Mirë se erdhët

Passenger rights

Fog, snow and winter delays: your rights under EU261 and Turkey's SHY-YOLCU

Winter brings fog at Tirana, snow at the hubs and long nights in terminals. The rules below come straight from the EU's Your Europe page and the text of Turkey's SHY-YOLCU regulation. This is general information, not legal advice.

Updated 2026-10-22

Short answer

Bad weather usually means no compensation, because both EU rules and SHY-YOLCU treat it as an extraordinary circumstance. But the airline still owes you care: meals and refreshments once the delay reaches 2, 3 or 4 hours (by distance), a hotel and transfers if you're moved to the next day, and a refund if the delay reaches 5 hours.

Verified · checked on 22 Oct 2026

Source: Your Europe: EU air passenger rights

Glass façade of the departures area at Tirana International Airport — Photo: Ravi Dwivedi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Weather and compensation

Verified · checked on 22 Oct 2026

EU: Your Europe lists adverse weather conditions among extraordinary circumstances, together with air traffic management decisions and security risks. To avoid paying, the airline has to prove the link between the weather and your delay or cancellation, and that it couldn't have been avoided even with all reasonable measures.

Turkey: SHY-YOLCU defines extraordinary circumstances to include meteorological conditions unsuitable for the flight. Its delay compensation applies when a flight is delayed for technical or operational reasons and you reach your final destination 3 or more hours late.

Not every winter delay is the weather. Your Europe says most technical problems and strikes by the airline's own staff are not extraordinary, so ask the airline for the reason in writing.

What you're owed while you wait

Verified · checked on 22 Oct 2026

The airline must offer meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, plus two phone calls or emails, once a departure delay reaches these thresholds. If the new departure is the next day or later, add a hotel and transport between the airport and the hotel.

Flight distance	EU rules: care from	SHY-YOLCU: care from
1,500 km or less (e.g. Vienna, Zurich or Istanbul to Prishtina)	2 hours	2 hours
Over 1,500 km, up to about 3,500 km	3 hours (Your Europe: intra-EU flights over 1,500 km and other flights of 1,500–3,000 km)	3 hours (1,500–3,500 km)
Longer flights (e.g. transatlantic)	4 hours	4 hours (over 3,500 km)

At 5 hours' delay both rules give you the right to a refund (and, on a connecting trip, a flight back to where you started) if you no longer want to travel.

If your flight is cancelled

Verified · checked on 22 Oct 2026

Under EU rules you choose, once, between a refund, re-routing at the earliest opportunity, or re-routing at a later date that suits you, and you're owed assistance at the airport while you wait.

Compensation for a cancellation is due if you were told less than 14 days before departure, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances such as weather. Make yourself known to the airline first, keep every receipt, and claim back necessary, reasonable costs if it didn't provide care.

Flights from Prishtina and Tirana

Verified · checked on 22 Oct 2026

Kosovo's Regulation 2008/5, which Kosovo's Ministry of Infrastructure says implements EU 261/2004, covers every flight departing Prishtina on any airline. Albania's Instruction no. 1/2013 covers flights departing Albanian airports on any airline. Our claims hub has each authority's complaint route and each airline's claim form.

Our own example: Bati, who runs Mirë se erdhët, filed a €600 SHY-YOLCU claim after a Turkish Airlines TK78 delay in 2026. That delay wasn't weather-related, and the claim is still pending.

Plan for winter before you fly

Estimate · checked on 22 Oct 2026

Our advice, based on the sources above: keep your whole trip on one ticket, avoid the last connection of the day, carry essential medicines and a change of clothes in your hand luggage, and save the airline's app so you see rebooking offers first. Fog is a known winter risk at Tirana, per the US State Department.

Frequently asked questions

Do I get compensation if fog delays my flight to Tirana?

Usually not: weather is an extraordinary circumstance under EU rules and SHY-YOLCU. You are still owed care (meals, and a hotel if moved to the next day), and the airline has to prove the weather caused it.

When does the airline have to give me a hotel?

When the new departure time is the next day or later and you need to stay overnight: hotel plus transport between the airport and the hotel, under both EU rules and SHY-YOLCU.

Can I get a refund for a long winter delay?

Yes. Under EU rules, if your flight is delayed at least 5 hours at departure, the airline must reimburse your ticket if you no longer want to travel. SHY-YOLCU has the same 5-hour point.

Is a technical problem during a snowy day still claimable?

Possibly. Your Europe says most technical problems are not extraordinary circumstances. Ask the airline for the cause in writing and check it with our compensation checker.

Sources

Checked 22 Oct 2026. Rules change; always confirm with the official source before you travel.

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