How to handle EU261 delays and cancellations: compensation, care and refunds

Which flights and passengers are covered

Article 3 applies to passengers departing from an airport in the territory of a member state, and to passengers departing from a third-country airport to an airport in a member state where the operating air carrier is a Community carrier — unless those passengers already received benefits or compensation and assistance in that third country. [1] The Commission's guidance states the same rule in passenger terms: EU air passenger rights apply to a flight within the EU operated by an EU or non-EU airline, to a flight arriving in the EU from outside operated by an EU airline, and to a flight departing the EU for a non-EU country operated by either an EU or a non-EU airline. [2] The Commission counts the 27 EU countries plus Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands, but not the Faroe Islands, and says EU rules also apply to flights to and from Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. [2]

Coverage depends on the passenger as well as the route: you need a confirmed reservation and must present yourself for check-in as stipulated in writing by the carrier, tour operator or authorised agent, or, where no time is indicated, not later than 45 minutes before the published departure time. [1] Passengers travelling free of charge or at a reduced fare not available directly or indirectly to the public are outside the Regulation, but tickets issued under a frequent flyer programme or other commercial programme are inside it. [1] Only passengers carried by motorised fixed-wing aircraft are covered, and the Regulation does not apply where a package tour is cancelled for reasons other than the cancellation of the flight. [1]

Responsibility sits with the operating air carrier, meaning the carrier that performs or intends to perform the flight under a contract with the passenger or on behalf of someone who has one. [1] The Commission puts it bluntly: where the operating airline differs from the one that sold the ticket, only the airline operating the flight can be held responsible, and where an aircraft is hired with crew under a wet lease the hiring airline is the operating carrier. [2] See operating carrier vs marketing carrier. [1]

When a delay or cancellation pays cash

A cancellation is the non-operation of a flight that was previously planned and on which at least one place was reserved. [1] The Commission also treats as a cancellation four situations: the original schedule is abandoned and you are moved to another scheduled flight, the departure time is brought forward by more than one hour, the aircraft takes off but returns to the departure airport and you are transferred to another flight, or you arrive at an airport other than the one on your ticket without having agreed to that re-routing or without both airports serving the same town, city or region. [2]

The fixed amounts are EUR 250 for flights of 1,500 km or less, EUR 400 for intra-Community flights over 1,500 km and all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and EUR 600 for all remaining flights. [1] Distances are measured by the great circle route method, and for cancellation or denied boarding the distance that counts is the last destination at which the passenger's arrival is delayed beyond schedule. [1]

For cancellation, the payment is due unless the carrier informed you at least two weeks before the scheduled departure, or informed you between two weeks and seven days before and offered re-routing that departs no more than two hours early and arrives less than four hours after the original scheduled arrival, or informed you less than seven days before and offered re-routing that departs no more than one hour early and arrives less than two hours after the original scheduled arrival. [1] The Commission summarises the same test as a general 14-day notification rule with the two shorter windows attached. [2]

Delay works differently. Article 6, which deals with delay, does not itself refer to the compensation article, so the Regulation's text does not create a delay payment directly. [1] The Commission's guidance states that a passenger who arrives at the final destination three hours or more late is entitled to compensation unless the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances. [2] For a missed connection the same page requires a single reservation, the application of EU rules, and a delay on arrival of more than three hours that was not caused by extraordinary circumstances, and it excludes cases where the connection was missed because of security queues or because the boarding time at the transfer airport was not respected. [2] The Commission's delay table pairs those amounts with arrival delay, showing an amount for flights over 3,500 km arriving at least three but less than four hours late and EUR 600 for four hours or more. [2]

Where re-routing is offered and the new arrival is within two hours of schedule on flights of 1,500 km or less, three hours on intra-Community flights over 1,500 km and other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km, or four hours on the longest flights, the carrier may reduce the compensation by 50 per cent. [1] [2] Payment must be made in cash, by electronic bank transfer, bank order or bank cheque, or — only with the passenger's signed agreement — in travel vouchers or other services. [1]

Meals, hotel and communications while you wait

Care starts before any compensation question. When a flight is expected to be delayed by two hours or more on flights of 1,500 km or less, three hours or more on intra-Community flights over 1,500 km and other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km, or four hours or more on all other flights, the operating carrier must offer meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time, and two telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails. [1] Hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and the accommodation are due where a stay of one or more nights, or an additional night beyond the passenger's plan, becomes necessary. [1] Where the expected departure is at least the day after the originally announced time, that accommodation and transfer obligation applies too. [1]

One numeric difference is worth flagging: the Regulation's delay thresholds use a 1,500 to 3,500 km band, while the Commission's delay-assistance section describes the middle band as 1,500 to 3,000 km. [1] [2] Both pages otherwise describe the same care menu of refreshments, food, accommodation where rebooking pushes travel to the next day, transport to and from the accommodation, and two communications. [2]

If care is not offered and you pay for these items yourself, the Commission says the airline should reimburse you provided the expenses were necessary, reasonable and appropriate, and that receipts should be kept; the right to assistance lasts as long as you are waiting for re-routing at the earliest opportunity or for a return flight. [2] Care may be limited or declined in exceptional cases where providing it would itself cause further delay to passengers waiting for an alternative or delayed flight. [1] [2] Passengers with reduced mobility and the people accompanying them, and unaccompanied children, must receive care as soon as possible in cases of denied boarding, cancellation and delay of any length. [1] See duty of care in flight disruption. [1]

Information is part of the package: at check-in the carrier must display a legible notice about passenger rights, and it must give written notice of the compensation and assistance rules to anyone denied boarding, anyone whose flight is cancelled, and anyone delayed by at least two hours, together with contact details for the national enforcement body. [1] The Commission adds that the notice must also appear at check-in kiosks and online. [2]

Refund, re-routing or a voucher

For cancellation and denied boarding, the carrier must offer a one-off choice between three options: reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought for the parts of the journey not made and for parts already made if the flight no longer serves any purpose for the original travel plan, together with, where relevant, a return flight to the first point of departure at the earliest opportunity; re-routing under comparable transport conditions at the earliest opportunity; or re-routing at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats. [1] [2] For a delay of at least five hours at departure, Article 6(1)(iii) triggers only Article 8(1)(a): the carrier must offer reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought for the parts of the journey not made and for parts already made if the flight no longer serves any purpose for the original travel plan, plus, where relevant, a return flight to the first point of departure at the earliest opportunity. [1] The Commission states the same delay rule in passenger terms: for a delay of at least five hours at departure, the airline must reimburse the ticket and, if there is a connecting flight, offer a return to the airport of departure at the earliest opportunity. [2] For cancellation and denied boarding, the Commission stresses that the choice is one-off: once you pick one option you lose the rights attached to the other two. [2] Money, not a voucher, is the default here, since reimbursement uses the same payment methods as compensation. [1] Compare refund vs travel credit. [1]

Where several airports serve the same town, city or region and the carrier flies you to a different airport from the one booked, it must bear the cost of transferring you to the booked airport or to another nearby destination agreed with you. [1] If the airline skips the choice and simply refunds the original ticket, the Commission says you are entitled to the price difference against a replacement ticket under comparable conditions. [2] Outbound and return legs are treated as two separate flights even on one reservation, so a separately booked return is not reimbursed when the outbound is cancelled; where both legs are on one reservation operated by different airlines, the Commission describes a right to choose between reimbursement of the whole ticket and re-routing on the outbound. [2]

Exceptions and limits

• Extraordinary circumstances. The carrier need not pay compensation if it can prove the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. [1] The Commission lists air traffic management decisions, political instability, adverse weather conditions and security risks as examples, and says most technical problems found during or caused by a failure to maintain an aircraft, a collision of mobile boarding stairs with an aircraft, and internal strikes by the carrier's own staff are not extraordinary, while a strike external to the carrier may be; the airline must show the link and that the disruption could not have been avoided. [2] See extraordinary circumstances in flight disruption. [1]
• Exemption covers compensation, not the rest. The extraordinary-circumstances defence in Article 5(3) is written as an exemption from the compensation article; the assistance and reimbursement obligations are set out separately. [1]
• Who must prove what. The burden of proving whether and when a passenger was told about a cancellation rests with the operating carrier. [1] The Commission requires the airline to prove both the link to extraordinary circumstances and that the disruption could not have been avoided. [2]
• No waiver. The obligations cannot be limited or waived, in particular by a derogation or restrictive clause in the contract of carriage, and a passenger who accepted a lower amount can still pursue the difference. [1] The Regulation also leaves rights to further compensation intact, and payments made under it may be deducted from such compensation. [1]
• Situations outside the right. Unless the ticket terms say otherwise, the Commission says there is no right to assistance, reimbursement or re-routing where boarding was denied on reasonable health, safety or security grounds, or where the passenger did not have the required travel documents. [2]
• Enforcement. Complaints go to the airline first; if there is no reply within two months or the reply is unsatisfactory, the Commission directs passengers to the national authority of the country where the incident took place, which issues a non-binding opinion. [2] See flight complaint escalation. [2]
• Status of any revision. Article 17 required the Commission to report by 1 January 2007, including on a possible revision of the compensation amounts in Article 7(1). [1] [2]

Related pages

For the UK's parallel scheme after Brexit, see EU261 vs UK261 compared and the UK261 air passenger rights guide. For what to do when a connection fails, see the missed connection action plan.

Sources

Sources checked on 18 October 2026. National enforcement procedures, court awards above the Regulation's fixed amounts, the rules of non-EU countries, and the current status of any EU261 revision are not covered here.

1. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 on compensation and assistance to passengers, EUR-Lex, checked 18 October 2026
2. Air passenger rights, European Commission Your Europe, checked 18 October 2026