Flight Delayed? Here's What You Need to Know

First: how long is the delay, really?

Compensation under EU261 depends on how late you arrive at your final destination, not on how late you take off. A flight that departs 3 hours 20 minutes late but makes up 25 minutes in the air arrives 2 hours 55 minutes late — and no compensation is due. The reverse is also true: a short departure delay that snowballs into a missed connection and a next-day arrival is measured against the final destination on your booking.

Arrival time is the moment the first aircraft door opens at the gate, as the Court of Justice decided in Germanwings v Henning. Note the time on your phone when the doors open; it is one of the most contested facts in borderline cases.

What you are owed at the airport (Article 9)

The right to care starts well before the compensation threshold and applies whatever the cause of the delay:

Flight type	Care begins after	What the airline must provide
Up to 1,500 km	2 hours	Meals and drinks in proportion to the wait; two phone calls, emails or faxes; hotel and transfers if an overnight stay becomes necessary
1,500 – 3,500 km, or intra-EU over 1,500 km	3 hours
Over 3,500 km	4 hours

Ask the airline's desk for meal vouchers. If nobody is there, buy something reasonable and keep the receipt — the cost is recoverable. "Reasonable" means a sandwich and a drink, not a three-course dinner.

At five hours: you can walk away

Once the delay reaches five hours, you can abandon the trip and demand a full refund of the ticket within seven days, plus a free flight back to your departure point if you are mid-journey. Refund and compensation are separate: you can take both if the delay was within the airline's control.

When compensation applies

If you arrive three hours or more late and the cause was not an extraordinary circumstance, you are owed €250, €400 or €600 depending on distance (see the full EU261 guide). The most common compensable causes are:

• Technical problems with the aircraft — even unexpected ones (van der Lans, 2015).
• The inbound aircraft arriving late from a previous rotation.
• Crew scheduling problems or crew exceeding duty hours.
• Strikes by the airline's own staff.
• IT and check-in system failures.

Weather, air traffic control restrictions and airport-wide problems (a runway closure, a security incident) are usually extraordinary — but the airline must prove the link to your flight, not just point at the weather in general.

Three things to do before you leave the airport

1. Ask for the reason in writing. Airlines are obliged to tell you why the flight is delayed. Get it on paper, by email or in a screenshot of the app.
2. Photograph the boards and your boarding pass. A photo of the departures screen with the time visible, and of the gate, makes the timeline hard to dispute.
3. Keep every receipt. Meals, transport, hotel, a replacement ticket if you bought one — all recoverable if the airline failed to provide care.

The full checklist is in How to Document a Flight Disruption. When you are home, run your flight through our compensation calculator or submit a free eligibility check.

Rebooking Yourself: When It Pays Off

If the airline's next flight is a day away and a competitor has a seat this evening, you may buy the competitor's ticket and claim the reasonable cost from the original airline as re-routing at the earliest opportunity — the Court of Justice confirmed in Rusu (C-354/18) and related cases that the airline's duty is to offer the earliest re-routing, on other carriers if necessary. Do it sensibly: ask the airline first (and keep the refusal or silence), buy economy, keep the invoice, and claim it in addition to compensation. Flying home from an unfamiliar airport on a Sunday, this option often saves a night in a hotel that the airline would also have to pay for.

What Not to Expect

• Compensation for a delay under three hours at arrival — no matter how inconvenient.
• Compensation for stress, missed events or a lost day of holiday — EU261 pays a fixed amount only; other losses need the Montreal Convention or insurance.
• Payment at the airport — unlike denied boarding, delay compensation is claimed afterwards in writing.

Delays Caused by the Airport Rather Than the Airline

Security-queue collapses (Schiphol and Manchester in 2022), baggage-system failures and runway closures are outside the airline's control and count as extraordinary circumstances — for compensation. They do not affect your right to care, refund or re-routing. The airline still has to show the airport problem actually delayed your flight: a 20-minute security queue does not explain a 4-hour departure delay.

Long Delays Overnight

When the new departure is the following day, you are entitled to a hotel of a reasonable standard, transport to and from it, and meals — organised and paid for by the airline. If you are sent away with "find something and send us the bill", do exactly that: a mid-range hotel near the airport, receipts for everything, and a claim for the total alongside the compensation. Airlines that failed to provide care have been ordered to reimburse several hundred euros per passenger on top of the €250–€600.

Delays on the Return Flight From Outside Europe

The rule that catches most holidaymakers: a delayed flight home from outside Europe is covered only if the airline is European or British. Delayed on Emirates from Dubai to London? No EU261/UK261 claim, although Emirates' own conditions and the Montreal Convention may help with expenses. Delayed on British Airways on the same route? Full £520 if you arrive 3+ hours late for a reason within BA's control. Delayed on a Turkish Airlines connection Istanbul–London as part of a Bangkok–Istanbul–London booking? Not covered either, because the journey began outside Europe on a non-European airline. When booking long-haul trips, choosing a European or British carrier for the return leg is worth real money if things go wrong.

A Note on Tarmac Delays

Time spent sitting on the aircraft counts towards the arrival delay like any other time. If you board on time and then wait two hours on the apron, the airline must still provide water and food on board after a reasonable period and allow you to disembark after five hours if the aircraft has not departed (Regulation 261 as amended by the EU's 2013 proposals is not yet in force, but most European airlines apply a five-hour disembarkation policy). The compensation question is decided at arrival, exactly as for any other delay.