EU261 explained: who gets €250, €400 or €600, and how to claim it

Since 10 Oct 2026, our robot has checked 12,180 departures at Paris, London and Barcelona. 96 were cancelled and 78 left 3 hours late or more: about 1.4% of departures, every one of them potentially worth €250 to €600 per passenger. These figures update by themselves; the full data is on our open data page.

EU261 covers you in two situations:

• Your flight leaves from an airport in the EU, whatever the airline. A flight from Paris to New York on United or from Rome to Dubai on Emirates is covered.
• Your flight lands in the EU and the airline is European (licensed in the EU). Air France from New York to Paris is covered; United from New York to Paris is not.

"EU" here also includes Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, and the EU's outermost regions such as Réunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores.

Since Brexit, flights from the United Kingdom are covered by UK261, a copy of the same rules in British law, with amounts of £220, £350 and £520. Flights into the UK are covered when the airline is British or European.

Two more conditions: you must have a confirmed booking, and you must have checked in on time (at the time the airline gave you, or 45 minutes before departure if it gave none). Tickets bought with frequent-flyer miles are covered; free or staff tickets not available to the public are not.

The distance is measured as a straight line between the departure airport and your final destination, not the distance actually flown. Some quick examples:

• Paris to Barcelona (about 830 km): €250.
• London to Lisbon (about 1,570 km): £350 under UK261.
• Paris to Las Palmas, Canary Islands (about 2,900 km): €400.
• Paris to Réunion (over 9,000 km, but both airports are in the EU): still €400.
• Paris to New York (about 5,800 km): €600.

Two cases pay half. On a flight over 3,500 km, if you arrive between 3 and 4 hours late, the amount is halved to €300. And when a cancelled or overbooked flight is replaced by one that gets you there close to your original time (within 2, 3 or 4 hours depending on distance), the airline may halve the amount.

The compensation is per passenger, children included (babies travelling free on a parent's lap usually are not). A family of four on a cancelled Paris–Lisbon flight can claim 4 × €400.

Delayed: the 3-hour rule

The regulation's text only mentions cancellations and overbooking. In 2009, in the Sturgeon case, the EU Court of Justice ruled that passengers who reach their final destination 3 hours or more late suffer the same loss and must get the same compensation. That ruling is why delays pay.

Three details matter:

• It is the arrival delay that counts, not the departure. A flight that leaves 3 hours 20 minutes late but makes up time and arrives 2 hours 50 minutes late pays nothing.
• Arrival means the moment a door opens and you can leave the aircraft, not the moment the wheels touch the runway (Germanwings ruling, 2014). On a tight case, the 10 minutes of taxiing can make the difference.
• Your own records count. Note the time the doors opened, or take a photo with a timestamp. Our flight records show the departure delay; your arrival time is what decides.

Cancelled: it depends on when you were told

If your flight is cancelled, you are always entitled to a choice between a full refund and a new flight to your destination. Compensation on top depends on the notice you got:

• 14 days or more before departure: no compensation.
• 7 to 13 days before: compensation unless the airline offered a new flight leaving no more than 2 hours earlier and arriving less than 4 hours later than planned.
• Less than 7 days before: compensation unless the new flight left no more than 1 hour earlier and arrived less than 2 hours later.

It is up to the airline to prove when it told you. Keep the email or text message.

Refused boarding (overbooking)

When a flight is overbooked, the airline must first ask for volunteers, who get whatever deal they agree to. If you are refused boarding against your will, you get the full compensation straight away, plus care and the choice between a refund and a new flight. Never volunteer if you want the legal amount.

Whatever the cause, even in bad weather or a strike, the airline must look after you while you wait. This is called the right to care:

• Meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time, from 2 hours of delay on flights up to 1,500 km, 3 hours on medium flights and 4 hours on long flights.
• A hotel and the transport to it if you are delayed overnight.
• Two phone calls or emails.

If the airline does not provide them, buy what is reasonable (a meal, not a gourmet dinner; a standard hotel, not a suite), keep every receipt, and claim the costs back. In 2013 the Court confirmed that the duty of care applies even during exceptional events such as the 2010 volcanic ash cloud (McDonagh).

If your flight is delayed 5 hours or more and you decide not to travel, you can ask for a full refund of the ticket, and a return flight to your starting point if you were already on a journey. A refund must be paid within 7 days, in money: you never have to accept a voucher.

The airline owes no compensation if the cancellation or delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. In practice:

• Not extraordinary (you get paid): technical problems found during maintenance or before departure (Wallentin-Hermann, 2008), crew shortages, late arrival of the previous flight for ordinary reasons, and strikes by the airline's own staff, whether called by a union (SAS, 2021) or "wildcat" (Krüsemann, 2018).
• Usually extraordinary (no compensation): severe weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes, airport staff strikes, security risks, political unrest, and a bird hitting the aircraft (Pešková, 2017).

Airlines often blame "operational reasons" or "air traffic control" by default. Ask for the reason in writing. If it doesn't match what you saw, or the weather was fine everywhere else, claim anyway: the airline has to prove the extraordinary circumstance, not you.

Even when no compensation is due, your rights to meals, a hotel and a refund or new flight remain.

If all your flights were on one booking, what counts is your arrival at the final destination. Miss a connection because the first flight was late, arrive 3+ hours late at the end, and you are owed compensation based on the distance from your first departure to your final destination (Folkerts, 2013). This applies even when the second flight was outside the EU, as long as the journey started in the EU (Wegener, 2018).

On separate tickets, each flight is judged alone, and the airline of the second flight owes you nothing for a connection you missed.

EU261 sets no deadline. National law decides (Cuadrench Moré, 2012), and the deadlines are long: for example 5 years in France, 6 years in England and Wales, 3 years in Germany. See time limits by country. Even so, claim soon: evidence is easier to find and airlines answer faster.

1. Check your case with our free compensation check: three questions, and you know the amount.
2. Gather your proof: booking confirmation, boarding passes, the cancellation or delay message, photos of the departures board, receipts.
3. Send your claim to the airline through its online claim form, or by email. Our free claim letter writes it for you in English, French or Spanish, citing the right articles.
4. Wait up to 6 weeks. Many airlines pay without discussion; some refuse with a standard reply.
5. If they refuse or don't answer: go to the national enforcement body or an approved mediator, which is free, or to small claims court. See what to do when the airline says no.

If you'd rather not do the paperwork, a claim service will do it for a share of the money. They usually take 30 to 35%, plus more if the case goes to court. Compare what each one leaves you.

A reform of the regulation is under way. Until new rules actually apply, everything above stays in force. See the 2026 reform for what changes and when.