Magazine · Practical
Flight delayed 3h+ or cancelled? Regulation EC 261/2004 grants €250 to €600 compensation. Conditions, amounts, claim procedure, deadlines, UK261. 2026 guide.
TL;DR: if your flight departing from or arriving in the European Union lands more than 3 hours late, is cancelled less than 14 days before departure, or denies you boarding due to overbooking, Regulation EC 261/2004 entitles you to fixed compensation of €250 to €600 depending on distance. No insurance needed: it’s a European right.
Most passengers don’t know about this right, or give up at the airline’s first refusal. That’s exactly what carriers count on. In April 2025, my Lufthansa Paris-Munich-Bangkok flight arrived 5h10 late after a missed connection. The airline first replied “extraordinary circumstances”. I pushed back with the right legal text. Compensation received: €600, wired 7 weeks later. Here’s the method, step by step.
Regulation EC 261/2004 applies to any flight departing an EU airport (regardless of airline), and to any flight arriving in the EU operated by an EU airline. Iceland, Norway and Switzerland are included.
In practice:
The most overlooked trigger: the delay is measured at arrival, not at departure. A plane that takes off 4 hours late but makes up time and lands 2h50 late gives no right to compensation.
Compensation is a fixed sum based solely on flight distance, never on the ticket price. According to the official text published on eur-lex.europa.eu, the three tiers are:
One detail that sometimes halves the bill for the airline: on a €600 flight where the arrival delay is between 3 and 4 hours, the carrier may reduce compensation by 50%, so €300. Beyond 4 hours of delay, the full €600 applies.
The ticket price never matters. A €89 promo fare on a delayed Paris-New York flight opens the same €600 as a full-fare ticket.
Three distinct cases trigger compensation, and each follows a different threshold.
Arrival delay. The right opens from 3 hours of delay measured at the final destination airport, connections included.
Cancellation. If the airline cancels less than 14 days before departure and doesn’t offer rerouting at similar times, compensation is due. Notice given 14 days or more in advance: no fixed compensation, but refund or rerouting is mandatory.
Denied boarding (overbooking). If the airline sells more tickets than seats and denies you boarding against your will, compensation applies immediately, with no delay condition. This is the clearest case: the airline first looks for volunteers, and if no one steps forward, it owes you the fixed amount.
In all three cases, you also keep the right to a ticket refund or rerouting. The fixed compensation adds to these, it doesn’t replace them.
This is the argument every airline reaches for first to avoid paying. The carrier isn’t required to compensate if it proves the problem stems from extraordinary circumstances it couldn’t have avoided.
Recognised as extraordinary, therefore not eligible:
Not extraordinary circumstances, therefore eligible:
The line is constantly refined by Court of Justice of the European Union case law. My take after several claims: never trust an “extraordinary circumstances” announced at the desk. Ask for the exact cause in writing. Nine times out of ten, a technical delay is reclassified in the passenger’s favour.
The process is free and can be handled alone, without a paid intermediary. Here’s the order to follow.
Step 1: gather evidence. Keep your boarding pass, ticket, and above all proof of the actual arrival time (photo of the display board, airline email, flight-tracker screenshot). Note the flight number and date.
Step 2: claim directly from the airline. Send a written claim (online form or registered letter) citing Regulation EC 261/2004, the reason, the exact amount claimed and your bank details. This is mandatory before any other step.
Step 3: escalate to the national enforcement body if ignored or refused. For a flight departing France, the Direction générale de l’aviation civile (DGAC) is the national enforcement body, with reporting via ecologie.gouv.fr. The DGAC can sanction the airline but won’t pay the compensation on your behalf.
Step 4: refer to a travel mediator. If the airline maintains its refusal, the French Médiateur Tourisme et Voyage (mtv.travel) steps in for free. Written procedure, reply within a few weeks.
Step 5: legal action if needed. As a last resort, the civil court (small-claims track for low amounts). In France, the deadline to act is 5 years from the flight date, under the ordinary limitation period.
Even before the question of compensation, the airline owes you care as soon as the delay reaches a certain threshold (2 hours or more depending on distance). These are separate rights, valid even when fixed compensation doesn’t apply.
Care includes:
Keep every receipt. If the airline offers nothing on the spot, pay yourself (reasonably) and claim reimbursement against receipts. A €200-a-night airport hotel will be reimbursed; a €600 suite is likely to be contested.
Private services such as AirHelp, RetardVol or Flightright offer to handle the claim for you, in exchange for a commission on the compensation obtained (often 25 to 35%). They’re useful in one scenario only: a complex dispute where the airline refuses and you have neither the time nor the will to argue.
For a simple claim (clear delay, clearly covered flight, technical cause), the direct procedure above is free and works. You keep 100% of the €250 to €600. My advice: always try yourself first. Save the paid service for files the airline has already rejected twice.
Since Brexit, the United Kingdom has transposed the European regulation into its own law, UK261, which keeps the same principles. Amounts are in pounds: £220 (short flights < 1,500 km), £350 (1,500 to 3,500 km), £520 (long-haul > 3,500 km). The appeal body is the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
For a Paris-London flight, Regulation EC 261/2004 applies normally (EU departure). For a London-New York on British Airways, UK261 takes over.
In France, the limitation period is 5 years from the flight date. No need to rush, but the longer you wait, the harder the evidence (arrival times, correspondence) becomes to assemble. Claim within the weeks that follow.
At arrival, at the final destination airport. A flight that left late but landed less than 3 hours behind schedule gives no fixed compensation, even after a long wait.
It depends on the final arrival time. If rerouting gets you in more than 3 hours behind the scheduled time, compensation is still due. The ticket refund and rerouting are rights that add to the compensation, they don’t cancel it.
It depends who is striking. An air traffic control strike is an extraordinary circumstance: no compensation. A strike by the airline’s own staff (pilots, cabin crew) remains eligible under European case law.
Some insurance policies and premium bank cards offer a delay payout, but it’s separate from the European right and often capped at a meal or a hotel night. Regulation EC 261/2004 applies on top, for free. See our travel insurance comparison for cancellation and baggage cover.
It can offer one, but you don’t have to accept. The fixed compensation is payable in cash (bank transfer, cheque) if you ask. A voucher is only worth something if you plan to fly with that airline again.
Any passenger who paid for a ticket, even a reduced fare, is entitled to the full amount. A baby travelling free on a parent’s lap (with no paid ticket) opens no right of its own.
The single most profitable reflex fits in one sentence: always ask in writing for the exact cause of the delay before leaving the airport. That document is what flips an “extraordinary circumstances” file into €600 of compensation. Photograph the board showing the real landing time, keep the boarding pass, and file the claim within the week.
Article written by Mathieu D., ex-financial analyst specialising in travel. File verified against the official text of Regulation EC 261/2004 (eur-lex.europa.eu) and DGAC information. Last updated: June 15, 2026.
Mathieu D. ✓
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