The airline says ‘contact your travel agent’: what does it mean?
At a glance
That a travel agent sold the ticket does not change who pays compensation. It is the air carrier operating the flight that may owe it under EU261 (Articles 5(1)(c) and 7), whoever sold the ticket. Some questions can be referred elsewhere, but not compensation.
Article 3(5)
the carrier that flies fulfils the obligations, even without its own contract with you
C-302/16
the airline may owe compensation even if it notified the travel agent in time
C-601/17
the agent's commission is in principle part of the ticket price the airline must refund
In this article
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Another flight problemWhat the Regulation says about who is responsible
A reply saying ‘you booked through a travel agent, go to them’ sounds formal. The Regulation reads differently. Article 5(1)(c) gives passengers on a cancelled flight the right to compensation under Article 7 ‘by the operating air carrier’, and Article 2(b) defines that carrier as one that performs or intends to perform a flight ‘under a contract with a passenger or on behalf of another legal or natural person, having a contract with that passenger’.
You do not need a contract of your own with the airline. Article 3(5) says that a carrier without a contract with the passenger, when it fulfils obligations under the Regulation, is ‘regarded as doing so on behalf of the person who has a contract with the passenger’. The referral to the agent therefore does not answer whether the airline owes anything.
The Court of Justice has said the same about agents. The duty also applies where the transport contract was concluded through a third party such as an online travel agency, and the carrier operating the flight alone is responsible for paying compensation when its obligations have been breached (C-302/16, paragraphs 26 and 27).
| What it concerns | Who should you turn to? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Compensation for a cancelled or long-delayed flight (EUR 250, 400 or 600) | The airline that operated the flight | Articles 5(1)(c) and 7 place the obligation on the operating air carrier. That also applies when the ticket was bought through an agent (C-302/16, paragraphs 26 and 27). |
| Meals, hotel and transport on the spot | The airline that operated the flight | Article 9 gives the right to meals, hotel and transport free of charge. Recital 7 places the obligations on the carrier that performs the flight (C-302/16, paragraph 3). |
| Refund of the ticket after a cancellation on an ordinary ticket | The airline, which must offer reimbursement of the full cost of the ticket (Article 8(1)(a)) | The obligation rests on the air carrier even when the ticket was bought through an intermediary. The agent's commission at purchase is in principle included, unless it was set without the airline's knowledge (C-601/17, paragraphs 12, 16 and 20). |
| Refund of the ticket price on a package holiday | The tour organiser | Article 8(2) excludes the right to reimbursement where it is governed by the package travel rules. You then cannot claim the ticket price from the airline, even if the organiser lacks funds (C-163/18, operative part, decided under the older package travel directive). |
| Compensation for the flight on a package holiday | The airline that operated the flight | The Regulation is not affected by the package travel rules (Article 3(6)). You can claim compensation from the airline even without a contract with it (C-215/18, operative part point 1). |
| A notice that never reached you through the agent | The airline, unless it can prove you were informed in time | The burden of proof is on the airline. That it notified the agent is in principle not enough (C-302/16, operative part, and C-263/20, paragraphs 42 and 43). |
What may genuinely rest with the agent or organiser
The referral is not always wrong. If the flight was bought as part of a package, the refund of the ticket price may rest with the organiser, and Article 8(2) says so expressly. The text refers to Directive 90/314/EEC, which has been replaced by Directive 2015/2302; references to the older directive are read as references to the new one, per that directive's correlation table (Article 29). Judgments C-163/18 and C-215/18 were decided under the older directive. Compensation under Article 7 is never passed on for that reason.
Two questions the airline would rather not answer
Were you informed in time? On a cancelled flight, compensation falls away if you were informed at least two weeks before departure (Article 5(1)(c)(i)). The burden of proof is on the airline (Article 5(4)). If the airline only told the agent and the agent did not pass it on in time, the airline may still have to pay (C-302/16, operative part). In C-263/20 the Court held that it is in principle not enough for the carrier to have communicated with the intermediary (paragraph 43). It is different only if you expressly authorised the intermediary to receive the information and the carrier knew of it (paragraph 44). More in when the airline says you were informed in time.
What was the cause? A referral to the agent says nothing about why the flight was cancelled or delayed. If the airline later invokes extraordinary circumstances, it is the airline that must show them (Article 5(3)).
Example: a cancelled flight booked through an online platform
Lena books Stockholm–Lisbon through an online platform. The flight is cancelled the day before departure. She writes to the airline and is told that the ticket was bought through a third party and that she should contact the platform. The platform replies that it only brokered the ticket.
Measured against the Regulation, Lena has not been given an answer to her claim. Compensation under Article 7 is directed at the airline that was to fly, provided the other conditions are met, such as no notice two weeks ahead and no proven extraordinary circumstances. Buying through a platform changes neither that obligation nor her possible refund right (Article 8(1)(a)).
How we take over
You tell us what happened
You submit the claim, attach the airline's reply and the booking details you have, and accept the terms. The assessment of whether the flight may be covered is free of charge.
We sort out what belongs to whom
We check whether it was an ordinary ticket or a package, which airline operated the flight, and what the referral concerns.
We pursue the right airline
Airlate handles the claim manually and pursues the airline that operated the flight, under the authorisation you give when you submit. You should not have to be passed between agent and airline.
We take it further when the assessment holds
If we assess that the claim has reasonable prospects, we can pursue it further, where necessary through supervisory authorities, alternative dispute resolution or court. We decide which steps are appropriate, and no outcome can be promised. If you receive no compensation from the airline, as a starting point no service fee or additional fee is charged, on the conditions set out in the Fee Policy.
Next step
Keep the airline's reply, with sender and date, and the agent's booking confirmation. You can go to the dispute bodies or court yourself, but we recommend letting a representative test the referral against the rules. If the airline does not reply at all, read when the airline does not respond.
What you get to keep
Every company that pursues claims keeps part of the compensation. This is how much of €600 is left for you, according to the companies' own price lists.
What you keep of €600
Of the five companies we compared, you keep the most with Airlate, both when the claim is settled directly and when it goes on to legal process.
| Company | Without legal process | With legal process |
|---|---|---|
| Airlate | €450 | €360 |
| Flyghjälp (Flightright) | €420 | €330 |
| AirAdvisor | €420 | €300 |
| AirHelp | €390 | €300 |
| Skycop | €336 | €300 |
Want to know how it works?
We assess free of charge whether your flight may be covered. If you submit a claim and accept the terms, Airlate handles it manually.
Frequently asked questions
Not on the basis of the Regulation. Under Article 3(5) the operating carrier acts on behalf of whoever has your contract, and the Court of Justice has examined compensation against a carrier with no contract with the passenger (C-215/18, operative part point 1).
The commission the agent took at purchase is in principle part of the amount the airline must refund, unless it was set without the airline's knowledge (C-601/17, operative part). The judgment concerns the commission at purchase, not a separate fee for handling the refund.
You can claim compensation for a long-delayed flight from the airline even on a package holiday (C-215/18), and Article 3(6) of the Regulation points the same way for cancellations. A refund of the ticket price, however, you claim from the organiser where the package rules give you that right (Article 8(2), C-163/18). If the trip as a whole is cancelled for reasons other than the flight, the Regulation does not apply (Article 3(6)).
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Another flight problemShow all 7 sources
Every factual statement in this article rests on one of the sources below: EU regulations, judgments of the EU Court of Justice and the authorities' own pages.
Sources
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 (recital 7 and Articles 2(b), 3(5), 3(6), 5(1), 7, 8, 9 and 13) · EUR-Lex · Regulation · retrieved 2026-10-14
- Judgment in Case C-601/17, Dirk Harms and Others v Vueling Airlines SA (Eighth Chamber, 12 September 2018) · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-14
- Judgment in Case C-302/16, Bas Jacob Adriaan Krijgsman v Surinaamse Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV (Eighth Chamber, 11 May 2017) · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-14
- Judgment in Case C-263/20, Airhelp Limited v Laudamotion GmbH (First Chamber, 21 December 2021) · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-14
- Judgment in Case C-163/18, HQ and Others v Aegean Airlines SA (Third Chamber, 10 July 2019) · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-14
- Judgment in Case C-215/18, Libuše Králová v Primera Air Scandinavia A/S (First Chamber, 26 March 2020) · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-14
- Directive (EU) 2015/2302 of the European Parliament and of the Council on package travel and linked travel arrangements (Article 29) · EUR-Lex · Other official · retrieved 2026-10-14
Related guides
- Cancelled flight: your rights
- Delayed flight: your rights
- Refund or compensation: two separate rights, not an either/or
- The airline says ‘extraordinary circumstances’: what does the reply mean?
- The airline said no: how to dispute a refusal
- The airline is not responding: what silence means and what you can do
- The airline says ‘you were informed in good time’: what does the reply mean?