Flight delayed? When you get €250 to €600, and what you're owed while you wait

Since 10 Oct 2026, our robot has checked 12,180 departures at Paris, London and Barcelona, and 78 of them left 3 hours late or more. Each of those has its own page on our site with what passengers may be owed. The full list is on our open data page.

The thresholds for meals and the hotel are measured from the scheduled departure. The 3-hour threshold for compensation is measured at arrival.

The regulation itself only promises compensation for 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 lose as much time as passengers whose flight was cancelled, and must be compensated in the same way. The Court confirmed this in 2012 (Nelson), and it has been settled law ever since.

What decides is the time you arrive at your final destination, not when you took off:

• A flight that leaves 3 hours 30 minutes late but makes up 45 minutes in the air arrives 2 hours 45 minutes late: no compensation.
• A flight that leaves 2 hours 40 minutes late, then waits 25 minutes for a gate, can arrive more than 3 hours late: compensation.
• The arrival time is when at least one door opens and passengers can get off, not when the wheels touch the runway (Germanwings, 2014).

On tight cases, write down the time the door opened, or take a photo with a timestamp. Airlines' published arrival times are often the touchdown time. See how to prove your delay.

The amount is fixed: it does not depend on the ticket price, and children with their own seat count as passengers. Some examples:

• Paris to Rome (about 1,100 km), arrival 3 hours 15 minutes late: €250.
• Brussels to Tenerife (about 3,000 km), arrival 4 hours late: €400.
• Frankfurt to New York (about 6,200 km), arrival 3 hours 30 minutes late: €300. Five hours late: €600.
• London to Malaga under UK261, arrival 3 hours late: £350.

When the delay made you miss a connection on the same booking, the distance is measured from your first departure to your final destination. See missed connections.

Once the 2, 3 or 4-hour mark is reached, the airline must offer meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the wait, usually as vouchers handed out at the gate or sent in its app, and two phone calls or emails. If the new departure time is the next day, it must also provide a hotel and the transport to it.

This right to care applies whatever caused the delay, including storms, air traffic control strikes and volcanic ash (McDonagh, 2013). If the airline gives you nothing, buy something reasonable, keep the receipt, and claim it back later. See stranded overnight.

If the delay reaches 5 hours, you can decide not to travel. The airline must then refund the ticket within 7 days, in money unless you agree to a voucher in writing, and, if you were already on your way, fly you back to your starting point. This is useful when the trip no longer makes sense, for example a meeting or a day trip you can no longer make.

Choose carefully: once you take the refund, the airline no longer has to get you to your destination. If you still travel and arrive 3 hours or more late, you keep your right to compensation.

The airline does not owe compensation if the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures. The Court and the European Commission's guidelines draw the line like this:

• Not an excuse (you get paid): technical problems, including ones found just before departure (Wallentin-Hermann, 2008); missing or sick crew; a late inbound aircraft for ordinary reasons; strikes by the airline's own staff (SAS, 2021).
• Usually an excuse: severe weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes, airport staff strikes, security alerts, a bird strike (Pešková, 2017), or a seriously disruptive passenger on board (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses, 2020).

Knock-on delays

Many delays come from earlier flights of the same aircraft. The airline can only use a problem from an earlier flight as an excuse if that problem was itself extraordinary and directly caused your delay, and if it then did what it reasonably could to limit it (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses, 2020). "The aircraft arrived late" is not an excuse in itself: ask why it arrived late.

Check what the airline says

Airlines often answer "air traffic control restrictions" or "operational reasons" by default. Ask for the precise reason in writing. If the same route flew on time with other airlines, or the weather was fine, claim anyway: it is up to the airline to prove the extraordinary circumstance, not up to you to disprove it.

1. Photograph the departures board with the delay, and keep every message from the airline.
2. Ask for meal vouchers once the 2, 3 or 4-hour mark is reached, and for the written notice of your rights the airline must hand out.
3. Ask the gate staff for the reason of the delay, and write it down with the time.
4. If you are facing a night, ask for a hotel before the desk closes. Keep receipts if you have to pay yourself.
5. On arrival, note when the door opened.

If you are at the airport now, our airport pages show live departures, hotels nearby and how the day is going.

1. Check your amount with our free check.
2. Claim from the airline that operated the flight, through its online form or by email. Our free claim letter cites Sturgeon and the right articles for you.
3. Wait up to 6 weeks. If the airline refuses or does not answer, go to the national enforcement body or an approved mediator, which is free. See what to do when the airline says no.

You usually have years to claim (5 in France and Spain, 6 in England and Wales: see time limits). If you would rather not deal with the airline, compare the claim services by what they leave you.