AirHelp can assist you to do something about canceled, delayed or overbooked flights.

You wake up and rush yourself at the crack of dawn to catch up your flight only to have it canceled or delayed minutes prior to departure. You are then stuck like someone stood up for a date, eating snacks all by yourself.

You cannot imagine how costly and frustrating it will be for you if you were the one delayed, came up late and left behind by your flight. Not to mention the nightmare if you are into connecting flights. But if the airline makes the mistake, it appears as if nothing happens.

Help From AirHelp

Here is something that can get you paid by your airline. There is a Web site that can help you make your airline pay for canceled, delayed or overbooked flights - AirHelp.

Airhelp can help you get some justice for all these. It may streamline your claim process so you get reimbursed for what is due to you when something goes wrong with your flight.

AirHelp was conceived when Co-founder Henrik Zillmer flew out of Singapore and had his flight delayed for several hours. The airline helpdesk was useless and he was left with a lot of time so he began doing research.

Zillmer learned that you can claim for payment from the airline if your flight is delayed for over 3 hours, under European legislation. He shared the information to another Co-founder Nicolas Michaelsen and they discovered that about 26 million passengers qualify for this compensation annually. But only two percent actually filed to claim what is due to them.

The Claims Process

Michaelsen said it is more difficult to get them pay than you think. He told Yahoo tech the claims process includes endless phone calls and maze of docs. It is so time-consuming and it is easy to be rejected.

Michealsen and Zillmer want to narrow the gap between legislation and the passengers. They streamline the process using collected data by "essentially putting the law into code."

Laws Involved And How AirHelp Works

Here are the pertinent laws:

1. An 11-year-old European law said you can claim cash for flights delayed over 3 hours.

2. The U.S. Department of Transportation which was passed in 2011 said you can claim up to $1,300 if you happen to have an oversold flight. Claims can be submitted up to 3 years.

AirHelp will determine if you are eligible for compensation by collecting data like basic flight details - date, ticket number, destination and circumstances. If you pass all the requirements, it will take care of the grunt.

If you get paid, AirHelp will collect 25 percent of the total payment fee. If you are rejected, it will not charge anything.

AirHelp was launched in May 2013 and has helped about 15,000 passengers to be paid.