Heavy snowfall and adverse weather conditions such as fog hit the UK on December 11th, causing significant disruption to local public transport and all airlines flying to and from the UK, including flights from and bound to Austria.

Airliners operating in Austria alerted to cancellations and delays as airport personnel were unable to reach certain UK airports and severe snow prevented airlines from taking off or landing at several British airports.

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“Wizz Air has also been affected by these unexpected circumstances and has, unfortunately, had to cancel or severely postpone some of its flights to and from London Luton and London Gatwick airports”, the airline company said in a statement.

Several delays and cancellations are affecting Austria, especially at Vienna airport. Here are some of the flights affected:

• OS 464 from Manchester – arrival to Vienna delayed
• BA 682 from London – arrival to Salzburg delayed
• BA 704 from London – arrival to Vienna cancelled
• BA 705 from Vienna – arrival to London cancelled

Earlier on Monday and late on Sunday, several flights were cancelled or delayed due to the bad weather conditions. 

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On December 11th, the Wizzair flight from London Gatwick to Vienna, which was scheduled to take off at 7:20 p.m., was cancelled. On Monday, December 12th, the flight departing at 5:20 a.m. from Vienna to London Gatwick and the flight departing at 8:35 a.m. from London Gatwick to Vienna were cancelled.

What are my rights if my flight has been cancelled or delayed?

If you are flying from Austria to the UK or from the UK but using an EU-based airline, then it is covered by EU legislation on passenger rights. 

In case of cancellation, you have the right to choose between getting your money back, getting the next available flight, or changing the booking completely for a later date, plus the right to assistance free of charge.

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Your rights and compensation for delays will depend on the duration of the delay, the flight distance and the reasons for a delay.

You can read more about your rights HERE.

Other ways to claim compensation

Even if you are not entitled to compensation from the airline, there might be other ways to get refunds and money in case of flight cancellation and delays.

Besides using private travel insurance, many credit and debit card companies and banks offer automatic travel insurance if you purchase a ticket with them. 

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In some cases, you might receive cash payment for delays and cancellations even when they were due to “exceptional circumstances”.