threshold, what happens on a cancellation, denied boarding or diversion, where the regulation stops applying, and how to escalate.

When the UAE Passenger Welfare Rules Apply

The regulation covers commercial air transport operators flying to and from airports located in the UAE, operators diverting to a UAE airport, and UAE airport operators. Its guidance material states plainly that it applies to disruptions at airports located in the UAE, and that disruptions at airports other than the UAE are subject to local regulations.

That geography is the single most important limit, and most passengers get it wrong. The regulation follows the airport, not the airline and not the ticket. A delay to an Emirates or Etihad flight sitting on the ground in London or Manila is governed by the rules of that country, not by CAR-PWP. Conversely, a British Airways or Lufthansa flight delayed at Dubai International is covered, because Subpart D requires foreign operators flying to and from the UAE to give the airport operator a passenger welfare program equivalent to the one in the regulation, and to commit to activating it.

Two further conditions sit in the guidance material. The obligations arise where passengers hold a confirmed reservation on the flight and present themselves for check-in at the time indicated in advance. And the regulation does not apply to passengers travelling free of charge, or at a reduced fare not available directly or indirectly to the public, though the operator should still accommodate their needs as far as practicable. Staff tickets and industry-discount fares therefore sit outside it.

Delays in the Terminal: What You Get at Each Threshold

The regulation sets three bands measured from the scheduled time of departure. Below three hours you are entitled to information only. From three to eight hours you get meals, refreshments and communication. Above eight hours the airline must add a hotel and transport to it.

Delay from scheduled departure What the airline must provide
1 to 3 hours Up to date information on flight status from the operator or its representative. Nothing more.
3 to 8 hours
(regardless of flight distance)		 Up to date information; free meals and refreshments commensurate with the waiting time; appropriate means of communication; and hotel accommodation commensurate with the time of day for passengers who have missed their connection and whose next probable connection is more than 8 hours away.
More than 8 hours Hotel accommodation, commensurate with travel distance to the city of residence and the time of day; free meals and refreshments; appropriate means of communication; and transport between the airport and the hotel.

Two details in that table are worth holding onto. First, the three-to-eight-hour band applies regardless of the distance of the flight, so a short hop to Muscat triggers the same duty as a long haul to New York. This is a genuine simplification over the European model, where entitlements scale with distance. Second, in the three-to-eight-hour band the hotel is not automatic: it is reserved for passengers who have already missed a connection and face another long wait. Ask for a hotel at four hours on a direct flight and the regulation does not require the airline to provide one.

What actually happens at the desk

Airlines meet the meals obligation with vouchers issued at the gate or a service desk rather than cash, and the value is set by the airline against the “commensurate with the waiting time” standard rather than by any published figure. Hotel allocation past eight hours is handled through the airline’s ground handler, and the regulation expects this to be pre-arranged: operators must document Service Level Agreements with airport passenger handling organizations, airport operators, ground transportation providers and hotels precisely so this does not have to be negotiated in the moment. If a hotel is refused past the eight-hour mark, that is the specific obligation to quote.

Delays on Board the Aircraft: The Right to Get Off

A tarmac delay carries everything a terminal delay carries, plus a disembarkation right. Between three and eight hours you must be offered the opportunity to leave the aircraft. Beyond eight hours the regulation says passengers shall be disembarked, not merely offered the chance.

Tarmac delay Entitlement
1 to 3 hours Up to date flight status information.
3 to 8 hours Offered the possibility to disembark (subject to local regulations), plus information, free meals and refreshments, means of communication, and a hotel if a connection has been missed.
More than 8 hours Disembarked (subject to local regulations), plus hotel, meals and refreshments, means of communication, and transport to the hotel.

The qualifier “subject to local regulations” matters. Disembarking into a UAE terminal can raise immigration questions for passengers in transit without a visa, which is why the regulation separately requires the passenger welfare program to document arrangements with the airport authorities to facilitate orderly transfer and the provision of temporary or short-term visas when required. UAE airport operators carry the mirror obligation to have procedures and agreements with immigration and security to facilitate temporary entry. If you are told you cannot leave the aircraft because you have no UAE visa, that is a coordination problem the regulation expects the airline and airport to have solved in advance.

Cancellations

Where a flight is cancelled, the airline must inform you at the earliest time practicable, offer care as appropriate, carry you and your baggage as soon as practicable on another flight with available space while extending your ticket validity to cover it, and offer either a return flight to your first point of departure or re-routing within a reasonable period, including on a flight of another airline subject to availability.

The re-routing limb is the one to press. The regulation expressly contemplates being put on another carrier, not only the next available seat on the same airline. If the operator’s own next flight is three days out and a competitor flies tomorrow, “subject to availability” is the only qualifier in your way, and the alternative can also be by other mutually agreed means and class of carriage.

The definition section carries a hard eligibility rule that no airline advertises. For the purposes of this regulation, a passenger is eligible for welfare if the flight is cancelled within 48 hours of the scheduled time of departure. A cancellation notified a week ahead does not trigger the care obligations at all. It leaves you with your contractual rights under the ticket, which is a refund or a rebooking under the airline’s conditions of carriage, but not meals, hotels or the statutory re-routing duty.

The cancellation duties apply to all transit flights, and to flights not originating from the passenger’s city of residence. The obligation applies whether or not you had already checked in.

Denied Boarding and Overbooking

Where you are denied boarding against your will, the regulation entitles you to the option of a return flight to your first point of departure or re-routing to your final destination, plus care as appropriate. It does not set any cash compensation figure.

Before an airline can bump anyone involuntarily, the guidance material requires a step that is easy to miss: when an operator reasonably expects to deny boarding, it first calls for volunteers to surrender their reservations in exchange for benefits. Only if too few volunteers come forward may it deny boarding against passengers’ will, at which point the care and re-routing duties bite. The regulation defines a volunteer as someone who presented for boarding and responded positively to that call. Whatever a volunteer negotiates is a commercial deal, not a statutory entitlement, which is why volunteering is worth doing only if the offer is good.

Denied boarding does not cover the case where you did not comply with the carrier’s contract of carriage or tariff provisions on ticketing, reconfirmation, check-in and acceptability for transportation. Turning up after check-in closes is not denied boarding.

Diversions

Where your flight is diverted to an airport other than the planned destination, the regulation gives you care on the same delay scales that apply to terminal and tarmac delays, plus the option of a return flight to the first point of departure or re-routing to your final destination without additional cost. The “without additional cost” wording is explicit here in a way it is not everywhere else in the regulation, so a diversion should never leave you buying your own onward ticket.

What the UAE Does Not Give You

Being straight about the gap matters more than listing entitlements, because the gap is where most passengers waste their time.

  • No fixed cash compensation. There is no UAE scale of payments for a long delay, a cancellation or an involuntary bump. The regulation is titled a welfare program and delivers care, information and re-routing. Any cash offer is the airline’s commercial choice under its own policy.
  • No “extraordinary circumstances” argument to have. Because there is no compensation entitlement to defeat, there is no UAE equivalent of the European fight over whether weather or a technical fault excuses payment. The care duties in CAR-PWP are not written as conditional on the cause of the disruption.
  • No coverage for disruptions abroad. As above, the regulation reaches disruptions at UAE airports. A UAE carrier disrupting you at a foreign airport is governed by that country’s rules, and if that country is in the EU or the UK, those rules are likely to be more generous than the UAE’s.
  • No published complaint fee, deadline or decision timeline. The regulation makes the GCAA responsible for continuous oversight of airline and airport welfare programs, but no official passenger complaint procedure with published timelines was retrievable, so this guide does not state one.

What does exist alongside the regulation is the international treaty route. The UAE is a party to the Montreal Convention, which makes a carrier liable for damage caused by delay to passengers and baggage, and for loss, damage or delay of checked baggage, subject to defences and to liability limits that the Convention sets and revises periodically. That route compensates proven loss, evidenced with receipts, rather than paying a fixed sum. We do not quote a limit figure here because no UAE official source publishes the current revised limits; check the applicable limit before you calculate a claim. Baggage sits outside these welfare rules entirely and is governed by the Montreal Convention, which is covered in our guide to lost, delayed or damaged baggage in the UAE.

How to Escalate a UAE Flight Disruption

Start with the airline, in writing, while you are still at the airport, and build the evidence the regulation itself expects to exist.

Operators must maintain records of every activation of their passenger welfare program at a UAE airport, and those records must contain, as a minimum, the date, time, flight number, route, the nature of the disruption, the number of passengers affected and the nature of the welfare provided. Those records must be retained for a minimum of three years and produced to the GCAA on request. That is an unusually useful fact for a passenger: when you tell an airline that you were given nothing at a six-hour delay, there is a regulated record of what it says it provided, and a three-year window in which it exists.

Practical sequence:

  • At the airport. Note the scheduled departure time, the actual times, and what was offered and refused. Photograph the departure board. Keep boarding passes and any voucher stubs. Ask for the refusal in writing or by email from the desk.
  • Receipts. If the airline provides nothing and you buy your own meal, hotel or transport, keep every receipt. Reimbursement of what the airline should have provided is a far stronger claim than a general complaint.
  • Written complaint to the airline first. Cite the specific provision: PWP.B.003 for a terminal delay, PWP.B.004 for a tarmac delay, PWP.B.005 for a diversion, PWP.B.006 for a cancellation, PWP.B.002 for denied boarding. Quoting the rule by name changes the conversation.
  • Then the regulator. The GCAA holds oversight of the programs under PWP.A.004. Dubai additionally has its own civil aviation authority handling aviation-related consumer complaints for Dubai airports.
  • Then the consumer or court route. An airline ticket is a contract, so a refusal to honor a refund or a re-routing obligation is also a contractual claim. For smaller sums the ordinary route is a consumer complaint; for larger proven losses it becomes a civil claim, and the mechanics of recovering money through the UAE courts apply.

If the disruption stranded you and your UAE residence visa or re-entry position is affected, that is a separate problem with its own clock, covered in our guide to the re-entry rules after a long absence. And if the trip was insured, the delay and missed-connection sections of a UAE travel insurance policy often pay faster than any claim against the airline.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a flight have to be delayed in the UAE before the airline owes me anything?

Three hours from the scheduled time of departure. Below that, the GCAA Passenger Welfare Program requires only up to date information on flight status. From three to eight hours the airline must provide free meals and refreshments commensurate with the waiting time, appropriate means of communication, and a hotel for passengers who have missed a connection whose next probable connection is more than eight hours away. Beyond eight hours a hotel, meals, communication and transport to the hotel are all required.

Do I get compensation for a delayed flight in the UAE like EU 261?

No. The UAE has no fixed cash compensation scale for delays, cancellations or denied boarding. CAR-PWP Issue 02 is a duty of care and re-routing regulation: it obliges airlines to provide information, meals, communication, accommodation, transport and re-routing, not a set payment. Any cash offered is the airline’s own commercial policy. Proven financial loss may be claimable under the Montreal Convention, but that requires evidence of actual damage rather than a fixed sum.

Does the UAE regulation cover my Emirates flight delayed in London?

No. The guidance material to PWP.A.003 states that the regulation applies to flight disruptions at airports located in the UAE, and that disruptions at airports other than the UAE are subject to local regulations. It follows the airport, not the airline. A delay at a UK or EU airport is handled under that jurisdiction’s rules, which generally provide more than the UAE’s.

Are foreign airlines flying into Dubai and Abu Dhabi covered?

Yes, for disruptions at UAE airports. Subpart D requires foreign commercial air transport operators flying to and from the UAE to provide the airport operator, according to its conditions of use, with a passenger welfare program equivalent to the one described in the regulation, and to commit to activating it in the event of delays, cancellations, diversions and denied boarding.

What are my rights if my flight from the UAE is cancelled?

You must be informed at the earliest time practicable, offered care as appropriate, carried with your baggage as soon as practicable on another flight with available space with your ticket validity extended to cover it, and offered either a return flight to your first point of departure or re-routing within a reasonable period, including on another airline subject to availability. Note the eligibility rule in the definitions: welfare applies where the flight is cancelled within 48 hours of the scheduled time of departure.

Can I be forced to stay on the plane during a long tarmac delay in the UAE?

Not indefinitely. Under PWP.B.004, for a tarmac delay of three to eight hours passengers shall be offered the possibility to disembark, subject to local regulations, and beyond eight hours passengers shall be disembarked. The regulation also requires the airline’s welfare program to document arrangements with airport authorities for orderly transfer and for temporary or short-term visas where these are needed to let passengers leave the aircraft.

What happens if I am bumped from an overbooked flight in the UAE?

The airline must first call for volunteers to surrender their reservations in exchange for benefits. If too few volunteers come forward, it may deny boarding involuntarily, and the affected passengers must then be given the option of a return flight to the first point of departure or re-routing to their final destination, plus care as appropriate. No cash compensation figure is set by the regulation. Denied boarding does not cover cases where the passenger failed to comply with ticketing, reconfirmation, check-in or acceptability requirements.

My flight was diverted to another airport. What am I owed?

Under PWP.B.005 you are entitled to care on the same scales that apply to terminal and tarmac delays, meaning refreshments, meals, hotel accommodation, transport between airport and hotel and means of communication as applicable, plus the option of a return flight to your first point of departure or re-routing to your final destination without additional cost.

Does the regulation apply if I flew on a free or heavily discounted ticket?

No. The guidance material to PWP.A.003 states the regulation does not apply to passengers travelling free of charge or at a reduced fare that is not available directly or indirectly to the public, though the operator should still accommodate such passengers’ needs as far as practicable. Staff and industry-discount tickets therefore fall outside the entitlements.

How long does an airline keep records of a disruption?

At least three years. PWP.B.001(h) requires records of every activation of the passenger welfare program at a UAE airport to be retained for a minimum of three years from the date of activation and submitted when required by the GCAA. The records must include the date, time, flight number, route, nature of the disruption, number of passengers affected and the nature of the welfare provided.

Official Sources

Information is current as of August 2026. Every threshold, entitlement and definition above was read from the official text of the GCAA’s Passenger Welfare Program, CAR-PWP Issue 02, issued 25 December 2024 and applicable from 1 January 2025. Four limitations are stated rather than smoothed over. The regulation was read through an archived copy of the GCAA’s published PDF because gcaa.gov.ae did not respond directly from our network at the time of writing, and the document itself carries the notice that it is an uncontrolled copy when downloaded, so verify the current issue on the GCAA website before relying on it. No official UAE passenger complaint procedure, fee or decision timeline could be located, so none is stated here. No Montreal Convention liability limit is quoted, because the Convention’s limits are revised periodically and no UAE official source publishes the current figure. And the regulation sets no monetary value for meals, hotels or transport, using the standard of what is commensurate with the waiting time, travel distance and time of day, so no figure is given for those either. This is general information, not legal advice.