How far back can you claim flight compensation?
At a glance
EU Regulation 261/2004 contains no time limit of its own for compensation claims. In Case C-139/11 (Cuadrench Moré), the Court of Justice of the European Union held that it is each country's national limitation rules that decide how long you have to pursue a claim.
How far back you can go varies from country to country, and the limitation period is not the only deadline. National law may also require you to notify the airline within a reasonable time. In Sweden, for example, the Supreme Court has held that notice of a delay given within two months of the journey is always in time, while a claim made a little over two years later was too late (NJA 2018 p. 127).
Because the position depends on national law and the strength of your evidence, it is sensible to claim from the airline as soon as you can, ideally within two months, and to keep all your supporting documents.
In this article
Check your compensation
Free preliminary check. You can change your choice later.
Another flight problemThe EU rules set no time limit of their own
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 gives you, as a passenger, the right to compensation in the event of long delays, cancelled flights and denied boarding, but it says nothing about how long you have to claim the money. The question reached the Court of Justice after a passenger, whose flight from Shanghai to Barcelona had been cancelled in December 2005, brought an action against KLM only in February 2009, more than three years later.
The airline argued that the claim was time-barred under the two-year limit in the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions. The Court took a different view. In its judgment in Case C-139/11 (Cuadrench Moré, 22 November 2012) it held that the time limit for bringing an action for compensation under the regulation is determined by each Member State's national rules on the limitation of actions. The Conventions' two-year limit does not apply, because compensation under the EU rules falls outside their scope.
The Court added that national rules must respect the EU-law principles of effectiveness and equivalence: a country's limitation rules must not make it excessively difficult to exercise rights that follow from EU law, nor be less favourable than the rules for similar claims under national law.
Key facts: time limits for flight compensation
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 contains no limitation period of its own for compensation claims.
- Court of Justice, Case C-139/11: the national limitation rules of the country concerned decide how long you can pursue the claim.
- The two-year limit in the Montreal and Warsaw Conventions does not apply to compensation under the EU rules.
- Because limitation periods differ, the same flight may still be claimable in one country while time-barred in another.
- Where Swedish law applies, you must notify the airline within a reasonable time after a delayed flight; within two months is always in time (NJA 2018 p. 127).
- Regulation (EU) 2026/2202 introduces a nine-month deadline for compensation requests under Article 7, but it applies only from 23 October 2027 (Article 3).
Scenario: the delay was two and a half years ago
You flew from Stockholm to Málaga in January 2024 and landed more than four hours late, but you never contacted the airline. Two and a half years later, you hear about EU compensation and wonder whether it is too late.
The short answer is that it may well be. The EU rules set no time limit of their own, but national rules may. Where Swedish law applies, for example, you must have notified the airline within a reasonable time after the journey, and in a similar case the Supreme Court of Sweden held that a little over two years was too late (NJA 2018 p. 127). Which country's law applies can vary, and the circumstances of the individual case matter.
If you did contact the airline shortly after the journey, the position is different: the claim may still be possible to pursue, although separate, shorter deadlines for taking the dispute further may have passed. In that case, find your booking confirmation, your boarding pass and the emails to and from the airline, and send a fresh written, dated claim.
The lesson for next time: claim within two months. The evidence also becomes harder to assemble over time, as details about the flight and the reason for the delay may be more difficult to obtain.
How much compensation may be due
How far back you can claim is one question; how much may be due is another. Under Article 7 of Regulation 261/2004, the amount depends primarily on the flight distance. In some cases the amount may be reduced by 50 % under Article 7(2).
| Flight distance | Compensation level |
|---|---|
| Flights up to 1,500 km | €250 |
| 1,500–3,500 km (and longer intra-EU flights) | €400 |
| Flights over 3,500 km | €600 |
The amounts apply per passenger.
The airline may halve the amount if it offers rerouting that arrives no more than 2 hours (up to 1,500 km), 3 hours (1,500–3,500 km and longer intra-EU flights) or 4 hours (other flights over 3,500 km) after the original arrival time (Article 7(2)). For a delay on a flight over 3,500 km to or from a country outside the EU, the amount may also be halved if you arrive at least three but less than four hours late (Court of Justice, Sturgeon and Others, paragraph 63).
Different countries, different limitation periods
Because the limitation period is governed by national law, exactly the same delay may still be claimable in one country yet time-barred in another. Which country's rules apply can depend on several things: for example, where the claim is pursued and which country's law governs the journey. The same goes for any requirement to notify the airline in good time.
If you travelled with an airline based in another country, or are considering pursuing the claim abroad, do not assume that the time limits you know from home apply. Check the position for the country concerned, or seek help, before writing off an older claim, and before waiting too long with a fresh one.
New EU rules from 23 October 2027, but they do not apply yet
Regulation (EU) 2026/2202, which amends the air passenger regulation 261/2004, was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 2 October 2026. Under the new Article 7(9), a request for compensation under Article 7 must be submitted within nine months of the actual date of departure indicated on the ticket, and the airline must, within 30 calendar days, either pay or explain why it is not paying.
The regulation applies only from 23 October 2027 (Article 3). Until then, today's position holds: no EU deadline, but national rules.
The regulation contains no transitional provision. It says when it starts to apply, but not how the nine-month deadline should be handled for flights that took place before 23 October 2027. Whether the deadline affects such claims at all, and if so how, is an open legal question that cannot be answered with certainty today.
How to secure your claim in good time
Gather your documents
- Booking confirmation and booking reference
- Boarding pass for the affected flight
- Any messages from the airline about the delay or cancellation
- Receipts for expenses such as meals or a hotel, if you incurred them
Then act on your claim
- Send a written, dated claim to the airline as soon as you can, ideally within two months of the journey, and keep a copy
- Note the date of your first complaint: later deadlines may run from it
- If the airline refuses or does not reply within a reasonable time, consider taking the dispute further, checking the deadlines that apply where the claim would be pursued
Common questions about time limits
It depends. The EU rules set no time limit of their own, and in the case the Court of Justice examined the passenger had waited more than three years before bringing an action. There, Spanish rules with a ten-year period applied. How far back you can go is decided by national rules, and which country's rules apply can vary. National law may also require you to have notified the airline in good time: where Swedish law applies, the right to compensation for a delay can lapse if you did not notify the airline within a reasonable time after the journey (NJA 2018 p. 127). In practice, how well you can prove what happened also matters.
No. In Case C-139/11 the Court of Justice held that compensation under Regulation 261/2004 falls outside the scope of the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions, and that their two-year limit therefore does not apply to such claims. The two-year limit may still matter for other types of claim against an airline, such as damages under the Conventions.
On 23 October 2027. That is when Regulation (EU) 2026/2202 starts to apply (Article 3), and under the new Article 7(9) a request for compensation under Article 7 must be submitted within nine months of the actual date of departure indicated on the ticket. Until then, national rules apply just as before. The regulation does not say expressly how the deadline affects flights before 23 October 2027. That question is open.
Check your compensation
Free preliminary check. You can change your choice later.
Another flight problemShow all 5 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
- Judgment in Case C-139/11, Joan Cuadrench Moré v Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice of the European Union · Case law · retrieved 2026-07-04
- Press release No 150/12: Judgment in Case C-139/11 Cuadrench Moré v KLM · Court of Justice of the European Union (CURIA) · Case law · retrieved 2026-07-04
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council · EUR-Lex · Regulation · retrieved 2026-07-04
- Regulation (EU) 2026/2202 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2026 amending Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and Council Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 (OJ L, 2.10.2026) · EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union) · Regulation · retrieved 2026-10-05
- NJA 2018 p. 127 ("Flyget till Antalya"), judgment of 15 March 2018 in case T 2659-17 · Supreme Court of Sweden (Högsta domstolen), reproduced on lagen.nu from rattspraxis.etjanst.domstol.se · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-06