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Lufthansa flight delay compensation

Lufthansa owes €250, €400 or €600 per passenger when arrival is at least three hours late, the flight was cancelled at short notice, or boarding was denied. Lufthansa may halve the amount only where it re-routed you inside the windows Article 7(2) sets out.

Work out what Lufthansa owes you →

What Lufthansa owes, by distance

Distance of the flightCompensation per passenger
Under 1,500 km€250
1,500–3,500 km, or any flight within the EU over 1,500 km€400
Over 3,500 km between the EU and a non-EU airport€600

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. Confirm the amount. Put the route, the date and the length of the delay into the calculator. It applies every statute that covers the flight and shows which one pays most.
  2. Write the demand. The calculator produces a dated letter citing EU Regulation 261/2004 by article, addressed to Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
  3. Send it through the official route. Submit it through Lufthansa's own form below, and keep a copy. A claim that exists only in a phone call cannot be proved later.
  4. Escalate if the answer is a refusal or silence. The calculator writes a chaser and then an escalation letter naming the national enforcement body for the departure country.

Where to send it — Lufthansa's own claim pages

Lufthansa offers a reduced payment — half the statutory figure — where it re-routed you within the Article 7(2) windows. Check the re-routed arrival time against your original one before accepting: outside those windows the reduction does not apply.

Links last checked 2026-09-12. Airlines move these forms often. If one is dead, search the airline's site for “EU261” or “compensation claim” rather than trusting a third-party link — and the letter itself is still valid sent by email or post.

The refusals Lufthansa sends, and what answers them

“Technical fault / unexpected maintenance issue”

A technical problem inherent in the normal exercise of the carrier's activity is not an extraordinary circumstance. The Court of Justice settled this in Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia (C-549/07) and confirmed it in van der Lans v KLM (C-257/14), where a component failing before its expected life was still held to be part of ordinary operations. Ask the airline to identify the defect and explain why it falls outside that case law.

“Strike” (when the strikers are the airline's own staff)

A strike by the carrier's own crew is part of running an airline. In Krüsemann v TUIfly (C-195/17) a wildcat sickout following a restructuring announcement was held not extraordinary. A strike by external parties — air traffic control, airport security — is different and can excuse the airline. Make it say which kind it was.

“Knock-on delay from the previous rotation”

A late inbound aircraft is not in itself extraordinary. If the original cause was an ordinary technical fault, the excuse fails with it; if it was genuinely extraordinary, the airline still has to show it could not have limited the knock-on by reasonable measures — Pešková and Peška (C-315/15).

A travel voucher instead of money

Article 7(3) allows payment in vouchers only with your signed agreement. You may refuse and insist on a bank transfer, and you keep the right to do so after you have already been offered a voucher. A voucher is worth less than cash and usually expires.

Silence

Silence is not a defence. Send a second letter that sets a deadline, states that you will escalate, and names the national enforcement body for the departure country. Stage 3 of the calculator writes both the chaser and the escalation letter.

How long you have

Limitation periods are national, not European: roughly 2 years in Germany and the Netherlands, 3 in Spain and France, 5 in Poland, 6 in Ireland. Claim early anyway — airlines discard operational records long before the deadline.

Questions

How much does Lufthansa pay for a delayed flight?

€250 for under 1,500 km, €400 for 1,500–3,500 km, or any flight within the EU over 1,500 km, €600 for over 3,500 km between the EU and a non-EU airport under EU Regulation 261/2004. The band is set by the distance of the flight, not by what the ticket cost.

Does Lufthansa have to pay if the delay was a technical fault?

A technical problem inherent in the normal exercise of the carrier's activity is not an extraordinary circumstance. The Court of Justice settled this in Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia (C-549/07) and confirmed it in van der Lans v KLM (C-257/14), where a component failing before its expected life was still held to be part of ordinary operations. Ask the airline to identify the defect and explain why it falls outside that case law.

Do I have to accept a voucher?

No. Article 7(3) permits payment in vouchers only with your signed agreement, so you can decline one and ask for a bank transfer instead.

How long do I have to claim?

Limitation periods are national, not European: roughly 2 years in Germany and the Netherlands, 3 in Spain and France, 5 in Poland, 6 in Ireland. Claim early anyway — airlines discard operational records long before the deadline.

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