Flight compensation under EU261

Delayed, cancelled or overbooked flight? Under EU Regulation 261/2004 you may be entitled to €250–€600 per passenger. Here is exactly when you qualify, how much you can claim, and how to get it.

Plain-English guide · Regulation (EC) 261/2004

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What is EU261 compensation?

Regulation (EC) 261/2004 — known as EU261 — is a European law that protects air passengers. When a flight is delayed for a long time, cancelled, or you are denied boarding, the airline may have to pay you fixed compensation of €250 to €600, as well as looking after you during the wait.

This compensation is a penalty on the airline for the disruption. It is separate from a refund of your ticket and from any out-of-pocket expenses — you can be owed more than one of these at the same time. It is paid per passenger, so everyone on the booking has their own claim, and it does not depend on how much you paid for the ticket.

Which flights qualify?

EU261 applies to your flight when either of these is true:

• Your flight departed from an airport in the EU (or Iceland, Norway, Switzerland or Liechtenstein) — with any airline, from anywhere; or
• Your flight arrived in the EU on an EU-based airline.

Your nationality does not matter — only the route and the airline. Post-Brexit, UK departures and UK airlines are covered by the near-identical UK261, so the same rules apply in practice.

How much compensation can you claim?

The amount depends only on the flight distance, measured as a straight line between the departure and final-destination airports:

On the longest flights, the airline can halve the amount (for example €300 instead of €600) if it re-routed you and the delay on arrival stayed under 4 hours. Work out your own figure with the compensation calculator.

Delayed flights

For a delay, the test is simple: you are owed compensation if you reach your final destination 3 hours or more late, and the cause was the airline's responsibility. It is the arrival time that counts (when the aircraft door opens), not the departure time.

See our live board of delayed flights today to find and check yours.

Cancelled flights

If your flight is cancelled you always get to choose between a full refund and a re-routing to your destination. On top of that, you may be owed the same €250–€600 compensation — unless the airline told you 14 days or more in advance, or the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances.

Browse cancelled flights today, or read more about your options in the flight refund guide.

Denied boarding (overbooking)

If you are bumped from an overbooked flight against your will, and you checked in on time, you are entitled to the full €250–€600 compensation straight away — plus a refund or re-routing. If you volunteered to give up your seat for a benefit, the statutory compensation does not apply; you get whatever you agreed with the airline instead.

Missed connections

If your flights were on a single booking and a delay on the first leg made you miss a connection, what matters is how late you finally arrive at your last destination. If that is 3 hours or more, you can claim — even if the individual delayed leg was short. Separate bookings are treated as separate trips.

Compensation vs refund

These are two different things and you can be owed both. The refund returns the price of a ticket you could not use (mainly after a cancellation, or a 5-hour-plus delay you walked away from). The compensation is the €250–€600 penalty for the disruption itself. Accepting a refund does not waive your compensation. Full detail in the flight refund guide.

Extraordinary circumstances

The airline can avoid paying compensation (but never the duty of care or the refund) if the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances outside its control:

Courts read this exemption narrowly (a technical fault is not extraordinary), and the burden of proof is on the airline. Many refusals do not stand up — so it is worth claiming even after a first "no".

Your right to care during the wait

Whatever the cause, once your wait passes a threshold the airline must look after you free of charge: food and drink, two calls or messages, and a hotel plus transport if you are kept overnight. If they fail to provide it and you pay yourself, keep the receipts and reclaim reasonable costs later.

Worked examples

How to claim your compensation

1. Gather your evidence: booking reference, boarding passes and any cancellation or delay messages.
2. Confirm you qualify with the calculator or the eligibility checker.
3. Claim from the airline in writing, quoting EU261 and the amount due.
4. Escalate to the national enforcement body or the courts if the airline refuses without a valid reason.

Prefer to hand it over? Start a no-win, no-fee claim and we deal with the airline for you. Full walkthrough in how to claim.

How long do you have to claim?

The time limit is set by national law and varies by country — typically between about 2 and 6 years from the date of the flight (for example, 6 years in the UK, 3 years in Germany, 5 years in Spain). Old disruptions are often still claimable, so it is always worth checking.

Check your flight in seconds

We combine live flight tracking, historical records and EU261 eligibility in one place, so you can see for free — in plain English — whether your delayed or cancelled flight is worth money. If you claim with us, it is no win, no fee.