EU261: Your Air Passenger Rights Explained

What EU261 covers (Article 3)

• All flights departing from an airport in the EU, plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland — on any airline.
• Flights arriving in the EU from outside it, if the operating airline is licensed in the EU/EEA.
• You must have a confirmed booking and, unless the flight was cancelled, have checked in on time (45 minutes before departure if no other time was given).
• Free tickets not available to the public (staff travel) are excluded; reward tickets and package-holiday flights are included.

The three triggers

Event	Article	When compensation is due
Denied boarding	Art. 4	Always, when you are bumped against your will with a valid booking (overbooking). Paid immediately.
Cancellation	Art. 5	Unless you were told 14+ days in advance, or 7–14 days with re-routing within −2 h / +4 h, or under 7 days with re-routing within −1 h / +2 h; and unless extraordinary circumstances apply.
Long delay	Art. 6 + case law	Arrival at the final destination 3+ hours late (Sturgeon C-402/07, Nelson C-581/10), unless extraordinary circumstances apply.

Compensation amounts (Article 7)

Distance (great-circle, to final destination)	Amount	May be halved if re-routed and arrival within
Up to 1,500 km	€250	2 hours of schedule
1,500–3,500 km, and all intra-EU flights over 1,500 km	€400	3 hours
Over 3,500 km (non-intra-EU)	€600	4 hours

Compensation is per passenger, in cash (bank transfer, cheque or, only with your signed agreement, vouchers). It is independent of the ticket price and is paid in addition to refunds and expenses.

Refund or re-routing (Article 8)

When a flight is cancelled, or delayed five hours or more, you choose: a full refund within seven days (plus a return flight to your origin if you are mid-journey), re-routing to your destination at the earliest opportunity — on another airline if necessary — or re-routing at a later date of your choice.

Care (Article 9)

Meals and refreshments in proportion to the waiting time, two phone calls or emails, and hotel accommodation with transport when an overnight stay is needed. Care applies to cancellations, denied boarding and delays of 2/3/4 hours (by distance band) — regardless of the cause, including extraordinary circumstances (McDonagh v Ryanair, C-12/11).

Extraordinary circumstances (Article 5(3))

The airline avoids compensation — never care — only if it proves the disruption was caused by circumstances beyond its control that could not have been avoided by all reasonable measures. Weather, ATC restrictions, third-party strikes, bird strikes and security risks usually qualify; technical faults, crew problems, the airline's own strikes and rotation delays do not. Full list: what counts and what doesn't.

Other rights worth knowing

• Downgrading (Art. 10): 30–75% of the ticket price refunded if you are moved to a lower class.
• Information (Art. 14): the airline must display a notice of your rights at check-in and hand you a written notice when it denies boarding, cancels or delays by two hours.
• Further compensation (Art. 12): EU261 does not stop you claiming additional losses (a missed hotel night, for example) under the Montreal Convention or national law.
• No waiver (Art. 15): the airline cannot limit these rights in its terms and conditions.
• Enforcement (Art. 16): each country has a national enforcement body — the CAA in the UK, the DGAC in France, the LBA in Germany, AESA in Spain, the IAA in Ireland.

Time limits

EU261 sets no deadline; national law does — from one year in Poland and Belgium to six in the UK and Ireland. See time limits by country. The United Kingdom kept an identical copy of the regulation after Brexit: UK261.

How to claim

1. Collect your booking confirmation, flight number and the airline's messages (evidence checklist).
2. Estimate the amount with the calculator.
3. Either write to the airline yourself, or let us handle it for a 35% no-win-no-fee service fee — including court if the airline refuses.

Key Court Rulings That Shape the Regulation

EU261 is a short regulation; most of what it means in practice comes from the Court of Justice of the European Union. These are the rulings you will see quoted in airline correspondence and court filings.

Case	Year	What it decided
Sturgeon (C-402/07)	2009	Passengers delayed 3+ hours at arrival are compensated like cancelled passengers
Wallentin-Hermann (C-549/07)	2008	Technical problems are not extraordinary circumstances
Nelson (C-581/10)	2012	Confirmed Sturgeon; compatible with the Montreal Convention
Folkerts (C-11/11)	2013	Delay is measured at the final destination of a connecting booking
McDonagh v Ryanair (C-12/11)	2013	Care is owed without limit even in extraordinary circumstances (volcanic ash)
Germanwings v Henning (C-452/13)	2014	Arrival time = when at least one door opens
van der Lans (C-257/14)	2015	Even unexpected technical faults are within the airline's control
Pešková (C-315/15)	2017	Bird strike is extraordinary; the airline must still minimise the delay
Krüsemann (C-195/17)	2018	A "wildcat" strike of the airline's own staff is not extraordinary
TAP v Flightright (C-74/19)	2020	Knock-on delays count as extraordinary only if the original event was, and reasonable measures were taken
Airhelp v SAS (C-28/20)	2021	A lawful, announced pilots' strike is still not extraordinary
Azurair and others (C-146/20 etc.)	2021	Bringing a flight forward by more than an hour is a cancellation; package-holiday passengers are covered

Enforcement Bodies by Country

Each member state designates a National Enforcement Body (NEB) that handles complaints and can fine airlines, although most cannot order compensation for an individual passenger. Complaining to the NEB is free and often persuades an airline to pay, but it does not stop the limitation clock. The main ones: Germany — Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA), with söp arbitration; France — DGAC; Spain — AESA (binding decisions under €5,000); Italy — ENAC; Netherlands — ILT; Ireland — IAA; Poland — Rzecznik Praw Pasażerów; Austria — apf arbitration; Belgium — FPS Mobility; Portugal — ANAC. The UK's CAA performs the same role for UK261.

What EU261 Does Not Cover

• Consequential losses — a missed cruise, a lost hotel night, a day's wages. These may be claimable under the Montreal Convention or national contract law, and Article 12 expressly preserves that right.
• Baggage — delayed, damaged or lost luggage is governed by the Montreal Convention (up to about €1,500 per passenger), not EU261.
• Flights on helicopters, free non-public tickets, and flights from non-EU airports on non-EU airlines.
• Schedule changes made 14 days or more in advance, which are compensated only by the refund or re-routing right.

The Proposed Revision

The European Commission proposed changes to EU261 in 2013, and the Council adopted a negotiating position in 2025 that would raise the delay threshold for compensation to four hours on short-haul and six hours on long-haul flights while adjusting the amounts. As of 2026 the regulation in force is still the original 2004 text as interpreted by the Court; any change would apply only to flights after a future entry-into-force date. Claims for past flights are unaffected.

EU261 for Passengers From Outside the EU

Nationality and residence are irrelevant: an American, Georgian or Australian passenger on a covered flight has exactly the same rights as an EU citizen. The regulation looks at the flight, not the passenger. Non-EU passengers most often qualify on the outbound leg of a trip that starts in Europe — Paris to New York on Delta is not covered, but New York to Paris on Air France is — and on intra-European connections. Payment can be made to a bank account anywhere in the world; compensation is fixed in euros and converted by the bank.

Switzerland, Norway and Iceland

The regulation applies to these non-EU countries through the EEA agreement and Switzerland's bilateral air-transport agreement. Flights from Zurich, Oslo or Reykjavík are covered exactly like flights from Frankfurt, and SWISS, Norwegian and Icelandair are treated as Community carriers for flights into Europe.