The Flying Carpet Is Down: What to Demand from the Airline If Your Flight Is Delayed

Not long ago we covered in detail what to do if Carpet ruined your connection. That article focused mainly on transfers, single and separate tickets. In this one we will talk about the broader picture: what you can generally demand from an airline when a flight is stuck, and how to prepare so you do not lose money, time, and nerves.

The situation is more serious than it seems from the outside until you experience it yourself. Sochi airport has barely operated normally for several months, with delays reaching dozens of hours. Some foreign airlines have curtailed or reduced flight programs to Russia. Planes divert to alternate airfields or return to the departure airport, canceling the flight. You may well end up without a ticket, lose a hotel booking, be late for a train, or miss work on your return. These are not scare stories but what passengers are facing right now.

The scale of the problem: how Carpet breaks schedules

According to AlfaStrakhovanie data, which tracks flights of 30 major Russian and about 60 foreign airlines, in the nine months of 2026 the number of delays of two hours or more doubled – to 77,000 flights. The number of delays of three hours or more increased 2.2 times – to 51,000, and of four hours or more – almost 2.4 times, to 36,000 flights. Only every second flight departs on schedule: if punctuality was 57% in 2025, it is already 52% in 2026.

More than 7.6 million people waited over three hours for departure – 2.5 times more than in 2025. Since late April, the Carpet plan has been introduced in the southern and central regions of Russia almost every day. At the Moscow air hub during the incomplete week from October 3 to 9, 2026, airports operated with restrictions 13.9% of the time, and 7.7% of the time they were completely closed.

The leaders in the number of disruptions are Moscow airports (Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo), Sochi, and Kazan. Siberian and Far Eastern hubs (Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok) are still more stable, but disruptions are possible there too.

Russian airports by frequency of airspace closures and flight delays in 2026

Airport	Risk of delays	Comment
Sochi	🔴 Maximum	In September 2026 – 139 delayed flights in a day
Kazan	🔴 High	In the first half of 2026 – 51 days with restrictions
Sheremetyevo	🔴 High	October 13 – 119 delayed departures, 45 canceled
Vnukovo	🔴 High	October 9 – 158 delayed flights, 38 canceled
Domodedovo	🔴 High	Closes synchronously with Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo
Pulkovo	🟡 Medium	October 14 – 22 delayed flights, 9 canceled
Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk	🟢 Low	In the first half of 2026 – not a single day of disruptions due to UAVs

Behind every delay is a specific person stuck in the terminal for a day, late for a connection, or missing a train. And it is worth preparing for this in advance.

What to do before the airport

You need to prepare for delays already at the trip planning stage. Here is what really helps.

• Choose your departure time. Restrictions are more often introduced at night and early in the morning. Daytime and evening flights are delayed less often.
• If you have a connecting flight – buy a single ticket for the whole route, not two separate ones. If the first flight is delayed, the carrier is obliged to rebook you on the next one for free. With separate tickets, the second one burns up, and you will have to buy a new one at your own expense.
• Allow a buffer for the connection. If after the plane you have a train, bus, or another flight not on a single ticket – at least a day with an overnight stay. Less – risk of being late.
• Work out a backup plan. Look at a hotel near the airport, save taxi contacts, keep cash and a reserve on the card sufficient to buy a new ticket, pay for a hotel, food, and taxi.
• Save the airline's hotline number. Write it in your notes or on paper – without the internet you will not find it.

If a drone or missile danger alert is declared, do not rely on the flight being delayed for sure. It may depart on schedule, and the status message may arrive late or not arrive at all. So it is better to be at the airport in advance than to miss the departure.

What you can really demand from the airline

Since March 1, 2026, updated Federal Aviation Rules have been in force in Russia, which at least in theory expanded passenger rights. Here is what you are entitled to if your flight is delayed due to Carpet.

Water, meals, and a hotel: by the hour

If a flight is delayed, the carrier is obliged to provide you with additional services. Time is counted from the departure time indicated on the ticket. By law, soft drinks are due after waiting more than 2 hours, hot meals – more than 4 hours. Drinking water must be provided no later than an hour after these two hours expire. But in practice, under current conditions, the deadlines are often shifted: water and food may be received late, or not at all.

• After 2 hours of waiting – soft drinks (water, tea, coffee, juices).
• After 4 hours – hot meals. Then every 6 hours during the day and every 8 hours at night.
• After 8 hours during the day or 6 hours at night – accommodation in a hotel with transfer. The hotel must be provided no later than two hours after these deadlines expire.
• For passengers with children under 7 years old – a mother and child room.
• Baggage storage – free, regardless of the delay time.

Refund of a non-refundable ticket

Since March 1, 2026, a passenger has the right to refuse the flight and receive the full cost of the ticket, even if the fare is non-refundable, if the flight is delayed by more than 30 minutes. This is a key innovation enshrined in paragraph 227 of FAP-82. Previously, a refund of a non-refundable ticket was possible only for a cancellation or significant delay; now half an hour is enough. Important: this works even if the delay is not the airline's fault – including during Carpet and bad weather.

But there is a nuance. Although the innovation is useful, in practice it gives passengers little. Yes, you will get your money back for the service not provided, but you will not be able to fly. You will have to buy a ticket again, and usually it will already be many times more expensive. Not to mention the loss of time and additional expenses for a hotel, taxi, and food, which no one will compensate you for. So a refund is an extreme measure, not a rescue.

Grounds for a forced refund:

• Departure delay of more than 30 minutes.
• Flight cancellation.
• Inability to provide a seat on the flight and date indicated on the ticket.
• Change of the route of carriage by the carrier.
• Illness of the passenger or a close relative.

Compensation: what you can really count on

Here it is important to dot the i's right away. The Carpet plan is legally considered force majeure. This means that the airline does not pay a penalty for delay and does not compensate for losses – the cost of a ruined booking, taxi, new tickets. But this does not cancel two things: a refund for the ticket (even a non-refundable one) and the obligation to provide water, meals, and a hotel.

As for the penalty and losses – the rule here is: if you prove that the delay or cancellation occurred through the fault of the carrier or tour operator, and not because of Carpet, you can recover it through court. For example, if the Carpet regime was already canceled but the flight still did not depart, or if you were not notified of the cancellation. Court practice in 2025–2026 confirms this.

The penalty for delayed delivery – 100 rubles for each hour of delay, but not more than 50% of the ticket price – is not collected in force majeure. Compensation for moral damage – also through court, and also only with proven fault of the carrier.

Reality: when the rules do not work

Passenger rights are written in detail, but in practice under current conditions this does not always work. And the reason is not that the airline "forgot" about the law. During mass disruptions, airlines and airports physically cannot cope: food and hotel vouchers cannot be issued in time, there are no free hotel rooms, and there are not enough staff to approach every passenger. People sit on planes for hours because they are not allowed out, or in terminals where there is not enough space. As a result, even those rights that should always work turn out to be on paper.

Real cases from airports

Here are a few situations that show what passengers are really facing in recent weeks. These are personal stories from passengers in travel publics, not official statistics.

• Flight Kazan – Moscow, forced landing in Pulkovo. Passengers departed at 21:55, but the aircraft landed in St. Petersburg due to restrictions at Sheremetyevo. They spent about three hours on the plane. Then, according to them, "a huge number of people from all flights were driven from the second floor to the third. The escalators at the airport were turned off. People swore, but it was useless". Tickets had to be reissued, and the flight was postponed twice.
• Flight Nizhnekamsk – Moscow, landing in Pulkovo. Passengers waited at the airport without food and water for more than 10 hours. They were not given baggage, water, or food vouchers. "There were terrible arguments at the airport, employees shouted at people. There were many elderly people and women with small children on the flight," passengers said.
• Flight from Hurghada to Moscow, landing in Minsk. The plane was redirected due to drone danger. Passengers waited in the cabin for about two hours. No food was given, and they were not allowed out of the plane.
• Flight from Tunisia to Moscow, landing in Nizhny Novgorod. Passengers spent almost 6.5 hours on the plane. No water or food was given, toilets did not work, and it was stuffy. Only before departure they were given a bottle of water and a cookie.
• Flight from Novosibirsk to Moscow, landing in Nizhny Novgorod. "We have already been sitting on the plane in Nizhny Novgorod for three hours with the lights on, in jackets and coats, with some siren wailing. The departure forecasts are unclear, although the sky over Moscow has been open for at least two hours," one passenger said.

And these are reports from just the last few days. From these same stories it is clear: people sit on board for hours, toilets do not work, water is not given. Formally, the crew has no right to keep passengers on the plane indefinitely without water and the ability to use the toilet. But during mass disruptions this rule is not observed. If the situation drags on, record the time, demand explanations from the crew, and keep everything for a subsequent claim.

What to do if your flight is delayed or canceled

Here is a step-by-step plan of action.

1. Record the fact of the delay or cancellation. Ask the airline representative to put a mark on your boarding pass or issue a certificate. Photograph the board with flight information. Save notifications from the airline. If they refuse to put a mark – photograph the board, take screenshots of the app, contact the airport administration, and send a request via the form on the airline's website.
2. Contact the carrier's representative. Find out the reason for the delay, the new departure time, and what services you are entitled to. If the flight is canceled, find out the options: refund or rebooking on another flight.
3. Get the services you are entitled to. Remind them of the right to water (after 2 hours), meals (after 4 hours), a hotel (after 8 hours during the day or 6 at night). If vouchers are not issued, demand a written refusal – this will be useful for court.
4. Keep all receipts. Food, water, taxi to the hotel, the hotel itself if you had to book it yourself. These expenses may be reimbursed.
5. If the ticket is non-refundable and the delay is more than 30 minutes – you have the right to refuse the flight and receive the full cost of the ticket.
6. File a claim. If the airline refuses to refund money or compensate losses, send a written claim. The filing period is 6 months from the date of the delay. Attach copies of tickets, receipts, and certificates.
7. Go to court. If the claim does not produce a result, you can file a lawsuit. Court practice in 2026 is developing in favor of passengers, but only when they manage to prove the fault of the carrier, and not force majeure.

Flight delay insurance: who needs it and how it works

Given the scale of the problem, flight delay insurance is becoming not a luxury but a necessity. It does not cancel the airline's obligation to feed and accommodate you, but it gives additional money.

How it works:

• The payout is usually tied to the delay time: for example, from 3–4 hours or more. Depending on the policy terms, the passenger receives either a fixed amount or compensation for expenses incurred.
• AlfaStrakhovanie: 600 rubles for the fourth full and each subsequent full hour of delay, maximum amount – 10,000 rubles.
• SberStrakhovanie: payout for delays over 3 hours, maximum for 10 full hours. Moreover, the company expanded support and makes payouts not only for delays but also for flight cancellations.
• T-Strakhovanie: payout for delays over 3 hours.

Passenger reviews confirm: payouts do come. Some insurers transfer money via SBP within a day. But there are also nuances: for example, T-Bank considers it an insured event only if the tourist checked in for the flight before the delay was announced.

Now it is better to take out flight delay insurance on every trip, especially if you have connections, important meetings, or non-refundable hotel bookings. The cost of a policy is usually from 300 to 1,500 rubles depending on the trip duration and coverage. This is incomparable to the potential losses if you get stuck for a day in a strange city without a hotel and ticket. Take out insurance right away when buying a ticket – that way you will definitely not forget and will be protected from the first minute.

• ☂ Travel insurance on VisitorsCoverage
• ☂ Travel insurance on Insubuy

Traveling is still possible now, but preparation has become more important than before. A reserve of time, money, and patience – that is what will help you get through Carpet with minimal losses. Calm skies.