EU261 and flight delays — what you can claim
What you're owed depends on three things: how long, measured where, and why. Six question cards, one visual timeline, then three real paths to actually file. Nothing else.
Tap any card to see how the ruling actually reads.
My flight arrived 3+ hours late. Am I owed compensation?
Likely owedFor cash compensation under EU261, the flight must arrive at its final destination at least three hours later than originally scheduled. If it did, and no extraordinary-circumstances defence applies, you're owed €250, €400, or €600 depending on distance.
My flight left 4 hours late but arrived only 2 hours late.
Not owedThe 3-hour threshold is measured at arrival, not at departure. A flight that pushes back four hours late but lands only two hours late — because of tailwinds, schedule buffer, or a different routing — does not qualify for cash compensation, however unpleasant the wait.
My flight was delayed 2 hours 55 minutes. Anything at all?
Not owed (cash)No cash compensation — the 3-hour threshold is strict, with no discretion below it. But right-to-care obligations still apply from earlier: meals, refreshments, communications from 2 hours of departure delay on short-haul, 3 hours on medium-haul, 4 hours on long-haul.
The airline blamed the weather. Am I owed anything?
It dependsGenuine severe weather is an extraordinary circumstance — no cash compensation. But the burden of proof sits on the airline: it must produce evidence of the weather event and of the reasonable measures it took. Care obligations still apply regardless.
I was delayed overnight. What am I owed?
Care + likely cashCash: the €250 / €400 / €600 (distance-based) if the arrival delay was 3+ hours and no extraordinary defence stands. Care: hotel accommodation plus airport transfers, whether or not the delay was extraordinary. Care and cash are separate; the weather defence blocks only the cash side.
I missed my connection. Which flight's delay counts?
Ticket structure decidesSingle ticket — the whole journey is one flight for EU261 purposes, and the delay is measured at the final destination. Separate tickets — each ticket stands alone, and the missed onward flight is the passenger's commercial risk under the second booking.
What kicks in at each threshold, measured from your delay at the final destination — except right to care, which starts at the departure gate.
How to actually file
The regulation is settled. The airline's willingness to pay you promptly is not. These are the three routes, honestly compared — pick the one that matches how much time and stomach you have.
Before spending a minute filing, know the exact amount. Our EU261 compensation calculator takes flight distance, delay length, and cause and returns the figure with a source-linked breakdown.
Open the calculatorThe claim service files, chases, and takes the airline to court if needed. 35% success fee (rising to 50% if legal action is required). No win, no fee. Best for contested cases or if you just want it done.
Check what you're owedComplain to the airline first via their claim portal, and if refused escalate to the national enforcement body of the country the incident took place in (or the CAA for UK-territory flights). The full EU list is on the Commission's site.
National body list
How delay is actually measured
Arrival, not departure, and specifically the moment the aircraft door opens at the final destination. Everything else is either preamble or airline shorthand.
The 3-hour threshold is measured at arrival, not at departure. A flight that leaves an hour late but lands on time — because it makes up time in the air or because the schedule has buffer — does not qualify. Conversely, a flight that departs on time but arrives 3+ hours late because of an in-flight diversion or extended holding patterns does trigger compensation. The departure time is essentially irrelevant to the compensation calculation.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has been precise about which "arrival" moment counts. In the Germanwings v Henning case of 2014, it ruled that the arrival time is the moment the aircraft door is opened, allowing passengers to disembark. Not touchdown. Not the moment the aircraft reaches the gate. Not the moment the seatbelt sign goes off. Not the moment passengers actually leave the cabin.
This matters because airlines sometimes record arrival times based on touchdown or gate arrival, which can be five to fifteen minutes earlier than the door-open time. On a delay sitting near the 3-hour edge, that gap is the difference between full compensation and none. Independent records from FlightRadar24 or FlightAware can be useful evidence if the recorded arrival is disputed.
The 3-hour rule itself was not in the original 2004 regulation. It comes from the CJEU's Sturgeon v Condor (Case C-402/07) and Bock v Air France (Case C-432/07) rulings in 2009, which read compensation rights for long delays into the regulation by extending the reasoning that had been applied to cancellations. This 2009 interpretation is now settled and applied uniformly by every national enforcement body.
The compensation amounts by distance band are €250 for flights up to 1,500 km, €400 for flights of 1,500 to 3,500 km and intra-EU flights above 1,500 km, and €600 for flights over 3,500 km outside the EU. Distance is measured on the great-circle route between origin and final destination, not the actual routing flown.
What the airline owes during the wait
Care obligations start well before the compensation threshold and apply even when the delay was extraordinary. This is the part of EU261 airlines don't advertise.
Right to care is the non-cash side of the airline's obligations during a long delay. Once the departure-side care threshold is passed — measured against distance — the airline must provide meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time, two free telephone calls, telexes, fax messages, or emails per passenger, hotel accommodation if the delay extends overnight, and transport between the airport and the hotel.
| Distance band | Care starts at | Cash amount (3+ h arrival) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km (short-haul) | 2 hours departure delay | €250 |
| 1,500–3,500 km (medium-haul) & intra-EU > 1,500 km | 3 hours departure delay | €400 |
| Over 3,500 km (long-haul, extra-EU) | 4 hours departure delay | €600 |
These obligations are not optional and are owed regardless of whether the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances. The extraordinary-circumstances defence applies only to the cash compensation, not to care. An airline can avoid paying €600 because of a thunderstorm, but it cannot avoid providing meals during the wait.
Where the airline fails to provide care — no vouchers issued, no hotel booked, gate agents shrugging — the passenger can pay for the equivalent themselves and claim reimbursement on production of receipts. The standard is "reasonable" — comparable to what the airline would have provided directly. A €70 airport hotel room is generally reasonable; a €700 suite generally is not. Meals to the value of what the airport's food outlets charge, not the airport lounge private dining rate.
The hotel obligation as it currently stands is uncapped in the text of the regulation. The proposed 2025 revision — still in Parliament–Council second-reading negotiations as of mid-2026 — includes a formal 3-night cap on hotel obligations for major disruption events. Until it is adopted, care during multi-night disruptions remains open-ended and passengers should not be denied hotel accommodation on the strength of a cap that hasn't yet passed.
Extraordinary circumstances — what counts, what doesn't
Airlines invoke "extraordinary circumstances" reflexively. The regulation and the case law are much tighter than the customer-service department suggests.
If the airline can demonstrate that the delay was caused by circumstances outside its reasonable control — and that it took all reasonable measures to avoid it — no cash compensation is owed. The burden of proof sits on the airline. It must produce the evidence: logbook extracts, incident reports, meteorological data, ATC notices. It is not enough for the airline to assert it in a claim-portal rejection.
What typically counts as extraordinary:
- Severe weather at the origin, destination, or en-route airports (evidenced, not asserted)
- Air traffic control restrictions due to capacity, staffing, or airspace closures
- Third-party strikes — airport security, air traffic control, ground handling agents
- Political instability, riots, security incidents
- Medical emergencies on board requiring diversion
- Bird strikes, volcanic ash
- Certain hidden manufacturing defects in the aircraft (a narrow exception)
What does not count, however the airline frames it:
- Technical problems with the aircraft — routine faults are treated as inherent operational risk (with the narrow hidden-defect exception above)
- Strikes by the airline's own staff — the CJEU's 2018 Krüsemann ruling shut this defence down
- Crew shortages, sickness, or scheduling failures
- Knock-on delays from earlier disrupted flights on the same aircraft — unless the original delay was itself extraordinary and the airline can prove it
- "Operational reasons" as a bare phrase — this is a customer-service shorthand, not a legal defence
For the full landscape — including the specific evidentiary standards NEBs and small-claims courts apply — see our dedicated extraordinary circumstances guide.
Missed connections — the ticket structure decides everything
One booking or two? That single question controls whether you're owed thousands of euros or nothing at all.
The answer depends entirely on whether the connecting flights were booked as a single ticket or as separate tickets. This distinction is the single most consequential detail on any itinerary involving a connection.
Single ticket (one booking, one reservation number spanning both segments). The whole journey is treated as one flight for EU261 purposes. Compensation is calculated on the delay at the final destination, not at the connecting airport. If a delay on the first segment causes you to miss the onward flight and you arrive at the final destination 3+ hours late, the compensation is owed on the final arrival delay. The airline is also responsible for rerouting you to the final destination at no additional cost — hotel, meals, and onward transport included.
Separate tickets (two or more independent bookings). Each ticket is treated as its own flight. The delay on the first segment is measured against its own scheduled arrival; the missed onward flight is the passenger's commercial risk under the second ticket. The airline that operated the first segment has no obligation to get you onto the second flight. The second airline can, in principle, treat you as a no-show and forfeit the fare.
The price difference between booking a through-ticket and two separates is usually modest. The protection difference is substantial — and readers who booked separately to save €40 have discovered themselves paying €800 for a same-day walk-up replacement on the second leg. If the itinerary involves a connection, buy the through-ticket unless there's a compelling reason not to.
For itineraries where the ticketing structure is genuinely mixed, the AirHelp eligibility checker will assess each segment against the actual booking evidence rather than the reader's understanding of it.
Filing yourself vs using a service
On a straightforward claim you can file yourself in twenty minutes and keep every euro. Where the airline resists, a service earns its fee. The choice is honestly this simple.
For a clean case — 3+ hours arrival delay, no plausible extraordinary-circumstances argument, airline has an accessible online claim portal — filing yourself is the right answer. The process is: complain to the airline first using their EU261-specific form, wait for the response (or the six-week silence that counts as a refusal), and if refused, escalate to the national enforcement body of the country where the incident took place. Every EU member state has one; the Commission maintains the current list. For UK-territory flights, the CAA handles the equivalent under UK261 — its passenger complaints service is the first stop.
For contested cases — the airline is claiming weather with no evidence, the delay sits inside the 2h 55m to 3h 05m band and the recorded times are ambiguous, or an initial DIY claim has already been refused — a service earns its keep. AirHelp's price list is publicly published: a 35% Service Fee including VAT if the claim succeeds through correspondence, plus an additional 15% Legal Action Fee if the case has to go to court. No win, no fee — you pay nothing if the claim fails. Payouts typically arrive within four to twelve weeks on uncontested claims; contested ones that go to court can take six to eighteen months.
The honest cost comparison, for a €400 claim: DIY successful, you keep €400. AirHelp successful without legal action, you keep roughly €260 (35% × €400 = €140 fee). AirHelp successful only after legal action, you keep roughly €200 (50% total × €400 = €200 fee). On a €600 claim the maths is €600 / €390 / €300.
The pattern that works for most readers we hear from: run the calculator first to see the number, try the airline's own portal for a fortnight, and if refused or ignored escalate — either to the NEB (free, slower) or to AirHelp (paid, faster on contested cases). No decision at all is worse than either.
The court rulings this all rests on
EU261 as it operates today is largely a body of CJEU case law layered on the 2004 text. These four judgments do most of the heavy lifting.
How long does a flight need to be delayed for EU261 compensation?
Three hours or more at the final destination. The threshold is measured at arrival, not departure, and specifically at the moment the aircraft door is opened. Delays under 3 hours produce no cash compensation, regardless of inconvenience caused.
Is EU261 measured at arrival or departure?
Arrival, specifically at the moment the aircraft door opens at the final destination. A flight that leaves 4 hours late but makes up time in the air and arrives only 2 hours late does not qualify for compensation. A flight that leaves on time but arrives 3+ hours late does qualify.
Do I get a hotel if my flight is delayed overnight?
Yes. The airline must provide hotel accommodation and transport between the hotel and the airport when the delay extends overnight. This obligation applies regardless of whether the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances — care obligations are separate from cash compensation.
What happens if a delayed flight causes me to miss my connection?
If the connections were booked on a single ticket, the airline is responsible for rerouting you to the final destination and compensation is calculated based on the total delay at the final destination. If the connections were booked as separate tickets, each ticket is treated independently and the missed onward flight is at the passenger's risk.
Does bad weather cancel my right to compensation?
Genuinely severe weather at the origin, destination, or en-route airports usually qualifies as an extraordinary circumstance and no cash compensation is owed, but the burden of proof sits with the airline. It must produce evidence of the weather event and of the reasonable measures it took to avoid the delay. Right-to-care obligations — meals, communications, and hotel accommodation if overnight — still apply regardless of whether the delay was extraordinary.
Should I file the claim myself or use a service like AirHelp?
If the case is straightforward (clean 3+ hour delay, no extraordinary-circumstances argument, airline has an accessible claim portal) filing yourself takes 20-30 minutes and you keep 100% of the €250/€400/€600. Where the airline resists, the case is at the edge of the 3-hour threshold, or a court claim looks likely, a service like AirHelp takes over the entire process for a 35% success fee (rising to roughly 50% if legal action is needed). No win, no fee — you pay nothing if the claim fails.
EU261 claims can be filed for up to two to six years after the incident depending on the member state — but the airline's records get patchier with time and your own memory of the exact times gets fuzzier. The strongest claims are filed within a week, while boarding passes, timestamps, and the sequence of events are still crisp.