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Short answer: EU261 sets no deadline of its own. The time limit comes from the national law of the country where the claim is brought, and it ranges from as little as six months to one year in some countries, to three, five or more years in others. If your flight was recent, claim now. If it was long ago, check the table below before you assume it is too late.
Last updated: 5 October 2026.
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 contains no time limit for going to court. The European Commission's official guidelines state it plainly: this issue "is subject to the national legislation of each Member State on the limitation of action", so "the deadlines may differ between Member States". The Court of Justice of the EU confirmed this in the Cuadrench Moré case (C-139/11, 2012).
The Commission's guidelines also close off one argument airlines sometimes use: the two-year deadline in the Montreal Convention is not relevant to EU261 compensation. The Court's reasoning is that EU261 compensation addresses the inconvenience of a delay or cancellation, which is separate from the damages system of the Montreal Convention.
The EU has adopted a regulation amending EU261 (signed on 16 September 2026). Once it applies, 12 months after it enters into force, passengers will have to submit their request for compensation to the airline within nine months of the actual date of departure. The airline then has 30 calendar days to pay or justify a refusal. Until then, the national limitation periods in this guide are what counts. Read more in our guide to the EU261 reform.
We only list what we could check in a legal text, an official document or a court decision. Where the position is uncertain, we say so instead of giving a single number that might be wrong.
| Country | Time limit | What it is based on |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 3 years, counted from the end of the year the claim arose | Civil Code (BGB) sections 195 and 199(1): the general period is three years and starts at the end of the year in which the claim arose. |
| Portugal | 3 years from the flight date | Official Portuguese government guidance for complaints about denied boarding, cancellation and delay (gov.pt). |
| Spain | 5 years | General limitation period for personal actions under Article 1964 of the Civil Code, which Spanish courts have applied to EU261 claims. It was 15 years until a 2015 reform cut it to 5. |
| Belgium | 1 year | Article X.49 of the Code of Economic Law: actions arising from a contract for the carriage of persons expire after one year. Described as the shortest in the EU in a 2022 Belgian parliamentary document. |
| Netherlands | 2 years | Reported as the Dutch period in the same 2022 Belgian parliamentary document, and by Dutch consumer sources. |
| France | 5 years | Reported as the French period in the same Belgian parliamentary document. |
| Luxembourg | 10 years | Reported as the Luxembourg period in the same Belgian parliamentary document. |
| United Kingdom | 6 years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; 5 years in Scotland | The UK Civil Aviation Authority's compliance report, citing the Court of Appeal in Dawson v Thomson Airways. UK law now applies its own version of the rules. |
| Poland | Can be as short as 1 year | The Polish European Consumer Centre warns that claims can expire anywhere from one year to well over ten years, depending on the circumstances. |
| Italy | Unsettled | See the section on Italy below. Do not rely on a two-year period. |
If your country is not in the table, we have not been able to confirm its deadline from a reliable source, so we do not give one. As a rule of thumb, the sooner you claim, the less this matters.
In Germany the three years do not start on the day of the flight. They start at the end of the calendar year in which the claim arose. For a flight delayed on 12 March 2024, the period starts on 31 December 2024 and ends on 31 December 2027. A flight delayed in January 2023 and a flight delayed in December 2023 therefore expire on the same day, 31 December 2026.
Belgium has the shortest period we could confirm: one year from the event, under Article X.49 of the Code of Economic Law. A 2022 bill in the Belgian parliament proposed extending it to three years, and we have not found confirmation that it became law, so treat one year as the working rule.
The same parliamentary document mentions a ruling of the Belgian Court of Cassation (11 June 2021) in which passengers argued that an airline's unjustified refusal of a timely request could be a criminal offence, with a longer five-year period. The Court did not accept that argument in the case before it, so do not count on it.
In Italy, the answer is not a single number. In February 2024 the Court of Cassation (order no. 4427 of 20 February 2024) held that the two-year deadline of the Montreal Convention does not apply to EU261 compensation. It did not decide which Italian deadline does apply. Airlines have argued for six months (Article 418 of the Navigation Code) or one year (Article 2951 of the Civil Code). A later order of the same section (no. 6087 of 6 March 2024) sent a case back to the lower court to examine exactly which limitation rules apply.
The practical consequence: if your flight was in Italy or you might bring the case there, assume the shortest plausible period and act quickly.
EU261 does not have its own rules on which court hears a claim. The Commission's guidelines explain that, under EU rules on jurisdiction (Regulation 1215/2012), passengers can often choose between the court of the place of departure, the court of the place of arrival, or the court where the airline is based. This choice can matter, because the deadline is set by national law. If you are close to a deadline and the country is unclear, assume the shortest period and get advice.
It depends on the country. In some countries a written claim to the airline pauses the limitation period while the airline considers it. In many it does not. Do not assume that sending a letter protects you. A written claim is still the right first step, because it starts the process and creates a record, but if the deadline is near, the safe course is to make sure the claim is brought in time.
No. The Commission's guidelines state that the two-year limit under the Montreal Convention is not relevant to EU261 claims, because EU261 compensation falls outside the Convention's scope. National limitation rules apply instead.
Possibly. In Germany, for example, every flight from 2023 has a deadline of 31 December 2026. In Spain the period is five years and in Luxembourg it is reported to be ten, while in Belgium it is only one. Check the table above for the country that applies to your case.
The deadline is set by law, not by who submits the claim. A claims company, a lawyer or you yourself face the same limitation period.
This guide is general information based on the sources above, not legal advice. Deadlines and court decisions can change, and your case may depend on details not covered here.
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