Forgot to check out with your OV-chipkaart? Here's how to still claim your delay

If you forgot to check out after a delayed train, your money usually isn't gone. Without a check-out, your journey simply isn't complete in the NS system, and a delay claim then gets rejected. The solution comes in two steps. First you repair your missed check-out, then you submit your claim. Below you'll read exactly how to do that, with an OV-chipkaart and with OVpay.

Why a missed check-out blocks your claim

NS calculates your compensation based on your arrival delay at your final destination. To do that, NS needs to see your entire journey, from check-in to check-out. If the check-out is missing, your journey is incomplete. You then usually pay the boarding fare instead of the actual fare, and a delay claim on such an incomplete journey gets rejected. Not because you have no right to compensation, but because the proof of your journey isn't complete. That proof can be repaired. To learn which thresholds and conditions apply, read when you get money back for a train delay.

Step 1: repair your missed check-out

Before you can claim, your journey needs to be recorded in full again. How you do that depends on what you travelled with.

With an OV-chipkaart

If you travelled with an OV-chipkaart, you repair your missed check-out via uitcheckgemist.nl. You log in, enter your actual departure and arrival stations and confirm the journey. After that, your journey is recorded in full again. Do this as soon as possible. There's a deadline, so don't leave it too long.

With OVpay or a debit card

If you travelled with OVpay or a debit card, you correct your journey in the OVpay app or on ovpay.nl. The route is slightly different than with the OV-chipkaart, but the idea is the same: you complete your actual journey so that it's correct. Since the switch from the OV-chipkaart to OVpay, more and more people travel on their debit card. If that's still you, read what changes with that switch.

With both, watch out for one thing: if you check in and out at the same station with more than 60 minutes in between, NS assumes you've travelled. You then pay a correction fare. And if you have an anonymous OV-chipkaart without a check-out, repairing it is harder, because your journey is more difficult to reconstruct. You can read more about that in money back on an anonymous OV-chipkaart.

Step 2: then submit your delay claim

Once your journey is repaired, it counts again as a normal, complete journey. You then simply claim your delay through the Money Back for Delays scheme. You get 50% of your fare back for delays of 30 to 59 minutes, and 100% from 60 minutes. You have up to three months after your travel date to submit the claim, so even after repairing it you usually still have plenty of time. The order always stays the same: first repair the check-out, then claim.

Or let trein-vertraging.nl handle it

Don't want to dig into this every time? With trein-vertraging.nl you link your card once. After that we find your delays automatically and submit the claim for you, so you never miss a claimable journey again. If you forget to check out, we spot it and flag it, so you can repair it in time. The repair itself you still do yourself, that's not something we take over. But once your journey is complete, we pick up the claim just like any other. Don't want to wait for NS? With Instant Payout you can receive your money within one to two hours instead of weeks later. How that works, you can read in this article about instant payout.

How to prevent it next time

A few habits save you this hassle.

• Always check in and out, even when you're in a hurry or have to change trains.
• Hold one card against the reader, not your whole wallet. Otherwise the wrong card sometimes checks in.
• Check your travel history now and then, so you spot a missed check-out quickly.

Finally

A forgotten check-out is annoying, but it's rarely the end of your claim. Repair your journey, and you can simply claim your money back.