EU261 Rights Independent

Current position

Your rights have not changed. The June 2026 reform keeps the three-hour threshold and the €250–€600 amounts. It is not yet in force. What was agreed →

Checked 27 Jul 2026

Everything, sourced

The official sources, all in one place

Every figure and rule on this site traces back to one of these. No claims company links you to the primary law — they would rather you did not read it. We would rather you did. Verified against these sources on 27 Jul 2026.

Quoted from the European Commission

On a delayed arrival, the Commission states plainly: if you arrive “with a delay of 3 hours or more, you are entitled to compensation” unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances — and “the airline has to prove this.”

europa.eu — Air passenger rights

EUR-Lex

The Regulation itself

Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 — the full legal text on the EU's official law database. The source everything else interprets.

Open the official source →

legislation.gov.uk

The UK version

The retained UK law on the government's official statute database — UK261, the post-Brexit equivalent in sterling.

Open the official source →

European Commission

Your Europe: air passenger rights

The European Commission's own plain-language guide for passengers. The official position on every scenario, kept current by the Commission.

Open the official source →

EUR-Lex

The Commission's Interpretative Guidelines

How the Commission reads the Regulation — the official guidance courts and airlines refer to when the text is ambiguous.

Open the official source →

European Commission

National enforcement bodies (official list)

The Commission's own PDF listing the body to complain to in every country. The definitive version of our enforcement directory.

Open the official source →

EUR-Lex

Air carrier liability (baggage)

Regulation (EC) No 889/2002, which brings the Montreal Convention into EU law — the source of your baggage rights, separate from 261.

Open the official source →

European Commission

Commission note on claims agencies

The Commission's own warning about consumer, marketing and data-protection law as it applies to claims companies. Worth reading before you sign with one.

Open the official source →

European Commission

European Consumer Centres (ECC-Net)

Free help and advice on a cross-border air passenger complaint, from the EU's own consumer network.

Open the official source →

European Commission

European Small Claims Procedure

The official cross-border small-claims route — how to take an airline to court in another EU country without a lawyer.

Open the official source →

UK CAA

UK Civil Aviation Authority

The UK regulator's passenger pages — the enforcement route for UK261 claims.

Open the official source →

Court of Justice of the EU

The judgments (CURIA)

The Court of Justice's official case database. Every ruling that shaped the Regulation, in full.

Open the official source →

Questions

Where can I read EU261 in full?

The complete legal text is on EUR-Lex, the EU's official law database, as Regulation (EC) No 261/2004. The UK version is on legislation.gov.uk. Both are linked above.

Is there an official EU compensation calculator?

The Commission publishes the rules and a plain-language guide on its Your Europe site, but not a calculator. Ours applies those official rules; the source page is linked above so you can check every figure.