Art 5
Your flight was cancelled
A cancellation splits into two separate rights that airlines love to blur: the money back, and the compensation on top.
Checked against its sources
The short answer
Compensation is due unless the airline told you at least 14 days ahead, offered an alternative flight close to your original times, or can prove extraordinary circumstances. A refund or re-route is always owed.
The one thing to know: Fourteen days' notice removes the compensation, never the refund. With less warning, compensation is due unless the alternative flight fits the Article 5 time windows below or the cause was genuinely extraordinary.
How it actually works
- The 14-day rule
- Told 14 days or more ahead: no compensation, but you still choose a refund or a re-route. Told less than 14 days ahead: compensation is due unless the alternative flight they offered fits inside the time windows in the table below.
- Refund or re-routing is absolute
- Under Article 8 the choice is yours — your money back within seven days, or a new flight. A voucher is not a refund unless you sign to accept one Art 7(3).
- Beware the blur
- Airlines often answer a compensation claim by pointing at the refund they gave. A refund is Article 8. Compensation is Article 7. One does not discharge the other.
Doing it yourself costs nothing and keeps the full amount.
The notice rules
Whether compensation is due turns on when you were told and what you were offered Art 5(1)(c). UK261 uses the same windows UK261 Art 5.
| When you were told | No compensation if the alternative flight… | Refund or re-route |
|---|---|---|
| At least two weeks before departure | No conditions: no compensation | Always owed |
| Between two weeks and seven days before | departs no more than 2 h before the original time and arrives less than 4 h after the original arrival | Always owed |
| Less than seven days before | departs no more than 1 h before the original time and arrives less than 2 h after the original arrival | Always owed |
The airline must prove whether and when it told you Art 5(4). Telling your travel agent is not enough if the agent never passed it on (Krijgsman, C-302/16, 2017).
How much
Per passenger, by great-circle distance to your final destination. If the airline re-routes you and you arrive within the margin in the third column, it may halve the payment Art 7(2).
| Distance | EU261 | Halved if the re-route arrives within | UK261 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | €250 | 2 h: €125 | £220 (£110 halved) |
| 1,500–3,500 km, and intra-EU over 1,500 km | €400 | 3 h: €200 | £350 (£175 halved) |
| Over 3,500 km, not intra-EU | €600 | 4 h: €300 | £520 (£260 halved) |
UK261 has no intra-EU band, so any flight over 3,500 km it covers is in the £520 band.
When you are owed, and when you are not
You are owed
- Short notice and a poor alternative: told under 14 days ahead, with a re-route outside the windows above, or none.
- Your flight was brought forward by more than an hour. That is a cancellation (Joined Cases C-146/20 and others, 2021).
- The cause was part of running an airline: most technical faults (Sturgeon, C-402/07) and strikes by the airline's own staff (Airhelp v SAS, C-28/20, 2021).
- The flight is in scope: it left an EU, EEA or Swiss airport on any airline, or flew into the EU on an EU airline Art 3(1). UK261: left the UK on any airline, or flew into the UK on a UK or EU airline.
You are not
- You were told 14 days or more ahead, or offered a re-route inside the windows.
- The airline proves extraordinary circumstances it could not have avoided with all reasonable measures Art 5(3). What counts →
- The flight operated late rather than being cancelled. A long delay is not a cancellation if the flight ran to the airline's original plan (Sturgeon) — but the delay rule may pay the same.
- You flew into the EU on a non-EU airline, or travelled free or on a non-public reduced fare Art 3(3).
Owed whatever caused the cancellation
Every cancelled passenger gets the Article 8 choice: a refund within seven days (with a flight back to your starting point if the trip no longer makes sense), re-routing at the earliest opportunity, or re-routing at a later date of your choosing Art 5(1)(a), 8. While you wait you are owed meals, refreshments and two calls or emails, plus a hotel and transfers if the new flight is the next day or later Art 5(1)(b), 9. None of this depends on fault: it applies even in extraordinary circumstances (McDonagh, C-12/11, 2013). Everything owed regardless of cause →
Stranded overnight
No hotel from the airline?
Book a reasonable room near the airport yourself and keep the receipt, then claim the cost back from the airline. You recover what was necessary, appropriate and reasonable: a mid-range hotel, not a suite (McDonagh, C-12/11).
- London Heathrow
- Paris CDG
- Frankfurt
- Amsterdam Schiphol
- Madrid Barajas
- Barcelona El Prat
- Munich
- Rome Fiumicino
- Dublin
Hotels nearest each airport, on Agoda. These are affiliate links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Disclosure.
A worked example
Two passengers are booked Rome Fiumicino–Dublin: 1,886 km, intra-EU and over 1,500 km, so the band is €400. Five days before departure the airline cancels after a technical fault on the aircraft and offers a flight leaving 30 minutes earlier and arriving 2 h 30 min later.
- Told less than seven days ahead, so the alternative had to arrive less than two hours late. It arrives 2 h 30 min late: compensation is due.
- The re-route arrives within three hours of the original, so the airline may halve: €400 ÷ 2 = €200 each, €400 for the pair.
- Had the same offer come ten days ahead, it would sit inside the 7–14-day window (no more than two hours earlier, under four hours later): no compensation, but the refund or re-route still stands.
What changes on 23 October 2027
Regulation (EU) 2026/2202 is law but applies only from 23 October 2027. Until then the rules above decide every claim. UK261 is not affected.
- Notice
- The 14-day rule stays, but the middle tier goes. With less than 14 days' notice, compensation is excluded only if the alternative departs no more than one hour earlier and arrives less than two hours later (new Art 5(5)).
- Reductions
- The 50% cut survives only in the long-haul band, for re-routes arriving no more than four hours late (new Art 7(2)). A new cut applies where the re-route leaves more than an hour early and you take it: 50% if brought forward by less than two hours, 25% if less than three (new Art 7(3)).
- Definitions
- A flight brought forward by more than an hour is a cancellation in the text itself (new Art 2(l)). A diversion to another airport serving the same city, with onward transport and no more than three hours' delay, is not (new Art 5(6)).
- Refund and re-routing
- Refunds within seven calendar days by bank transfer (new Art 8(1)(a)). If the airline offers no re-route within three hours, you may book your own and reclaim up to 400% of the ticket price (new Art 8(3)). Hotel nights can be capped at three only where the cancellation was extraordinary and unavoidable (new Art 9(6)).
- Claiming
- The airline must give the reason for the cancellation (new Art 5(1)). You must claim within nine months, and it must pay or explain within 30 days (new Art 7(9)).
What to do now
- Keep the evidence — the cancellation email or text with its date, any re-route offer and its times, and receipts for anything you paid while waiting. The full checklist →
- Write to the airline, quoting the article and the flight. Use the template →
- Give them 28 days, then escalate free to the national enforcement body. In the UK the next step is an ADR scheme, or the CAA if the airline has none, once eight weeks have passed.
- Check your time limit — it varies by country: six years in England, one year in Poland and Belgium, and unsettled in Italy. See yours →
Questions
Your flight was cancelled: am I owed compensation?
Compensation is due unless the airline told you at least 14 days ahead, offered an alternative flight close to your original times, or can prove extraordinary circumstances. A refund or re-route is always owed.
The airline gave me a refund. Do I still get compensation?
Yes, if the conditions are met. A refund is Article 8 and compensation is Article 7; paying one does not discharge the other.
They told me 10 days before the flight. Am I owed anything?
A refund or re-route, always. Compensation as well, unless the alternative they offered left no more than two hours before your original departure and arrived less than four hours after your original arrival (Art 5(1)(c)(ii)).
My flight was moved earlier. Is that a cancellation?
If it was brought forward by more than one hour, yes. The Court treats that as a cancellation (Joined Cases C-146/20 and others, 2021), so the notice rules and compensation apply.
The airline told my travel agent, who never told me. Does that notice count?
No. The airline has to prove when you were told (Art 5(4)), and notice given to an agent that never reached you does not count (Krijgsman, C-302/16).
How do I claim it?
Write to the airline first, quoting the article and flight, and allow 28 days. It is free and you keep the whole amount. Escalate to the national enforcement body if refused.