EU261 / EC261 Passenger Rights — The Practical Guide

EU261 / EC261 Passenger Rights: The Practical Guide

Compensation, meals, hotels, refunds, rerouting, and enforcement under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004

Last legally reviewed: 24 July 2026

Current-law notice: This page explains the rules that apply now. The EU adopted a major reform in July 2026, but it is not yet applicable. See What the 2026 reform will change.

Start here: could EU261 cover your flight?§

EU261 generally applies when:

your flight departed from the EU, Iceland, Norway, or Liechtenstein, regardless of airline;
your flight arrived in that territory from outside it and was operated by an EU/EEA airline, unless you already received benefits or compensation and were given assistance in that third country; or
a Swiss route is covered through the EU–Switzerland air-transport arrangements.

The covered EU territory also includes the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Mayotte, and Saint-Martin. It does not generally include French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, or Saint-Barthélemy. The United Kingdom has a separate, closely related regime commonly called UK261.

Route	EU/EEA airline	Non-EU airline
Within the EU/EEA	Covered	Covered
EU/EEA to a non-EU country	Covered	Covered
Non-EU country to the EU/EEA	Covered	Usually not covered
Entirely outside the EU/EEA	Not covered	Not covered

Claim against the operating airline—the carrier shown as “operated by”—not automatically the airline that sold the ticket.

See the detailed scope and connecting-flight rules.

Your rights at a glance§

What happened?	Main rights
Arrival delay of 3 hours or more	€250, €400, or €600 compensation unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances; care while waiting; refund option after a 5-hour departure delay
Cancellation	Refund or rerouting, care while waiting, and usually compensation when notice was given less than 14 days before departure unless an exception applies
Involuntary denied boarding	Immediate compensation, care, and a choice of refund or rerouting; extraordinary circumstances are not a defense
Downgrade	Reimbursement of 30%, 50%, or 75% of the affected flight segment’s fare
Overnight disruption	Hotel and airport–hotel transport when care rights apply and an overnight stay becomes necessary

These rights are separate and can be cumulative. An airline may owe fixed compensation and reimburse reasonable meals, hotel, and transport expenses.

Compensation amounts§

Distance	Compensation
Up to 1,500 km	€250
Intra-EU flights over 1,500 km, and other flights from 1,500 to 3,500 km	€400
Other flights over 3,500 km	€600

Distance is measured by the great-circle route between the initial departure point and final destination. On a protected connecting journey, do not add the individual legs together.

When compensation may be cut by 50%§

If the airline reroutes you and your final arrival is no more than the following amount late, it may reduce compensation by half:

Distance	Maximum rerouted arrival delay	Reduced amount
Up to 1,500 km	2 hours	€125
1,500–3,500 km, and intra-EU flights over 1,500 km	3 hours	€200
Other flights over 3,500 km	4 hours	€300

The Article 7 reduction thresholds include an arrival exactly at the stated limit.

Flight delays§

Compensation is based on arrival, not departure§

A late departure alone does not determine compensation. What matters is how late you reach the final destination on the protected booking.

“Arrival” normally occurs when at least one aircraft door opens and passengers are permitted to leave—not at touchdown. Third-party trackers may show landing or gate time rather than the legally relevant door-opening time.

Delay rights by threshold§

Threshold	Right
2-hour departure delay for flights up to 1,500 km	Meals, refreshments, and communication
3-hour departure delay for intra-EU flights over 1,500 km and other flights of 1,500–3,500 km	Meals, refreshments, and communication
4-hour departure delay for other flights over 3,500 km	Meals, refreshments, and communication
Overnight stay becomes necessary after the applicable care threshold	Hotel and airport–hotel transport
Arrival 3 hours or more late	Fixed compensation unless extraordinary circumstances apply
Departure delay of 5 hours or more	You may abandon the trip and request reimbursement, plus a return flight to the original departure point when relevant

A five-hour delay by itself does not currently create the full cancellation-style choice of earliest or later-date rerouting.

Do not simply stay home after a delay announcement§

For a delay claim, passengers generally must have presented themselves for carriage. CJEU decisions including C-474/22 and C-54/23 illustrate why a passenger who stays home or independently travels and reaches the destination less than three hours late may not receive fixed delay compensation.

Flight cancellations§

A cancellation includes a flight that does not operate, returns to its departure airport after takeoff, is moved to an airport that does not serve the same city or region, or is brought forward by more than one hour.

The 14-day rule§

When you were informed	Compensation?
At least 14 days before departure	No fixed compensation
At least 7 but less than 14 days before departure	Yes, unless rerouting leaves no more than 2 hours early and arrives less than 4 hours late
Less than 7 days before departure	Yes, unless rerouting leaves no more than 1 hour early and arrives less than 2 hours late

Even when compensation is not due, a cancelled passenger is still entitled to the applicable choice of refund or rerouting and to care while waiting.

The airline bears the burden of proving when the passenger was informed. A message sent to a travel agent is not necessarily sufficient if it did not reach the passenger in time.

Denied boarding and overbooking§

Before involuntarily removing passengers, the airline must seek volunteers. A volunteer receives the negotiated benefit and retains the applicable refund or rerouting rights.

If you are denied boarding against your will after presenting on time with valid documents, the airline must provide:

fixed compensation;
meals, accommodation, and transport when required; and
a choice between reimbursement and rerouting.

Extraordinary circumstances do not excuse involuntary denied-boarding compensation. An airline’s incorrect decision that a passenger lacks required travel documents can also amount to denied boarding; an actual document deficiency may justify refusal.

Do not sign a form describing you as a volunteer unless that is genuinely what you agreed.

Meals, hotels, and other care§

Care rights apply even when severe weather, air-traffic-control restrictions, or another extraordinary event removes the airline’s duty to pay fixed compensation.

The airline must provide, where applicable:

reasonable meals and refreshments;
two calls, emails, or equivalent communications;
hotel accommodation when an overnight stay becomes necessary; and
transport between the airport and accommodation.

When the airline does not provide care, buy only what is reasonably necessary and keep itemized receipts. Normal meals, ordinary accommodation, and necessary transport are much easier to recover than luxury purchases or alcohol.

Refund or rerouting§

After cancellation or involuntary denied boarding, the passenger—not the airline—chooses among:

reimbursement of unused travel, and of used travel that no longer serves its original purpose, plus a return flight to the initial departure point where relevant;
rerouting at the earliest opportunity under comparable transport conditions; or
rerouting on a later date chosen by the passenger, subject to seat availability.

“Earliest opportunity” can require another airline or another mode of transport when a materially earlier reasonable option exists. Before self-booking, ask the airline to reroute you and preserve proof of its refusal or failure to offer a reasonable option.

A refund should be money unless the passenger freely agrees to another form. Certain unavoidable commissions charged by an authorized ticket intermediary must also be included.

Extraordinary circumstances§

The airline avoids fixed delay or cancellation compensation only if it proves all three points:

an event was not inherent in normal airline activity;
the event was outside the carrier’s actual control; and
the disruption could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

Ordinary technical faults, airline-employee strikes, routine crew shortages, operational problems, and commercial cancellations are generally not extraordinary. Severe weather, certain ATC restrictions, bird strikes, security events, and genuinely external strikes may qualify—but only with evidence of causation and reasonable mitigation.

The fact that other flights operated is useful evidence, not automatic proof that weather was irrelevant.

Read the complete extraordinary-circumstances guide.

Connections, codeshares, and separate tickets§

For flights on one protected reservation:

delay is measured at the final destination;
distance is measured from initial departure to final destination; and
a short first-leg delay can support compensation if it causes a missed connection and a three-hour-plus final arrival delay.

Separate tickets are normally treated separately. If the first airline makes you miss a separately booked second flight, the second airline usually treats you as a no-show, and the first airline’s fixed compensation depends on the delay to the first ticket’s own destination.

Inbound connecting journeys beginning outside the EU require a route- and carrier-specific analysis. Do not reject or accept those claims solely because the itinerary connected at an EU airport.

Read the connecting-flight and codeshare guide.

How to claim§

At the airport§

Ask for the disruption reason in writing.
Keep the booking confirmation, boarding passes, rebooking records, and all receipts.
Screenshot flight status and note scheduled and actual times.
Ask the airline to provide meals, hotel, and rerouting before paying yourself.
Do not accept a voucher or sign a waiver unless you understand and want the deal.

Submit separate requests where appropriate§

Airlines often use different forms for:

fixed EU261 or UK261 compensation;
meals, hotels, and transport expenses;
ticket reimbursement; and
baggage claims.

File directly with the operating airline first. Include each passenger’s name, booking reference, flight number and date, route, scheduled and actual arrival, the amount requested, receipts, and bank details where required.

Find the official claim page for your airline.

If the airline refuses§

A practical escalation sequence is:

require a specific, evidence-based explanation;
use the applicable ADR or ombudsman process;
complain to the relevant National Enforcement Body;
use national small claims or the European Small Claims Procedure where available; and
consider a lawyer or claim company for difficult or high-value cases.

National Enforcement Bodies do not all obtain individual payment. Some focus on regulatory enforcement and fines.

Current EU261 does not set a single EU-wide court limitation period. National deadlines and rules for suspending or interrupting them differ. A complaint to an airline, ADR body, or regulator does not necessarily stop the clock.

France: for certain air-passenger disputes, a mandatory preliminary mediation process applies before court proceedings, subject to commencement and transitional rules. Skipping it can make a French action inadmissible.

Read the full claims, escalation, and time-limits guide.

UK261 in brief§

UK261 generally covers:

flights departing the UK on any airline;
flights arriving in the UK on a UK or EU carrier; and
certain flights arriving in the EU on a UK carrier.

Compensation bands are currently £220, £350, and £520. A British Airways flight from London to Madrid is ordinarily governed by UK261, while a British Airways flight from Madrid to London can potentially engage both EU261 and UK261. Passengers cannot recover duplicate compensation for the same disruption.

Baggage, package holidays, and additional losses§

EU261 does not govern lost, delayed, or damaged baggage. Those claims generally fall under the Montreal Convention, with short written-notice periods and a two-year time limit for court proceedings.

EU261 fixed compensation can coexist with documented consequential-loss claims or package-travel rights, but passengers cannot recover twice for the same loss or interest.

Read the baggage, Montreal Convention, and package-travel guide.

The adopted 2026 reform§

The European Parliament approved the reform on 7 July 2026 and the Council gave final approval on 13 July 2026. It still requires publication and is not yet applicable. The amending regulation enters into force 20 days after Official Journal publication and applies 12 months later.

The reform includes a nine-month deadline for compensation requests, 30-day airline decisions, stronger self-rerouting rights, tarmac protections, complaint-handling deadlines, adjacent-seat protections, airport duties, and a three-night hotel cap during extraordinary circumstances with important exceptions.

Read the full 2026 reform guide.

Frequently asked questions§

Does a cheap ticket reduce compensation?§

No. A €20 ticket can still support €250, €400, or €600 in fixed compensation.

I used miles. Am I covered?§

Frequent-flyer award tickets are covered.

My employer paid. Who owns the compensation?§

The passenger has the EU261 claim against the airline. Employment policies may separately govern what the passenger must do with the money.

My rerouted flight was also cancelled or delayed. Is there a second claim?§

Potentially. A further qualifying disruption during rerouting can create another compensation entitlement.

The airline wrote “operational reasons.” Is that enough?§

No. That is a label, not proof of an extraordinary circumstance or reasonable measures.

Can I accept rerouting and still claim compensation?§

Yes. Rerouting, care, and compensation are separate rights, subject to the statutory reduction rules.

Do I need a claim company?§

Usually not for a straightforward claim. Claim companies can be useful when an airline ignores a difficult cross-border claim, but their total fees can be substantial.

Read the complete passenger FAQ.

Primary legal sources§

This material is general information, not legal advice. Rights can depend on route, operating carrier, booking structure, evidence, forum, and national procedure. Official legislation, judgments, and enforcement guidance control over this summary.

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