If your flight was delayed, cancelled, or you were denied boarding on a flight in or from the EU, you may be entitled to compensation of up to €600 — regardless of how much you paid for your ticket. Here's everything you need to know.
Last updated: 30 September 2026.
EU Regulation 261/2004 is European law that protects air passengers when things go wrong. It applies to:
It covers three situations: long delays at arrival, cancellations, and denied boarding due to overbooking.
If you were specifically denied boarding due to overbooking, see our deep dive on exactly that situation.
Compensation is fixed by flight distance, not by how much you paid for your ticket:
| Flight distance | Compensation |
|---|---|
| Up to 1500 km | €250 |
| Between 1500 and 3500 km | €400 |
| More than 3500 km | €600 |
For delays, the flight also needs to have arrived at least 3 hours late. Cancellations and denied boarding are handled slightly differently — check your specific case here.
This is the single most common reason airlines give for refusing compensation — and the most disputed. Extraordinary circumstances are events genuinely outside the airline's control, such as:
What does not count, even though airlines sometimes claim it does:
Airlines have the burden of proof here — it's up to them to demonstrate the circumstance was genuinely extraordinary and unavoidable, not up to you to disprove it.
If your airline specifically blamed a "technical problem", see our deep dive into that exact situation.
This depends on the country whose law applies to your case — it ranges from 2 to 6 years after the flight. See the deadlines table on our homepage for the main countries, or check your specific situation when you submit your flight details.
You are always free to write to the airline yourself, free of charge. Airlines are required to have a claims process, though in practice many make it slow and difficult — vague "extraordinary circumstances" responses and long silences are common, which is exactly why compensation services exist.
If you'd rather not deal with the back-and-forth yourself, see our full comparison of FlightClaim24, AirHelp, and Skycop to see how the fees and process actually compare.
Yes — if you're flying into the EU on a non-EU airline, EU261 does not apply. It only covers flights departing the EU (any airline) or arriving in the EU on an EU-based airline.
If you booked the whole journey as a single reservation, the delay is usually assessed on your final arrival time, not each individual leg. Check your specific case when you submit your details.
Accepting a travel voucher does not automatically waive your right to cash compensation under EU261 — but read what you agreed to carefully, since some vouchers are offered as a full settlement. When in doubt, check before accepting.
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