This article provides general information about EU Regulation 261/2004 and the equivalent UK regulation, drawn from the regulation's text and publicly available official sources. It is not legal advice. Compensation eligibility depends on the specific facts of each case, airline defences, and evolving case law. For a specific claim, consult the airline's official policy, your national enforcement body, or a qualified solicitor. Rules and amounts cited here reflect publicly available information at time of publication and may change.
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Get a JetLuxe quoteEU261 sets three compensation amounts based on flight distance:
The UK version uses sterling: £220, £350, and £520 respectively. The amounts are paid per passenger, regardless of the ticket price, fare class, or how the ticket was purchased.
The amounts have not been formally updated since the regulation came into force in 2005 and are no longer adjusted for inflation. The European Commission’s proposed revision includes potential changes to the amounts, but those have not been adopted and current rules remain in effect.
Compensation under EU261 is in addition to — not instead of — any refund of unused tickets or other consequential reimbursements the airline may owe. A passenger whose flight is cancelled and who receives a ticket refund is also entitled to EU261 compensation if the conditions are met, on top of the refund.
Distance is calculated using the great-circle method — the shortest distance between two points on the surface of the earth, measured along the curvature of the planet rather than the actual route flown. This is the standard aviation industry measurement and is the same distance reported by tools like the IATA distance calculator or flight-tracking sites.
The distance is measured between the airport of origin and the airport of final destination — not between intermediate stops or via the actual route flown. A flight from London to Bangkok via Doha, for example, is measured as London-to-Bangkok (around 9,500 km) rather than as the sum of London-to-Doha and Doha-to-Bangkok segments.
Where the journey involves connections on a single ticket, the relevant distance is generally the total origin-to-final-destination measurement. This usually puts the journey into the highest compensation band, because the cumulative distance is greater than any individual segment.
For passengers checking which band their flight falls into, the IATA great-circle distance calculator (available free online) gives the same figure that regulators and courts use. A flight just over the 1,500 km threshold qualifies for the €400 band; a flight just under qualifies for the €250 band — the €150 difference can swing on a few kilometres.
The bands and their typical example routes:
Band 1 — €250 / £220 (under 1,500 km). Short-haul European routes: London to Paris, Madrid to Barcelona, Berlin to Vienna, Amsterdam to Munich, Rome to Milan, Stockholm to Copenhagen. Most flights within a single country or between neighbouring countries fall in this band.
Band 2 — €400 / £350 (1,500–3,500 km). Longer European and Mediterranean routes: London to Athens, Madrid to Moscow, Berlin to Tel Aviv, Paris to the Canary Islands, Rome to Reykjavík, most flights to North Africa. This band also covers all internal EU flights over 1,500 km.
Band 3 — €600 / £520 (over 3,500 km, non-EU). Long-haul intercontinental flights: London to New York, Frankfurt to Singapore, Madrid to Mexico City, Paris to Tokyo, Amsterdam to Cape Town. This band only applies to flights that are partly or entirely outside the EU — internal EU flights over 3,500 km (which is rare in practice) fall in Band 2, not Band 3.
The structural reason for this is that long-haul flights are commercially higher-stakes, and a 3+ hour delay or cancellation produces materially worse outcomes (missed connections, lost arrival days, longer recovery times). The higher compensation in Band 3 reflects this.
Per passenger. Each passenger on a qualifying disrupted flight is entitled to the full amount in their own right. A family of four on a long-haul cancelled flight is entitled to a total of €2,400 (€600 × 4), not €600 for the whole booking.
This is one of the more generous aspects of the regulation and is often what makes group claims financially significant. A family of six on a Band 2 cancelled flight is entitled to €2,400 in total. A group of twelve colleagues on a Band 3 flight is entitled to €7,200.
For practical purposes, each passenger files individually, even when travelling on the same booking. The airline will typically process the claims separately and may issue separate payments. Group claims through claims-management companies are sometimes filed together for administrative convenience, but the entitlement is individual.
Where multiple family members are travelling on a single booking, the airline may require evidence of each passenger’s presence on the flight (boarding passes, identity documents) before paying. Photographs of boarding passes taken at the gate are useful evidence and worth keeping for any flight where disruption seems possible.
No. EU261 makes no distinction for children. A child travelling on a confirmed booking receives the full compensation amount in their own right, the same as an adult. A family of four (two adults, two children) on a long-haul cancelled flight is entitled to a total of €2,400 — not less because two of them are children.
The only exclusion is for infants travelling on lap-tickets (paying only an infant tax, not occupying a seat). The infant ticket is generally treated as falling outside the regulation because it does not represent a confirmed booking of a seat. Once a child is in their own seat with their own ticket, they qualify regardless of age.
The same applies to children travelling unaccompanied with airline supervision. The unaccompanied minor service does not change EU261 status — the child has a confirmed booking and is entitled to the compensation if the flight is disrupted.
The regulation has a specific provision for this. If a passenger is rerouted following a cancellation, and the alternative arrives at the final destination within a specified time window of the original scheduled arrival, the compensation is halved.
The time windows depend on the distance band:
If the rerouted flight arrives beyond these windows, the full compensation amount is owed. If it arrives more or less on time (within the threshold), reduced compensation is owed. The threshold is measured from the original scheduled arrival time of the original cancelled flight.
Note that this reduction applies only to cancellations with rerouting. Long delays of the original flight (3+ hours at the final destination, no cancellation) trigger the full compensation amount without the halving option. Denied-boarding compensation also pays the full amount when the passenger is significantly delayed by the rerouting.
Yes. EU261 compensation is paid on top of — not instead of — any other entitlement the passenger has. The regulation creates three separate categories of obligation:
Compensation. The fixed cash amount (€250 / €400 / €600) for the inconvenience caused.
Reimbursement or rerouting. If the disruption is significant enough, the passenger has the right to choose between a refund of the unused portion of their ticket OR a rerouting at the airline’s expense. The passenger cannot be forced to accept one or the other.
Right to care. Meals, refreshments, communications (free phone calls or emails), and where applicable hotel accommodation and transport between hotel and airport. These are non-cash benefits the airline must provide during the delay, not later reimbursement.
The three categories are independent. A passenger whose flight is cancelled and refunded is also entitled to compensation if the cancellation was within their control. A passenger whose flight is delayed 6 hours is entitled to care during the wait AND compensation for the delay, separately.
If the airline fails to provide care at the airport, the passenger may incur expenses (buying meals, paying for hotel, additional transport) which can then be reimbursed by the airline on production of receipts. Keep receipts for everything during a significant disruption.
Only with the passenger’s explicit written agreement. The regulation says compensation must be paid in cash, by electronic bank transfer, by bank order, or by cheque. Travel vouchers or any non-cash equivalent require the passenger’s signed agreement.
In practice, airlines sometimes offer vouchers worth more than the cash compensation (a €350 voucher in lieu of €250 cash, for example) to encourage uptake. This is permitted, and the passenger is free to accept or decline. Acceptance must be specific and documented — no airline can unilaterally substitute a voucher.
The compensation must be paid in the airline’s ordinary processing time once the obligation is accepted, typically within 7–14 days of agreement. There is no specific deadline in the regulation, but unreasonable delays can be escalated to the National Enforcement Body or to court.
Passengers should be aware that vouchers have practical limitations: expiry dates, restrictions on routes, restrictions on bookable fare classes, and the dependency on the issuing airline remaining solvent. Cash compensation is generally more useful, particularly for passengers who do not expect to fly the same airline again.
No. The compensation amount is determined solely by the distance of the flight and the nature of the disruption. A passenger who paid €40 for a budget-airline ticket and a passenger who paid €4,000 for a business class ticket on the same flight are entitled to the same compensation amount.
This is one of the more significant features of EU261. It treats compensation as a flat amount for inconvenience rather than as a refund-plus or a percentage of the ticket price. The reasoning is that the inconvenience of a 4-hour delay is broadly the same for both passengers — being stuck in an airport for four extra hours is not materially better in business class.
The same applies to award tickets booked with points or miles. A passenger who used 50,000 miles to fly business class on a cancelled flight is entitled to the same compensation as a passenger who paid €4,000 for the same seat. Some airlines initially resist award-ticket claims, but court rulings have established that the regulation applies to all confirmed bookings regardless of how the ticket was paid for.
The only situation where ticket price affects the outcome is the refund itself — the refund is naturally tied to what the passenger paid, while the compensation amount is independent.
The compensation framework in three sentences: amounts are fixed by distance (€250 / €400 / €600), paid per passenger, and independent of ticket price. The amounts can be halved if the rerouting following a cancellation arrives within a specified time window. Compensation is paid on top of any refund and on top of any care provided during the delay.
The framework is intentionally simple and intentionally generous compared to other parts of the world. The complications lie not in the compensation amounts themselves but in the eligibility (does the flight qualify, does the disruption qualify) and the practical claim process (does the airline pay without challenge, or does the case need to escalate).
For passengers who want to know what their potential claim might be worth, AirHelp’s free compensation calculator takes a flight number and a disruption type and returns the relevant amount in seconds. This is useful even for passengers who plan to file the claim themselves, as it confirms the band and the amount before any claim is submitted.
€250 for flights up to 1,500 km, €400 for flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km (and all internal EU flights over 1,500 km), and €600 for non-EU flights over 3,500 km. The UK uses £220, £350, and £520. The amounts are per passenger and have not been formally updated since 2005.
No. The amount is determined by the flight distance only. A passenger who paid €40 receives the same compensation as a passenger who paid €4,000 for the same seat on the same flight. Compensation is for inconvenience, not as a refund of the ticket.
Yes. Children on confirmed bookings receive the full compensation amount in their own right. Only infants travelling on lap-tickets (not occupying a seat) are excluded.
Only with the passenger’s explicit written agreement. The regulation requires compensation to be paid in cash, by bank transfer, by bank order, or by cheque. Travel vouchers are an alternative only if both parties agree.
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