Muscat – A six-hour delay on a flight from Muscat to London can be worth RO260 to every passenger on board. But travellers in Oman may be leaving that money unclaimed.

AirHelp, an online service that allows airline passengers to seek compensation for flight cancellations, delays or overbookings, analysed flights covered by Oman’s Passenger Rights Protection Regulation between September 2025 and August 2026. It found that an estimated 117,000 passengers were entitled to compensation for long delays, cancellations or overbooking. ‘Together, they could be owed millions of euros from airlines,’ it said.

Introduced by the Civil Aviation Authority in 2024, the regulation gives Oman some of the most comprehensive passenger protections in the region. It matches the compensation levels of Europe’s well-known EC 261 rules.

However, even in markets where passenger rights rules have been in place for years, AirHelp’s research shows that 79% of passengers don’t understand their rights.

“Oman has given passengers real protection when flights go wrong, making it a global leader in air passenger rights,” said Eric Napoli, Chief Legal Officer at AirHelp. “But these protections only matter if people use them. Too many travellers still accept a long delay or a last-minute cancellation as bad luck, when they could receive up to RO260 to help them out.”

The regulation applies to every flight departing from Oman. It also applies to flights into the country operated by Omani airlines such as Oman Air and SalamAir. On international routes, passengers can claim when their flight reaches its final destination more than six hours late, flight is cancelled less than 14 days before departure or passengers are denied boarding against their will, for example because of overbooking.

Compensation depends on distance: RO108 for flights under 1,500km, RO173 for 1,500 to 3,500km, and RO260 for longer routes. Popular routes from Muscat to London, Paris and Frankfurt fall in the top band.

Airlines don’t have to pay when disruption is caused by force majeure, or when they reroute passengers who then arrive less than two hours late.

The protections go beyond cash payouts. Stranded passengers must be given refreshments after two hours, meals after three, and a hotel room with transport after six. Airlines that don’t provide this care must compensate passengers instead. Passengers with reduced mobility must receive assistance free of charge and can’t be refused carriage without a valid safety reason. Passengers usually have two years to claim.