Flight cancelled? Refund, new flight and up to €600: your rights

Since 10 Oct 2026, our robot has recorded 96 cancelled departures out of 12,180 checked at Paris, London and Barcelona. Every cancelled flight on our boards gets its own page with the reason we could find and the amount passengers may be owed. See the open data page for the full list.

Article 8 of the regulation says the airline must offer you a choice between:

• A full refund of the ticket, paid within 7 days. It covers the part of the trip you did not make, and also the parts you already flew if the trip no longer serves any purpose, plus a flight back to your first departure point when you are stranded halfway.
• A new flight to your destination at the earliest opportunity, under comparable conditions.
• A new flight at a later date of your choice, subject to seats being available.

It is your choice, not the airline's. An app that automatically rebooks you onto a flight two days later has not taken that choice away: you can still ask for an earlier flight or a refund.

The refund: in money, not vouchers

The refund must be paid in cash, by bank transfer or by cheque. A voucher is only allowed if you agree to it in writing. If the airline sends you a voucher by default, you can refuse and ask for money. See voucher or cash.

If you booked through a website that charged a commission the airline knew about, the refund includes that commission too (Harms, 2018).

The new flight: "earliest opportunity" means really the earliest

The European Commission's guidelines say that rerouting can be on another airline, on another route, or by train or bus if that gets you there sooner, and that the airline should not simply wait for its own next flight with free seats. If the airline only offers you a flight days later while others leave today, ask in writing for an earlier option. If it refuses or gives no answer at all and you buy a new ticket yourself, keep every receipt: many passengers then recover the cost from the airline, but agree it in writing first when you can, because it is not guaranteed.

Refund and new flight are an either/or: taking the refund ends the airline's duty to get you there, so choose the refund only if you no longer need to travel or have found a cheaper way yourself.

Whatever caused the cancellation, even a storm or an air traffic control strike, the airline must give you, while you wait for your new flight:

• Meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the wait.
• A hotel if you have to stay overnight, and transport between the airport and the hotel.
• Two phone calls or emails.

This "right to care" has no exception for extraordinary events: the Court of Justice confirmed it even during the 2010 volcanic ash crisis (McDonagh, 2013). If the airline gives you nothing, buy what is reasonable, keep the receipts, and claim the costs back. See stranded overnight for the details.

Compensation comes on top of the refund or new flight. It depends on when you were told about the cancellation:

The amount follows the distance: €250 up to 1,500 km, €400 up to 3,500 km (or any longer flight within the EU), €600 beyond. When the new flight gets you there close to your original time, the airline can halve it: arrival within 2 hours on short flights, 3 hours on medium flights, 4 hours on long flights. The full rules are in EU261 explained.

Some examples:

• Your Paris–Barcelona flight tomorrow is cancelled and the next flight gets you there 6 hours late: €250.
• Your Paris–Athens flight (about 2,100 km) is cancelled 10 days before and you are moved to the next morning: €400.
• Your Madrid–New York flight is cancelled 3 weeks before: no compensation, but still the choice between a refund and a new flight.

Who has to prove what

The airline has to prove that it told you, and when. If you booked through a travel agent or a booking website, and the airline told the agent but the agent didn't tell you, the airline still owes you compensation (Krijgsman, 2017). Keep the email or text message in which you learnt about the cancellation, with its date.

A flight moved earlier is a cancellation

If the airline brings your flight forward by more than an hour, the Court of Justice treats it as a cancellation (Azurair, 2021). Seen from the passenger's side, a flight that leaves hours before you can get to the airport is as good as cancelled. The same notice rules then apply.

The airline can refuse compensation, but not the refund or the care, if the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances it could not have avoided with all reasonable measures:

• Usually extraordinary: severe weather, air traffic control restrictions or strikes, airport staff strikes, security alerts, political unrest.
• Not extraordinary: technical faults (Wallentin-Hermann, 2008), not enough crew, aircraft swaps, and strikes by the airline's own staff (SAS, 2021).

Airlines sometimes cancel the day before and say "operational reasons". That is not an excuse under the regulation. Ask for the precise reason in writing, and check our strike pages and the airport boards: if only that airline cancelled while others flew, weather is unlikely to be the real reason. See strikes for which strikes pay.

1. Don't leave the airport straight away. Go to the airline's desk or open its app: rebooking and hotel vouchers are handed out there, and the best flights go fast.
2. Take a photo of the departures board and keep the cancellation message.
3. Say which option you want: refund, earliest flight, or a later flight. If the offer is far away, ask about other airlines or the train.
4. Ask for meal vouchers and a hotel if you face a long wait or a night. Ask for the written notice of your rights, which the airline must hand out (article 14).
5. Ask for the reason of the cancellation in writing.
6. Keep every receipt: meals, taxi, hotel, new ticket.

If you are at the airport now, our airport pages show live departures, nearby hotels and the nearest alternatives.

1. Check the amount with our free check.
2. Send one claim to the airline that operated the flight, for the compensation and any costs. Our free claim letter cites the right articles.
3. Wait up to 6 weeks. If the airline refuses or does not answer, see what to do when the airline says no.

You have years to claim in most countries (5 in France and Spain), but the sooner the better. If you would rather someone else does it, compare the claim services by what they leave you.

If the flight was part of a package holiday (flight and hotel sold together), the tour operator is responsible for getting you there or refunding the package, under the EU package travel rules. The compensation of €250 to €600 is still owed by the airline that operated the flight, and you claim it from the airline, not from the tour operator.

When a flight is overbooked, the airline must first ask for volunteers. If you are refused boarding against your will, you get the same three rights as for a cancellation, with compensation immediately, whatever the notice and with no extraordinary-circumstances excuse. The only exceptions are reasonable grounds such as missing travel documents or a safety or health reason. Don't volunteer unless the offer beats the legal amount: volunteers only get what they agree to.