Flight delayed 3 hours or more: your compensation under EU261
If you reached your final destination 3 hours or more late, the airline may owe you a fixed sum: €250, €400 or €600 depending on the distance. Here is how it works.
Which flights are covered
- Every flight departing from an airport in the EU, Iceland or Norway, whatever the airline.
- Flights into the EU from outside, when the airline holds an EU or EEA licence.
- From the UK the British version of the rules, UK261, applies, with amounts in pounds.
Your nationality does not matter, nor where you bought the ticket.
How the delay is measured
What counts is your arrival at the final destination, not the departure. The EU Court of Justice counts the moment at least one door opens and passengers can leave the aircraft (Germanwings, C-452/13).
On connecting flights booked together, it is the delay at the end of the journey that counts, even if each flight on its own was less late (Folkerts, C-11/11).
How much
- €250 for flights up to 1,500 km.
- €400 for flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and for every flight over 1,500 km within the EU.
- €600 for other flights over 3,500 km; the airline may pay €300 if you arrived at least 3 but less than 4 hours late.
The distance is measured in a straight line from where the journey began to where it ended. Once the departure is 2 hours late (3 or 4 hours on longer flights), the airline must also provide meals and drinks while you wait and, if the wait runs overnight, a hotel.
When the airline does not pay
Only for extraordinary circumstances it could not have avoided even with every reasonable measure: bad weather, air traffic control restrictions, security events, strikes outside the airline, a bird strike.
A technical fault is normally not one (Wallentin-Hermann, C-549/07), nor a strike by the airline’s own staff (Airhelp v SAS, C-28/20). It is the airline that has to prove the cause.
How to claim
Write to the airline through its claims form with your flight number and date, your booking reference, what happened, the amount and the rule it comes from: Regulation (EC) 261/2004, Article 7.
If the airline refuses or does not answer, the national enforcement body can help: the one of the country you departed from or, for a flight into the EU from outside, the one of the country you landed in. In the end there is a court. Claim as soon as you can: the time limit depends on the country.
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