Some links in this article are affiliate links. We only recommend partners we would use ourselves. If you book through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

EU261 Compensation by Airline: The 2026 Tactical Guide

Aviation · Europe / UK · Updated July 2026 · By Richard J.

EU261 entitles you to up to €600 when a flight arrives three hours or more late, is cancelled, or is overbooked. The one condition: the cause was within the airline's control. The regulation is clear. The airlines are not. Here is what you are owed, how each carrier behaves, and when a handler beats fighting alone.

Start here — free eligibility check

Find out in 60 seconds if you are owed compensation

Enter your flight and AirHelp tells you immediately whether it qualifies under EU261 or UK261, and roughly how much. The check is free, and if you hand the claim over it runs no-win, no-fee — the one thing this page cannot do is look up your specific flight.

Check what you are owed — free

Max compensation

€600 / £520

Min delay threshold

3 hours at arrival

UK equivalent

UK261, same structure

Claim deadline

2–6 years (varies)

Free DIY?

Yes, via airline portal

Handler cut

~25–35% on success

The rule in one paragraph

EU261 pays fixed cash when a flight arrives 3+ hours late, is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, or bumps you for overbooking, provided the cause was within the airline's control.

The amounts are €250 for short flights under 1,500 km. Medium flights up to 3,500 km pay €400. Long-haul over 3,500 km pays €600. The UK kept the same regime as UK261 after Brexit, in pounds (£220 / £350 / £520). We break the bands down in our EU261 compensation amounts guide, and the post-Brexit split in EU261 vs UK261.

The rule covers any flight leaving an EU or UK airport, whatever the carrier, and any flight arriving in the EU or UK on an EU or UK carrier. Your nationality and where you bought the ticket do not matter. What matters is the route and the operating airline. Our guide to who is covered by EU261 works through the edge cases.

The single most useful fact: compensation is based on arrival delay, not departure delay. A flight that pushes back two hours late but makes up time and lands two hours late owes you nothing. A flight that leaves on time but lands three hours late owes you the full amount.

How airlines actually behave when you claim

The regulation is uniform; the airlines are not. Some pay clean claims quickly, others deny by reflex and force you to escalate. Here is the pattern from thousands of handled claims.

Airline	Behaviour on a valid claim	Difficulty
British Airways	Among the most compliant. Usually pays without escalation, especially long-haul. Watch for vouchers or Avios offered in place of cash.	Easy
Lufthansa / Air France / KLM	Compliant but slow, 60–90 days. Sometimes deny first with vague ATC or weather references; a second submission with facts usually flips it.	Moderate
easyJet	More responsive than Ryanair but leans on the "extraordinary circumstances" defence. Most legitimate claims paid in 30–60 days with clear documentation.	Moderate
Ryanair	Pays valid claims but drags the process out and denies borderline cases by reflex. Persistence pays; most denied claims that reach small claims or a handler are eventually paid.	Hard
Wizz Air / Vueling / Pegasus	The hardest to extract compensation from alone. Vueling is notorious for non-responses. These are the carriers where a handler earns its cut.	Hard

We keep dedicated, carrier-specific playbooks for the ones people ask about most: British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and KLM, easyJet and Ryanair. Each covers that airline's specific claim form, typical excuses and escalation route.

The "extraordinary circumstances" excuse

This is the clause airlines reach for most, because when it genuinely applies it removes the duty to pay compensation. But it applies far less often than they claim.

Note that even when it applies, duty of care — meals, hotels, rebooking — still stands. What actually qualifies under the regulation and EU court rulings:

Genuine extraordinary circumstances: severe weather that closes the airport, air traffic control strikes (not the airline's own staff), bird strikes, security incidents, political instability.
Not extraordinary circumstances: the airline's own crew strike, mechanical issues that routine maintenance should have caught, knock-on delays from earlier disruption, IT failures, and vague "operational reasons."

Airlines routinely cite "operational" or "technical" reasons hoping you will not push back. Most people do not. The ones who do usually win. Our full breakdown of what counts as extraordinary circumstances shows how the courts have ruled.

DIY vs using a claim handler

Claim yourself for free when it is a clean claim against a compliant airline. Hand it to a no-win, no-fee handler when the airline is difficult, has already said no, or the claim is old.

You can file yourself at no cost. Most major airlines have an online portal. The price is your time and your patience for a second round of arguing. For a clean €250 claim against a compliant carrier, do it yourself. Our step-by-step DIY guide walks the whole process.

For anything involving Ryanair, Wizz Air or Vueling, a claim already denied, a group claim, or a claim older than six months, the maths usually flips. A handler takes a cut of the payout, typically 25 to 35 per cent. But it handles everything end to end, including the legal escalation most travellers will never pursue alone. For a €600 claim the airline has denied, €400 in your account beats nothing because you gave up after the second email. We compare the main handlers in AirHelp vs ClaimCompass vs Skycop vs Flightright and cover our pick in the honest AirHelp review.

The fast path — AirHelp

Hand a difficult or denied claim to someone who litigates for a living

AirHelp works no-win, no-fee: it only earns if you do. For a Ryanair or Vueling claim, or one the airline has already rejected, that is the difference between a payout and months of unanswered email. Free eligibility check first, so you risk nothing to find out.

Check your flight with AirHelp

If you want the fuller cost-benefit view before deciding, our claims companies vs DIY comparison runs the honest numbers on when each wins.

How long you have to claim

You almost certainly still have time. Deadlines run from the airline's home country, not where you flew, and most are measured in years.

Germany allows three years (the 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. Fly in 2026 and you very likely still have time to claim for flights from 2024 or 2023. Most travellers do not realise this and let valid claims lapse. The full country-by-country table is in our claim deadlines guide.

What to save the moment things go wrong

Gather five things at the airport, while you still can. A claim lives or dies on the arrival time and the paper trail.

Boarding pass and booking confirmation (PDF or photo of both)
Photo of the departure board showing the delay or cancellation
Any text or email from the airline about the disruption
Receipts for meals, hotels and transport you paid for during the delay
Your final arrival time at the destination — this determines compensation, not the departure delay

Beyond EU261

EU261 is not the only protection. When your actual losses exceed the fixed compensation, two other things fill the gap: the Montreal Convention and travel insurance.

The Montreal Convention covers real financial losses, such as missed hotel nights or prepaid tours, on international flights to or from over 130 signatory countries. Sometimes the cost of disruption tops the EU261 amount, such as a missed cruise departure or a non-refundable safari. Then travel insurance is what closes the gap. SafetyWing is the affordable option that covers trip interruption alongside medical, and the simplest add-on for anyone who does not already have it bundled with a credit card. If you want to see how a claim actually pays out, our SafetyWing claim walkthrough runs through it.

One last thing. If a delay leaves you scrambling to rebook ground transport at your destination, especially in a city you do not know, having Welcome Pickups or GetTransfer arranged in advance removes one variable while your phone is busy with the airline. Our airport transfers comparison weighs them side by side.

Frequently asked questions

How much can I claim under EU261?

€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, whatever you paid for your ticket. UK261 mirrors the structure in pounds: £220, £350 and £520.

Does EU261 apply to flights from the US to Europe?

Only if the operating airline is European. A United flight from New York to Frankfurt is not covered on the outbound, but the same Lufthansa flight is. On the return, Frankfurt to New York, both airlines are covered because the flight departs from the EU.

What counts as extraordinary circumstances?

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 vague operational reasons, even though airlines often cite these to avoid paying.

Should I use AirHelp or claim myself?

For a clean claim against a compliant airline like British Airways or Lufthansa, doing it yourself is fine. For Ryanair, Wizz Air, Vueling, a claim already denied, or anything older than six months, a claim handler like AirHelp earns its cut by handling the escalation and legal action you would otherwise face alone. It works no-win, no-fee, so a denied claim costs you nothing to hand over.

Can I still claim for a flight from 2023?

In most cases, yes. Deadlines vary by the airline's home country: Germany allows three years, the UK six, France five. Most travellers do not realise old claims are still valid and let them expire. Check the airline's home jurisdiction, not the country you flew from.