EU261 Rights Independent

Current position

Your rights have not changed yet. The reform is now law — Regulation (EU) 2026/2202, published 2 October 2026 — but it applies only from 23 October 2027. It keeps the three-hour threshold and the €250–€600 amounts. What changes in 2027 →

Checked

Sturgeon C-402/07

Your flight was delayed

A delay is the most common claim and one of the clearest. The rule that makes it work isn't in the text of the Regulation at all — the Court of Justice read it in.

Checked against its sources

The short answer

If you reached your final destination three hours or more late, you are owed €250–€600 (£220–£520 under UK261), unless the airline proves the delay came from extraordinary circumstances it could not have avoided.

The one thing to know: The three-hour clock runs to your arrival at your final destination, measured when the aircraft door opens — not when it lands, and not the delay on any single leg.

How it actually works

Where the right comes from
The text of the Regulation gives fixed compensation only for cancellation and denied boarding. In Sturgeon (C-402/07 and C-432/07, 2009) the Court held that arriving three hours or more late causes the same loss of time, so the same amount is due. The Grand Chamber confirmed it in Nelson (C-581/10, 2012). From 23 October 2027 the rule is written into the Regulation itself.
What decides it
Two things: did you arrive three or more hours late at your final destination, and can the airline prove an extraordinary circumstance it could not have avoided. Distance sets the amount; the cause decides whether you get it at all.
Where airlines pay half
On flights over 3,500 km arriving between three and four hours late, Article 7(2) lets the airline halve the figure: €300 instead of €600, £260 instead of £520. Check the offer against your actual arrival time.
Work out the exact amount →

Doing it yourself costs nothing and keeps the full amount.

How much: EU261 and UK261

Per passenger, set by the great-circle distance from your first departure airport to your final destination Art 7(1), 7(4). The arrival delay must be three hours or more in every band.

DistanceEU261UK261
Up to 1,500 km (London–Paris, 347 km)€250£220
1,500–3,500 km€400£350
Over 3,500 km within the EU (Helsinki–Las Palmas, about 4,700 km)€400£520 (UK261 has no intra-EU band)
Over 3,500 km, arriving 4 h or more late€600£520
Over 3,500 km, arriving 3–4 h late€300 (halved, Art 7(2))£260

The halving applies to delays only in the long-haul band: the Court applied Article 7(2) to delays “mutatis mutandis” in Sturgeon (para 63), and Nelson (para 78) reads it as the long-haul case. Shorter flights get the full figure at three hours.

When you are owed, and when you are not

You are owed

  • 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 arrived three hours or more late at your final destination, timed from when at least one door opened (Germanwings, C-452/13, 2014).
  • The departure delay was short but the arrival delay was not. Only arrival counts (Folkerts, C-11/11, 2013).
  • The cause was part of running an airline: most technical faults (Sturgeon), and strikes by the airline's own staff (Airhelp v SAS, C-28/20, 2021).
  • You turned up in time: checked in as instructed, or at least 45 minutes before departure; if checked in online, at the airport in good time (Laudamotion, C-474/22, 2024).

You are not

  • The airline proves extraordinary circumstances it could not have avoided with all reasonable measures: genuine weather, air traffic control restrictions, security risks. What counts →
  • The door opened before the three-hour mark, however long the taxi felt.
  • You flew into the EU on a non-EU airline. Booking the return with the outbound does not bring it into scope (Commission Interpretative Guidelines 2024).
  • You travelled free or on a non-public reduced fare, such as staff travel. Frequent-flyer award tickets are covered Art 3(3).

Some flights fall under both regimes: London–Paris on an EU airline is a UK261 departure and an EU261 arrival on an EU carrier. Claim once, under either.

Owed whatever caused the delay

Care does not depend on fault. Once the departure delay reaches two hours (up to 1,500 km), three hours (1,500–3,500 km, or intra-EU over 1,500 km) or four hours (everything else), the airline must give you meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, two calls or emails, and a hotel with transfers if the new departure is the next day Art 6(1), 9. At five hours you may abandon the trip for a full refund Art 8(1)(a). These apply even in extraordinary circumstances (McDonagh, C-12/11, 2013); if the airline provides nothing, keep receipts and claim back what was necessary and reasonable. 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).

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

A family of four flies Frankfurt–New York JFK on one booking. The great-circle distance is 6,189 km: over 3,500 km and not intra-EU, so the band is €600. A technical fault delays departure, and the door opens 3 h 40 min after the scheduled arrival.

  • Arrival delay between three and four hours, so the airline may halve: €600 ÷ 2 = €300 each.
  • Four passengers × €300 = €1,200.
  • Had the door opened at 4 h 05 min: 4 × €600 = €2,400. At 2 h 55 min: nothing.

Meals at the gate were owed only once the departure delay reached four hours, the long-haul threshold in Article 6(1). The return leg, New York–Frankfurt, is covered only if an EU airline operates it.

What changes on 23 October 2027

Regulation (EU) 2026/2202 is law but does not apply until 23 October 2027. Until then every delay claim is decided under the current rules above. UK261 is not affected.

Threshold
Compensation for an arrival delay “exceeding three hours” is written into the Regulation (new Art 6(4)). Exactly 3 h 00 min will no longer be enough.
Arrival time
Measured at on-block time, when the aircraft reaches the stand with its parking brakes on (new Art 2(x)), not when a door opens. That is a few minutes earlier, so borderline claims get harder.
Amounts
Unchanged (new Art 7(1)). The 50% reduction stays for long-haul arrivals no more than four hours late (new Art 7(2)).
Long waits
A five-hour departure delay obliges the airline to offer a refund (new Art 6(3)). After two hours stuck on the tarmac at an EU airport, the aircraft must go to a gate and let passengers off (new Art 6a(3)).
Claiming
Airlines must send you claim instructions within 96 hours (new Art 7(4)). You must claim within nine months of the flight, and the airline must pay or explain within 30 days, naming the extraordinary circumstance it relies on (new Art 7(9)), from a non-exhaustive list in a new Annex (new Art 6c).

The full reform explained →

What to do now

  1. Photograph the evidence — the departure board, the app before it updates, the arrival time when the door opens. The full checklist →
  2. Write to the airline, quoting the article and the flight. Use the template →
  3. 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.
  4. 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 delayed: am I owed compensation?

If you reached your final destination three hours or more late, you are owed €250–€600 (£220–£520 under UK261), unless the airline proves the delay came from extraordinary circumstances it could not have avoided.

Does the delay at departure count, or the delay at arrival?

Arrival. What counts is how late you reached your final destination, measured when the first aircraft door opened (Germanwings, C-452/13). A short departure delay that made you miss a connection on the same booking still counts (Folkerts, C-11/11).

My long-haul flight arrived 3 hours 30 minutes late. Why did the airline offer €300?

Because Article 7(2) lets it halve the €600 on flights over 3,500 km that arrive between three and four hours late. That is lawful. At four hours or more, the full €600 is due (£520 under UK261, £260 if halved).

The airline blamed a technical fault. Does that get it off the hook?

Usually not. A technical problem is not an extraordinary circumstance unless it stems from events that are not inherent in running an airline and are beyond its actual control (Sturgeon, C-402/07). The airline has to prove the defence; you do not have to disprove it.

Am I covered if I flew with a non-EU airline?

Leaving an EU, EEA or Swiss airport, yes, whatever the airline. Flying into the EU, only if an EU airline operated the flight. Under UK261, departures from the UK are covered on any airline, and arrivals into the UK on a UK or EU airline.

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.