EU261 compensation
EU261 gives air passengers €250, €400 or €600 when a flight arrives three or more hours late, is cancelled with less than fourteen days' notice, or boarding is denied. Distance sets the amount. It applies to any flight leaving an EU airport, whoever operates it.
Check your own flight against EU261 →Who it covers
- Any flight departing from an airport in the EU, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland or Liechtenstein — whoever operates it, including a non-EU airline.
- Any flight arriving at such an airport, but only when operated by an EU carrier.
- The ticket price, the fare class and whether you paid with points make no difference. A child on their own ticket is owed the same as an adult.
What it pays
| Distance or situation | Per passenger |
|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | €250 |
| 1,500–3,500 km, and any flight within the EU over 1,500 km | €400 |
| Over 3,500 km between an EU and a non-EU airport | €600 |
What triggers it
Delay
Arrival at the final destination three hours or more behind schedule. The delay is measured when the doors open, not at take-off. This was not in the text of the Regulation — the Court of Justice read it in, in Sturgeon (C-402/07).
Cancellation
Compensation is due unless you were told at least fourteen days ahead, or were re-routed within the tight windows Article 5(1)(c) sets out.
Denied boarding
Being refused a seat against your will on a flight you held a confirmed booking for and checked in on time — overbooking is the usual reason.
Duty of care — separate from compensation
From two hours' delay, Article 9 obliges the airline to provide meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, two phone calls or emails, and — where a stay overnight becomes necessary — a hotel and transport to it. This is owed even when the cause is extraordinary and no compensation is payable. It is not capped in time.
When the airline may pay half
Article 7(2) lets the airline pay half — €125, €200 or €300 — but only where it re-routed you and you arrived within two, three or four hours of the original time, by band. Outside those windows the full amount is due. Check the re-routed arrival time against your original one before accepting a reduced offer.
The refusals airlines send, and what answers them
“Technical fault”
A technical problem inherent in the normal exercise of the carrier's activity is not extraordinary. Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia (C-549/07) established it, and van der Lans v KLM (C-257/14) confirmed it for a part that failed earlier than its expected life. Ask the airline to name the defect and explain why it sits outside that case law.
“Strike”
A strike by the airline's own staff is part of running an airline. In Krüsemann v TUIfly (C-195/17) a wildcat sickout after a restructuring announcement was held not to be extraordinary. A strike by external parties — air traffic control, airport security — is a different matter and can excuse the airline. Make it say which kind it was.
“Weather”
Weather can be extraordinary, but the airline must also show it took all reasonable measures and that the weather actually affected your flight. Ask for the METAR or TAF for that airport at that hour, and look at whether other aircraft were landing. Airports rarely close for one aeroplane.
“The inbound aircraft was late”
A late rotation is not in itself extraordinary. If the original cause was an ordinary technical fault, the excuse falls with it; and even after a genuinely extraordinary event the airline must show it could not have limited the knock-on by reasonable measures — Pešková and Peška (C-315/15).
A voucher instead of money
Article 7(3) permits payment in travel vouchers only with your signed agreement. You may refuse one and ask for a bank transfer, and you keep that right after an offer has already been made.
“We refunded your ticket already”
The refund in Article 8 and the compensation in Article 7 are separate entitlements. Getting your money back for a flight you did not take does not extinguish the fixed sum owed for the disruption.
Enforcement
Each member state runs a National Enforcement Body. Complain to the one for the country you departed from; if you departed outside the EU on an EU carrier, use the country of arrival. They do not award you money directly, but an airline that ignores a passenger rarely ignores its regulator.
How long you have
Limitation is national, not European. Roughly: two years in the Netherlands, three in Germany and Portugal, five in France, Spain and Poland, six in Ireland. Claim early regardless — airlines discard the operational records that prove your case long before the legal deadline arrives.
Primary sources
Read the law itself rather than anyone's summary of it, this one included. Every link below was checked on 12 September 2026.
- Full text of the Regulation — EUR-Lex (official EU law database)
- Sturgeon and others, C-402/07 — Court of Justice case file
- Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia, C-549/07 — Court of Justice case file
The other statutes
- UK261 compensation — UK261
- Israeli Aviation Services Law — the Aviation Services Law
- US flight delay rules — US DOT rules
- Canada APPR compensation — the APPR