By what went wrong
Every kind of flight disruption, and what you’re owed
Pick what actually happened to you. Each one is a different rule — a delay, a cancellation and a missed connection are not variations on a theme, they are separate rights with separate tests.
Checked against its sources
Usually payable
Flight delay
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.
Usually payable
Flight cancellation
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.
Usually payable
Denied boarding
If you were bumped against your will from a flight you had a confirmed booking on and checked in for, compensation is due immediately, unless the airline had reasonable grounds such as health, safety, security or inadequate travel documents.
Usually payable
Missed connection
On a single booking, if a delay on the first leg made you arrive 3+ hours late overall, you can claim — even if the connecting flight itself ran on time.
Contested
Weather
Weather can be a valid defence — but only for the delay it genuinely caused, and the airline has to prove it took reasonable measures.
Usually payable
Technical fault
Usually still payable. Technical faults that arise in the normal running of an airline are not extraordinary circumstances unless their cause is beyond the airline's actual control.
Contested
Strikes
It depends who struck. The airline's own staff, whether a union-called strike or a wildcat walkout: usually payable. Air traffic control or airport staff: usually not.
Usually not payable
Air traffic control
Usually not payable. ATC restrictions are outside the airline's control and generally count as extraordinary, though the airline must still show it took all reasonable measures.
Payable
Downgrade
If the airline put you in a lower class than you paid for, it owes you a percentage of the ticket back — 30%, 50% or 75% by distance.
Payable
Delayed or lost baggage
This is not EU261. Baggage is covered by the Montreal Convention, with a different limit and a much shorter deadline to report it.
Whatever went wrong, a refund or re-route and care while you wait are owed separately from compensation, and often regardless of cause. What you are owed even without compensation → The rules change on 23 October 2027 under Regulation (EU) 2026/2202; until then, every claim is decided under the current law. What changes →