Missed your connecting flight? When you get up to €600, and what to do now

When all your flights are on a single booking (one booking reference, bought together, even with different airlines), the law treats them as one journey. What matters is how late you reach your final destination, not how late the first flight was (Folkerts, 2013).

That has two consequences:

• A short delay can be worth a lot. Your first flight leaves 50 minutes late, you miss the connection by 10 minutes, and the next flight gets you there 7 hours late: you are owed compensation, even though no single flight was 3 hours late.
• The amount is based on the whole distance, measured in a straight line from your first departure airport to your final destination, not the length of the flight that was late.

Examples

• Marseille to Montreal via Paris (about 5,800 km from Marseille to Montreal). The Marseille–Paris flight is 1 hour late, you miss the connection and arrive in Montreal 6 hours late: €600.
• Lyon to Lisbon via Madrid (about 1,250 km from Lyon to Lisbon). You miss the connection and arrive 4 hours late: €250.
• Rome to Johannesburg via Frankfurt (about 7,200 km). You arrive 3 hours 30 minutes late: €300, because on journeys over 3,500 km an arrival between 3 and 4 hours late pays half.

As for any delay, the arrival time is when the aircraft door opens at your final destination (Germanwings, 2014). Note it.

A journey on one booking that starts in the EU is covered from start to finish, even if you change planes outside Europe and even if the second flight is operated by a non-European airline. The Court confirmed this for a trip from Berlin to Agadir with a change in Casablanca (Wegener, 2018), and for a trip from Prague to Bangkok with a change in Abu Dhabi on a partner airline (České aerolinie, 2019).

A journey that starts outside the EU is only covered on the flights into the EU operated by a European airline. For trips starting in the United Kingdom, the same rules apply under UK261. Not sure? Our free check asks the right questions.

You claim from the airline that operated the delayed flight that made you miss the connection. On one booking with a European airline on the first flight, you can claim from that airline even if the delay happened on a later flight run by a non-European partner (České aerolinie, 2019): it can then recover the money from its partner. That saves you from chasing an airline on another continent.

The airline does not owe compensation if the delay that made you miss the connection was caused by extraordinary circumstances, such as severe weather or an air traffic control strike. A technical problem, a crew shortage or a strike by the airline's own staff is not extraordinary. See EU261 explained for the full list.

Even then, on one booking the airline must still rebook you to your final destination and look after you at the connecting airport: meals while you wait, and a hotel if you are stuck overnight (McDonagh, 2013).

If you bought two separate tickets (for example a low-cost flight to Paris and a long-haul ticket from Paris), each flight is judged on its own:

• The first airline only owes you compensation if its own flight arrived 3 hours or more late, and the amount is based on that flight alone.
• The second airline owes you nothing. To it, you simply did not show up. It may even cancel your return flight on the same ticket: if you know you will miss the outbound flight, contact it before departure.
• You pay for the new ticket yourself, and the first airline does not have to cover it.

Booking sites sometimes sell "self-transfer" combinations of separate tickets in one basket. Legally these are usually separate tickets, though some sites offer their own guarantee. Read its terms before you rely on it.

If you build your own connections, leave at least 3 hours, more at large airports or when you have to collect and re-check bags, and consider travel insurance or a bank card that covers missed connections.

1. Go to the airline's transfer desk or open its app straight away. On one booking, rebooking is free and automatic, but the next flights fill fast. Some airlines rebook you before you land.
2. Don't buy a new ticket yourself on a single booking unless the airline refuses to help: rebooking is its job.
3. Ask for meal vouchers and, if the next flight is tomorrow, a hotel and transport to it.
4. Keep your boarding passes for all flights, and your booking confirmation showing both flights under one reference.
5. Ask the reason for the first delay in writing.
6. When you arrive, note the time the door opened.

If you are stuck now, our airport pages show live departures and hotels near the main hubs.

1. Check your amount with our free check, entering your first departure airport and your final destination.
2. Send your claim to the airline that operated the delayed flight. Our free claim letter cites the right rulings for missed connections.
3. If it refuses or doesn't answer within 6 weeks, see what to do when the airline says no.

Connection cases are the ones airlines most often dispute, because the delay on paper looks small. If you'd rather not argue, compare the claim services by what they leave you.