Missed Your Connection? You May Be Owed Up to €600
If your first flight was delayed and you missed your connecting flight as a result, you could be entitled to compensation of up to €600 — provided your flights were on a single booking.
Check My Compensation →When Can You Claim for a Missed Connection?
You can claim compensation for a missed connecting flight if:
- All flights were booked on a single ticket/booking (not separate bookings)
- You arrived at your final destination 3+ hours late
- The reason for the missed connection was the airline's fault
- The first flight departed from an EU/UK/EEA airport (or you flew with an EU airline to Europe)
How Is Compensation Calculated?
For missed connections, compensation is based on the total distance from your departure airport to your final destination — not just one leg of the journey.
For example: If you flew London → Frankfurt → Dubai and missed the Frankfurt-Dubai connection, compensation is calculated on the London-Dubai distance (over 3,500 km = €600).
What If I Booked Flights Separately?
If you booked each leg of your journey as separate tickets, it becomes more complicated. Generally, EU261 only covers missed connections when the flights are part of the same booking. However, there are exceptions — contact us and we'll assess your specific situation.
What to Do If You Miss Your Connection
- Go to the airline desk immediately — request rebooking on the next available flight
- Document everything — take photos of departure boards, keep boarding passes, save communications
- Ask for care — meals, drinks, and hotel if you're stranded overnight
- Keep receipts — for any expenses you incur
- File your claim with us — we'll handle the rest
Why Connections Are the Most Valuable Claims
A missed connection is usually the result of a modest delay on a short flight — and yet the compensation is calculated on the whole journey. The Court of Justice settled this in Folkerts (C-11/11): what counts is the arrival delay at the final destination of the booking, and the distance for the compensation band is measured from the first departure airport to that final destination. A 50-minute delay from Manchester to Amsterdam that costs you the Amsterdam–Nairobi flight and lands you in Nairobi 14 hours late is a €600 claim, not a €250 one — and the same applies if the delayed leg itself was only 400 km.
The One Condition: A Single Booking
All of this depends on the flights being on one booking (one PNR / booking reference), even if different airlines operate the legs. Two separate tickets — say, a Ryanair flight to Stansted and a separate British Airways ticket onwards — are two separate contracts; each flight is judged on its own delay, and a missed second flight is your loss unless you bought a "connection guarantee" product. Codeshares and interline tickets sold as one itinerary count as one booking.
Who Pays When Two Airlines Are Involved
The airline that operated the delayed leg is liable for the whole journey's delay, even if a different airline was supposed to fly the second leg and even if the delayed leg was operated by a non-EU partner outside Europe — provided the itinerary started in the EU/UK (České aerolinie, C-502/18; Wizz Air and airhelp v Austrian line of cases). Example: Prague–Abu Dhabi–Bangkok sold by Czech Airlines, second leg operated by Etihad and delayed in Abu Dhabi — Czech Airlines, the EU contracting carrier, pays €600.
What the Airline Must Do When You Miss the Connection
- Rebook you to your final destination at the earliest opportunity — on another carrier if that is sooner — at no cost.
- Provide meals and, if the next flight is the following day, a hotel and transfers. Hub airports have "distressed passenger" desks for exactly this; insist on it rather than paying for a hotel yourself, but if you must pay, keep receipts.
- Return your checked baggage or forward it; if it arrives late, a separate claim under the Montreal Convention covers essentials you had to buy.
Examples
| Itinerary | What went wrong | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Lyon–Paris CDG–Tokyo (Air France, one booking) | Feeder delayed 55 min by a technical fault, connection missed, arrival 21 h late | €600 per passenger + hotel refund |
| Cork–Dublin–Boston (Aer Lingus) | First leg late by de-icing queue; next Boston flight 24 h later | €600; de-icing delays are usually within the airline's control unless the airport's system failed |
| Bristol–Amsterdam–Singapore (KLM) | Schiphol ATC restrictions delayed feeder 70 min; arrival 11 h late | Contested: KLM proved the ATC restriction — €0, but hotel and meals refunded |
| Berlin–Frankfurt (Lufthansa) + separate ticket Frankfurt–Delhi (Air India) | Feeder 90 min late, second ticket missed | No EU261 claim for the missed leg — separate bookings; €0 on the 90-minute feeder |
Self-connecting Tips
If you do combine separate tickets, leave at least three hours between them, keep both airlines' terms handy, and consider travel insurance that covers missed connections. And if the first airline's delay was three hours or more at its own destination, you can still claim for that leg on its own.
Ready to Claim Your Compensation?
Missed your connection? Let us check if you're owed compensation. Free and risk-free.
Check Compensation Now →Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, if your flights were on a single booking and you arrived at your final destination 3+ hours late. The compensation is based on the total journey distance, and the airline operating the delayed first flight is responsible.
If both flights were on a single booking (even with different operating airlines), you can still claim. The airline that caused the delay is typically responsible. We handle the complexity for you.
Absolutely. Even if the airline rebooked you, what matters is your arrival time at the final destination. If you arrived 3+ hours late, you're eligible for compensation.
If we don't successfully secure your compensation, you owe us nothing. Zero hidden fees, no upfront costs, no credit card required. Our commission is only deducted from the compensation amount once the airline pays.
Most claims are resolved within 8-12 weeks. If the airline cooperates quickly, it can be faster. If legal action is required, it may take 3-6 months. You won't pay extra for court proceedings.
Not for the missed second flight under EU261. If the first flight itself arrived 3+ hours late at its own destination, you can claim for that flight alone, and travel insurance may cover the rest.
If the itinerary was one booking that started in the EU/UK and was sold by an EU airline, that EU airline is liable for the whole journey's delay, even for a leg its partner operated.
As the great-circle distance from the first departure airport to the final destination — not the sum of the legs, and not the delayed leg alone.