AirHelp Review: Is AirHelp+ Worth €35.99 With Code PLUS10, and When Should You Claim From the Airline Yourself?

AirHelp is a flight-disruption claim service and annual travel-protection membership run by AirHelp Germany GmbH, registered at the Local Court of Charlottenburg in Berlin under HRB 196015. Unlike unregulated claim-chasing websites, AirHelp Germany GmbH is registered in the German Legal Services Register (Rechtsdienstleistungsregister, file 7525 G 1 KG) as a debt collection service provider under § 10 par. 1 No. 1 RDG, and holds an insurance broker permit under § 34d par. 1 GewO (registration D-08BB-N19VS-77).

When you buy AirHelp+ with Additional Protection, the fixed €100 and €200 disruption payouts are underwritten by Swedish insurer Eir Försäkring AB through battleface Underwriting Services SRL under Master Policy AHPLUS100010425. Airport lounge vouchers are supplied by Collinson Service Solutions Limited, and Fast Track airport security passes are provided by Swiss firm Instago Sagl.

Under EC 261/2004 and UK261 (plus passenger-rights laws in Brazil under ANAC 400, Turkey under SHY-PASS, Saudi Arabia under GACA, Canada under the APPR and the Montreal Convention for baggage), passengers delayed by 3 or more hours at arrival, canceled at short notice or denied boarding on covered flights can claim up to €600 / £520 per passenger, unless the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances such as severe weather or air-traffic-control strikes.

You do not need an agency to claim statutory compensation. Every airline has a free claim form on its website, and in the EU, UK and Canada passengers can also escalate rejected claims to national enforcement bodies or free conciliation schemes (such as Germany's SÖP or UK CAA-approved ADR bodies). If you use AirHelp's standalone no-win, no-fee service instead, AirHelp deducts a 35% Service Fee (including VAT) if it settles out of court, and adds a 15% Legal Action Fee — taking 50% in total — if it has to refer the claim to a contract lawyer or go to court. On a €600 long-haul claim, that costs €210 out of court or €300 with legal action.

Before submitting a standalone claim, read section 3 of AirHelp's Terms and Conditions (version GTU4.26). When you sign AirHelp's Assignment Form, you transfer full legal ownership of your claim to AirHelp (or grant an exclusive Authority Document in jurisdictions that don't use assignment). From that moment, you are barred from contacting or negotiating with the airline yourself, and if the airline sends compensation directly to your bank account, you are contractually required to transfer AirHelp's 35% or 50% cut to them.

AirHelp also gets sole discretion over whether to accept a settlement offer from the airline or take the case to court, and AirHelp retains 100% of any statutory interest and recovered legal expenses awarded on top of the principal compensation. EU and UK consumers have a 14-day statutory right to withdraw from the agreement, but that right ends early once AirHelp submits the claim to the airline — and withdrawing after Legal Action has started leaves you liable for AirHelp's external legal and court costs.

If you fly several times a year, our partner link opens the AirHelp+ page, where AirHelp displays its public checkout code PLUS10 for 10% off an annual membership. On the UK site, Smart (which protects up to 3 trips per year) costs £34.99/year before discount (£31.49 with PLUS10), while Pro (which protects up to 9 trips per year) costs £84.99/year before discount (£76.49 with PLUS10). On the international euro site, Smart is €39.99/year (€35.99 with PLUS10) and Pro is €99.99/year (€89.99 with PLUS10).

During an active AirHelp+ membership, AirHelp waives both the 35% Service Fee and the 15% Legal Action Fee on compensation claims for flights disrupted while you are a member, capped at 1 claim per month and 12 claims per calendar year (submitted within 60 days of the flight). Crucially, AirHelp+ never covers flights that were already delayed or canceled before you bought the plan — those still pay the full 35% or 50% standalone fee.

PLUS10 is the promo code to enter at checkout.

Both Smart (for 3 registered trips) and Pro (for 9 registered trips) include three fixed insurance payouts underwritten by Eir Försäkring AB, paid on top of whatever the airline owes you under UK261 or EC261. First, Flight Insurance pays €100 (about £84) if your flight arrives at least 3 hours late, is diverted, or is canceled by the airline within 28 days of departure (for a delay, you must have boarded the flight). Second, Luggage Insurance pays €100 if 1 checked bag is delayed or lost on arrival, provided you get an official Property Irregularity Report (PIR) in your own name at the airport and keep the matching baggage tag.

Third, Missed Connection Insurance pays €200 (about £168) if an earlier disrupted flight on the exact same single booking confirmation causes you to miss a connection and arrive late at your final destination. Self-transfers on separate tickets, choosing to take a train or bus instead of the airline's replacement flight, and cancellations announced more than 48 hours before departure are excluded.

Each registered trip on Smart or Pro also includes two airport perks. If Collinson's flight-tracking system detects that a flight on your registered trip is delayed by more than 60 minutes at departure — or canceled less than 6 hours before departure — AirHelp sends you a lounge voucher by email and SMS for over 1,300 airport lounges worldwide. The voucher is valid for 90 days, so if you cannot use it on the day of the delay you can save it for a later trip, though it covers the named member only.

You also get 1 Fast Track security pass per registered trip (up to 3 on Smart, 9 on Pro) at participating airports, mostly in Europe and the UK. The pass is delivered 12 to 48 hours before departure and can only be opened inside the AirHelp mobile app.

The single biggest catch in AirHelp+'s terms (section 2.4 of GTU4.26 and the AirHelp+ Service Catalog AHP2.26) is the 48-hour rule: you must register each trip in the AirHelp web dashboard or mobile app at least 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the first flight on that itinerary. A 'trip' means your entire booking, including outbound, return and connecting flights under one reservation.

If you forget to register a trip 48 hours ahead — or buy AirHelp+ at the airport the day before you fly — you get no €100 flight payout, no €100 luggage payout, no €200 missed-connection payout, no lounge voucher and no Fast Track pass for that trip. Once a disruption happens on a registered trip, you must submit your boarding pass, booking confirmation and any PIR luggage report within 28 days of the event.

AirHelp pays European compensation and the €100 / €200 insurance payouts by bank transfer or third-party payment processor in euros (EUR). If your bank account is outside the eurozone, your bank may apply a currency-conversion margin or incoming wire fee; providing a multi-currency EUR account avoids conversion spread.

AirHelp+ is a personal, non-transferable annual subscription: it covers only the named account holder, not companions or family members on the same booking. It renews automatically every 12 months unless you cancel at least 1 day before the renewal date under Dashboard > Manage Membership or by emailing [email protected]. EU, EEA and UK consumers also have 14 days after purchase to withdraw for a full refund if no membership services have been used.

On 9 November 2026, AirHelp held a 4.5 rating on Trustpilot from 246,169 reviews, 4.8 out of 5 from 851 ratings on the UK App Store, and 4.7 out of 5 from 12,231 ratings on Google Play. Support runs through the help centre, email ([email protected]) and 24/7 live chat for AirHelp+ members; there is no public telephone helpline.

Happy customers praise getting €400–€600 payouts from stubborn airlines without writing legal letters, and AirHelp+ members like how fast the €100 delay payout lands when a trip was registered on time. Negative reviews cluster around four pain points: shock at the 35% to 50% fee on standalone claims when passengers hadn't read the price list; claims taking many months or over a year when an airline forces court action; AirHelp+ members rejected for the €100 payout because they registered their flight less than 48 hours before departure or didn't get a printed PIR report at the baggage desk; and unexpected annual auto-renewal charges.

Consider AirHelp+ Smart (€35.99/year with code PLUS10) if you take three or more trips a year, are organised enough to register every booking at least 48 hours before departure, and like the idea of a single 3-hour arrival delay or delayed checked bag on any airline worldwide paying out €100 — nearly three times the annual fee — alongside Fast Track passes and 0%-fee compensation claims.

Skip AirHelp's standalone claim service if you have a straightforward EC261 or UK261 delay: use the airline's own free web form first and keep 100% of your €250–€600 payout, only turning to a conciliation body or AirHelp if the airline refuses to pay. And skip AirHelp+ if you expect one membership to cover a whole family on the same booking, or if your flight was already delayed before you joined.