Can AI replace AirHelp?

KINDA · weekend project

price variesbuild time weekend to multi-daycategory ✈️ travelreplaced by 0 peoplebuild unverified

A useful personal organizer is buildable, but AirHelp is more than the visible intake form. A local app can assess EC261 and UK261 eligibility, organize evidence, draft letters, and track deadlines. It cannot responsibly reproduce AirHelp's managed airline correspondence, cross-jurisdictional legal judgment, funded court action, and professional accountability in one sitting. This is a credible personal substitute for straightforward self-service claims, not a full replacement.

the prompt

Build me a local flight-compensation claim organizer to replace AirHelp for self-service claims. Requirements:

- Node 22 + Express + better-sqlite3, server-rendered pages on localhost, no frontend
framework; all data in one SQLite file plus a local uploads folder.
- Model passengers, bookings, multi-segment journeys, disruptions (delay, cancellation,
denied boarding, missed connection), claims, evidence files, and deadlines.
- Deterministic EC261 and UK261 eligibility rules in one versioned rules module: given
the journey facts, output eligible / not eligible / needs manual review, the
compensation band (250/400/600 EUR distance tiers), and the article relied on.
Show which facts triggered which rule branch.
- Compute great-circle distance from airport coordinates and timezone-safe arrival
delay from user-entered flight details; no commercial flight-data API.
- Attach evidence (tickets, emails, receipts) as local files on a chronological
claim timeline.
- Generate editable draft letters to the airline and the national enforcement body
from templates; never send anything automatically.
- Track stages (preparing, submitted, escalated to authority or ADR, resolved) with
due dates, exported as an ICS file for my calendar.
- Export a whole claim as JSON and Markdown so nothing is trapped in the app.
- Say plainly in the UI and README: decision support, not legal advice; verify
current rules and limitation periods yourself.
- Out of scope: automatic submission, airline negotiation, lawyer engagement, court
filing, accounts, sync. The staff, legal funding, and accountability are the part
you cannot build.
- README: setup, where data lives, backup by copying the SQLite file and uploads.

$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter) or copy it raw

why people still pay

People pay AirHelp to transfer the work, uncertainty, follow-up, and legal escalation to a specialist on a no-win, no-fee basis. A local tool can organize a straightforward self-service claim, but it does not negotiate with the airline, fund litigation, or take professional responsibility for a contested case.

what you lose

xAirHelp staff handling airline correspondence and negotiation

xcase-specific legal judgment across jurisdictions

xlawyer access and funded legal action under a no-win, no-fee model

xcommercial flight, weather, and disruption data used to validate claims

xprofessional support and accountability when a claim becomes contested

prior art · use these instead of building, if you'd ratherClaimSoloOpen-source, local-first personal workspace for assessing, documenting, and tracking EC261 and UK261 flight claims.↗