EU261 entitles you to up to €600 when a flight is delayed three hours or more at arrival, cancelled, or overbooked. The regulation is clear. The airlines are not. Here's how each one actually behaves when you submit a claim — and when paying a handler beats fighting alone.
EU Regulation 261/2004 entitles passengers to fixed cash compensation when a flight is delayed by 3+ hours at arrival, cancelled with under 14 days notice, or denied boarding due to overbooking — provided the disruption was within the airline's control. Amounts are €250 for short flights under 1,500 km, €400 for medium flights up to 3,500 km, and €600 for long-haul over 3,500 km. The UK kept the same regime as UK261 after Brexit, with amounts in pounds (£220 / £350 / £520).
The rule covers any flight departing an EU or UK airport regardless of carrier, and any flight arriving in the EU or UK on an EU or UK carrier. Your nationality and where you bought the ticket are irrelevant. What matters is the route and the operating airline.
The regulation is clear. The airline interpretations are not. Here's the unvarnished pattern from thousands of claims handled by claim companies and reported by passengers:
Will pay valid claims but is famous for dragging the process out, citing "extraordinary circumstances" on borderline cases, and forcing escalation to national enforcement bodies. Their online claim form works but expect a first-pass denial on anything they can possibly contest. Persistence pays — most denied Ryanair claims that go to a small claims court or a claim handler are eventually paid.
Better than Ryanair on responsiveness but still leans heavily on the "extraordinary circumstances" defence. Their portal is functional. Most legitimate delay claims are paid within 30–60 days if you submit clearly with documentation.
Among the more compliant major carriers. BA generally pays valid claims without forcing escalation, particularly for long-haul. Watch for the trap of being offered vouchers or Avios in lieu of cash — you have a legal right to cash compensation and can refuse alternatives.
Compliant but slow. Expect 60–90 days from a clean claim to payout. All three sometimes initially deny claims with vague references to ATC restrictions or weather, even when those weren't the actual cause. A second submission with specific facts (METAR weather data, official ATC advisories) usually flips the result.
The hardest carriers to extract compensation from without help. Vueling in particular is notorious for non-responses. These are exactly the carriers where a claim handler earns their cut — the alternative is months of unanswered emails.
Airlines lean on this clause whenever they can because, when valid, it removes the obligation to pay compensation (though duty of care — meals, hotels, rebooking — still applies). What actually qualifies under the regulation and EU court rulings:
Airlines routinely cite "operational" or "technical" reasons hoping passengers won't push back. Most do not push back. The ones who do, usually win.
You can file claims yourself for free. Most major airlines have an online portal. The cost is your time, your willingness to write a follow-up letter, and your tolerance for a potential second round of arguing. For a clean €250 claim against a compliant airline, DIY makes sense.
For anything involving Ryanair, Wizz Air, Vueling, claims that have already been denied once, group claims, or claims older than 6 months, the math usually flips. AirHelp takes a cut of the payout (typically around 25-35% depending on whether they need to litigate) but they handle everything end-to-end including the legal escalation that most travelers will never go through alone. For a €600 long-haul claim that the airline has denied, getting €400 in your account beats getting nothing because you gave up after the second email.
Deadlines vary by the country where the airline is headquartered, not where you flew. Germany allows three years (calendar year of the flight plus three more). The UK allows six. France allows five. Spain allows five. Italy allows two. The Netherlands allows two. If you fly in 2026, you almost certainly still have time to claim for flights from 2024 or 2023 — most travelers don't realize this and let valid claims expire.
EU261 is not the only protection. The Montreal Convention covers actual financial losses (missed hotel nights, prepaid tours) on international flights to or from over 130 signatory countries. For trips where the cost of disruption could exceed the EU261 amount — a missed cruise departure, a non-refundable safari — travel insurance is what fills the gap. SafetyWing is the affordable option that covers trip interruption alongside medical, and is the simplest add-on for travelers who don't already have it bundled with their credit card.
One last thing: if your delay leaves you scrambling to rebook ground transport at your destination, particularly into a city you don't know, having Welcome Pickups or GetTransfer pre-arranged removes one variable. Your phone will already be busy with the airline.
€250 for flights under 1,500 km, €400 for flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and €600 for flights over 3,500 km. The amounts are fixed by the regulation regardless of what you paid for your ticket. UK261 mirrors the structure in pounds: £220, £350, and £520.
Only if the operating airline is European. A United flight from New York to Frankfurt would not be covered for the outbound, but the same Lufthansa flight would be. On the return — Frankfurt to New York — both airlines are covered because the flight departs from the EU.
Genuine cases include severe weather, air traffic control strikes, bird strikes, security threats, and political instability. What does not count: the airline's own crew strikes, routine mechanical failures, IT outages, and 'operational reasons' — even though airlines often try to cite these to avoid paying.
For a clean claim against a compliant airline like British Airways or Lufthansa, DIY is fine. For Ryanair, Wizz Air, Vueling, denied claims, or anything older than six months, a claim handler like AirHelp earns the commission they take by handling escalation and legal action you'd otherwise have to do yourself.
In most cases, yes. Deadlines vary by the airline's home country: Germany allows three years, the UK six, France five. Most travelers don't realize old claims are still valid and let them expire. Check the airline's home jurisdiction, not the country you flew from.
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