Short answer: often yes. "Technical problem" is the single most common reason airlines give for refusing EU261 compensation — and in most cases, it doesn't actually qualify as an extraordinary circumstance under the law. Here's the distinction that decides whether you're owed money.
Last updated: 30 September 2026.
Under EU261, an airline only avoids paying compensation if the delay or cancellation was caused by an "extraordinary circumstance" — something genuinely outside its control. A technical fault sounds like exactly that: a broken part, not really the airline's doing, right?
Not quite. The Court of Justice of the EU settled this question back in 2008, in the Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia case, which dealt with a technical fault that grounded a flight. The Court ruled that technical problems are, in general, an inherent part of running an airline — aircraft are complex machines, and keeping them maintained and airworthy is the airline's job, not an outside event. A technical fault only counts as extraordinary if it stems from something outside the airline's normal activity: a manufacturing defect the manufacturer only disclosed after the aircraft was delivered, sabotage, or hidden damage that could not have been caught by normal maintenance.
In practice, this means the routine "technical fault" that grounds a plane for a few hours — a faulty sensor, a hydraulic leak, a part that failed sooner than expected — is treated as a normal operational risk. The airline is expected to plan for it (spare aircraft, spare parts, maintenance crews), and if that plan fails and passengers are delayed, the airline pays.
The burden of proof is on the airline. It's not enough for them to say "technical problem" — they have to show the specific cause, and show that it falls outside their normal operations. Airlines often don't spell this out in their rejection emails, because most passengers don't push back.
No — nearly every technical fault is safety-related, that's why the aircraft is grounded until it's fixed. Urgency doesn't change whether the underlying cause was extraordinary or just normal wear and tear.
You're assessed on your actual arrival time at your final destination, regardless of which aircraft you ended up on. If you arrived 3+ hours late, the delay compensation rules still apply.
Not for compensation purposes — what matters is whether the underlying cause was a normal operational risk (most technical faults) or a genuinely extraordinary one (rare). An emergency landing doesn't change that test.
Want the complete rules, not just this one situation? See our full EU261 guide, or check your flight directly below.
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