Air France flight delay compensation

Air France owes €250, €400 or €600 per passenger for an arrival at least three hours late, a cancellation notified within fourteen days, or denied boarding. Air France may offer a travel voucher instead, but Article 7(3) lets you insist on money.

What Air France owes, by distance

When it applies: Arrival 3+ hours late, cancellation notified less than 14 days ahead, or denied boarding. The figures come from EU Regulation 261/2004 and are per passenger, including children on their own ticket.

How to claim, in four steps

1. Work out what Air France owes. Enter the route, the date and how late you arrived. A flight from Paris is often covered by two statutes at once, and the calculator shows which of them pays more.
2. Write the demand. The letter is dated, cites EU Regulation 261/2004 by article, and is addressed to Société Air France. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
3. Send it to Air France. Use “Claims form” below, and keep a copy of what you submitted. A claim that exists only in a phone call cannot be proved afterwards.
4. Escalate to France's Direction générale de l'aviation civile. If Air France refuses or says nothing, the calculator writes the chaser and then the escalation letter, naming that regulator and citing the article the airline ignored.

Where to send it — Air France's own claim pages

• Claims form
• Passenger rights — assistance and compensation
• Refunds, vouchers and compensation

Air France presents a transport-credit voucher alongside cash. The voucher is worth more on paper and less in practice: it is non-refundable and it expires. Article 7(3) means you can simply decline it.

The refusals Air France sends, and what answers them

Each of these has a settled answer in case law — the EU261 page sets out the judgments, names the cases, and quotes what the airline has to prove instead.

Air France disruptions we are tracking

• Mexico City airport storm and the Air France cancellations — 11–13 September 2026

Other things that go wrong on an Air France flight

• When the airline blames a technical fault — when Air France blames a technical fault
• Airline strike compensation — when Air France cancels because of a strike
• Your flight was cancelled — when Air France offers a voucher instead of money
• Should you use a claim company? — when Air France ignores you — and why you still do not need a claim company
• You missed your connection — a missed connection on an Air France itinerary
• Denied boarding and overbooking — being bumped from an overbooked flight by Air France
• They moved you to a lower class — being moved to a lower class by Air France
• Your bag did not arrive — a bag Air France delayed or lost
• Stuck at the airport: what the airline owes you now — meals and a hotel while Air France leaves you waiting

Worked examples from Paris

• Tel Aviv → Paris — which law applies in each direction, and the amount
• London → Paris — which law applies in each direction, and the amount
• Paris → Toronto — which law applies in each direction, and the amount

Questions

Open the calculator with Air France selected →

Claiming from Air France in practice

Which band your route falls into, from CDG

Distance decides the amount, and it is measured as the great-circle distance between the two airports — not the miles flown. These are real distances from Air France's main base, so you can see where the thresholds sit before you measure your own route.

If Air France refuses or says nothing

The regulator for Air France is France's Direction générale de l'aviation civile (DGAC) (ecologie.gouv.fr). Take the claim there once the airline has had its chance to answer and has either refused or gone silent — bring the dated letter, the airline's reply, and your booking reference. Stage 3 of the calculator writes the escalation letter that names this body.

How long you have: Five years in France under the general civil limitation period.

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