Flight brought forward: when does a schedule change count as a cancellation?
At a glance
If the operating air carrier brings the departure forward by more than one hour, the flight is to be regarded in law as cancelled - the Court of Justice of the EU has so held. But counting as cancelled does not automatically mean money follows. If you were informed at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure, no financial compensation is normally payable, however large the change was. If the notice came later, you may be covered by the right to compensation, provided the other conditions are met.
In this article
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Another flight problemA departure brought forward is not an ordinary schedule adjustment
Airlines often call it a schedule change or a timetable adjustment. If the departure is brought forward by more than one hour, in law it is something else. The First Chamber of the Court of Justice of the EU decided the question on 21 December 2021 in Joined Cases C-146/20, C-188/20, C-196/20 and C-270/20 - disputes against Corendon Airlines, Azurair, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines. The Court held that Article 2(l) and Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 are to be interpreted as meaning that a flight is regarded as cancelled where the operating air carrier brings it forward by more than one hour.
The reasoning is practical. A departure brought forward forces the passenger to re-plan: an earlier transfer, perhaps an extra hotel night, a working day lost. The Court pointed out that where a flight has been brought forward by a significant amount of time, passengers are unable to use their time as they wish and to organise their trip or holiday according to their expectations. It is therefore treated as a cancelled flight and not as a delay.
The line is drawn at one hour. The Court stated that whether a flight has been brought forward by more than one hour or by one hour or less is the reference point for whether it has been brought forward by a significant or a negligible amount of time. A flight brought forward by no more than one hour therefore falls outside what the judgment held about cancelled flights.
The date of the notice often decides whether money can follow
Classifying the flight as cancelled gives you two kinds of rights. One concerns re-routing and reimbursement (and in some cases assistance such as meals), the other financial compensation - and only the second depends on when you were informed.
Under Article 5(1)(c), compensation is not payable if you were informed at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure. If you were informed between two weeks and seven days before departure, the airline avoids paying only if it also offered you re-routing departing no more than two hours earlier than planned and arriving less than four hours after the scheduled time of arrival. If you were informed less than seven days before departure, the limits are narrower: departure no more than one hour earlier and arrival less than two hours after the scheduled arrival. If the re-routing falls outside those limits, compensation may be payable. The airline still does not have to pay if it can prove that the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken (Article 5(3)).
The same judgment supplies a further detail. The Court stated that information given to the passenger before the journey that the flight has been brought forward may constitute an offer of re-routing within the meaning of Article 8(1)(b), and that the airline need not pay compensation where it informs passengers of the bringing forward under the conditions laid down in Article 5(1)(c)(i) to (iii). The email with the new time may therefore itself be the re-routing that the exceptions above presuppose. Exactly which date the notice arrived thus carries great weight - and under Article 5(4) the burden of proving whether and when you were informed lies with the operating air carrier, not with you.
If you booked through a travel agent or a booking website, it is not enough that the airline informed the intermediary in time. If the intermediary did not pass the notice on within the time limit, you are not regarded as having been informed in time, unless you had expressly authorised the intermediary to receive the airline's notices (Court of Justice of the EU, Case C-263/20).
At a glance: the flight is moved before you travel
- Brought forward by more than one hour: the flight is to be regarded as cancelled (Court of Justice of the EU, Joined Cases C-146/20 and others).
- Brought forward by no more than one hour: falls outside what the judgment held about cancelled flights.
- Informed at least two weeks before the scheduled departure: normally no financial compensation, however large the change is.
- Informed between two weeks and seven days before: no compensation if the re-routing departs no more than two hours earlier and arrives less than four hours later - otherwise compensation may be payable.
- Informed less than seven days before: no compensation if the re-routing departs no more than one hour earlier and arrives less than two hours later - otherwise compensation may be payable.
- The flight is instead moved to a later time but otherwise unchanged: normally assessed as a delay, not as a cancelled flight (Case C-395/20). The delay is counted from the original arrival time (Case C-558/24).
- The burden of proving whether and when you were informed lies with the operating air carrier (Article 5(4)).
The 50 per cent reduction does not apply where arrival is brought forward
Article 7(2) allows the air carrier to reduce the compensation by 50 per cent where re-routing produces an arrival time not exceeding the scheduled time of arrival by more than two, three or four hours respectively - which limit applies depends on the length of the flight. The question has been raised whether the provision can also be used where the departure has instead been brought forward, on the argument that the passenger did after all land earlier than planned.
The Court's answer in the joined cases was no. Article 7(2) is to be interpreted as not applying to a situation in which the arrival time has been brought forward within the limits set out in that provision. Where compensation is calculated in such a case, it is therefore not to be halved on the ground that you arrived earlier than the timetable stated.
Example: the email two months before the trip
You have booked a flight from Stockholm to Malaga. Two months before departure the airline emails to say that the departure has been brought forward by five hours. The change is more than one hour, so the flight is to be regarded in law as cancelled. But the notice came considerably more than two weeks before the scheduled time of departure, and in that case no financial compensation is normally payable under Article 5(1)(c).
If the new time does not suit you, it is Article 8(1) that becomes relevant instead. It gives you a choice between reimbursement of the ticket and re-routing to the final destination - at the earliest opportunity or at a later date at your convenience. The Court has stated that the notice of the new time may itself constitute an offer of re-routing under Article 8(1)(b), but also that the airline must offer you all the options in Article 8(1) and inform you about them. So reply to the airline in writing and ask for reimbursement or a different re-routing, rather than letting the notice pass.
How much the compensation can be
Where compensation is payable it is calculated by the length of the flight, not by what the ticket cost. The levels below are the regulation's own, under Article 7.
| 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).
Common questions about schedule changes before departure
Usually not. A flight that is operated in accordance with the air carrier's original planning but later than the timetable is a delay, not a cancelled flight - however long the delay. The Court of Justice of the EU has also held that a flight is not regarded as cancelled where the operating air carrier postpones the departure by less than three hours without making any other change to the flight (Case C-395/20, 21 December 2021). If your flight is instead replaced by another flight with different planning, it may be a cancelled flight. For a delay, the delay rules apply: if you reach your final destination three hours or more after the arrival time originally scheduled by the air carrier, you may be covered by the right to compensation under Article 7, unless the carrier shows that the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken (Joined Cases C-402/07 and C-432/07, Sturgeon and Others, 19 November 2009). The delay is counted from the original arrival time even if the airline has sent you a new booking confirmation with the later times (Case C-558/24, 30 October 2025).
According to the same judgment of December 2021, the scheduled time of arrival may be determined from the tour operator's confirmation - what the regulation calls 'other proof' (Article 2(g)). The Court also stated that such a confirmation may mean that you have a confirmed reservation even where the tour operator has not had the times confirmed by the air carrier, provided it identifies the flight by points of departure and destination, times of departure and arrival, and flight number. So keep the operator's original confirmation with flight numbers and times - it may be the only record of what was actually planned.
The choice of words does not decide it. What matters is how far the departure was moved and when you were informed. Ask for written reasons stating the original scheduled departure and arrival times, the new time and the date of the notification. The burden of proof for the notification lies with the carrier under Article 5(4), so an assertion without supporting material is not enough.
Yes, but only from 23 October 2027. Regulation (EU) 2026/2202 amends Regulation 261/2004 but applies only from that date (Article 3). It then writes into the regulation that a flight is cancelled where the departure time on the ticket is brought forward by more than one hour. The time limits change: the airline does not have to pay if you were informed at least 14 calendar days before the departure date, or if you were informed later and offered re-routing departing no more than one hour earlier and arriving less than two hours later - the tier between seven days and two weeks disappears. If a flight has been rescheduled at least 14 calendar days before the departure date, any delay is counted from the new times. And for re-routing after a cancellation that departs more than one hour earlier, the compensation may in certain cases be reduced by 50 or 25 per cent if you took the flight. Until 23 October 2027 the rules apply as described here.
Not sure whether the change counts?
The difference between a flight brought forward by 55 minutes and one brought forward by 70 minutes can decide the whole assessment - and so can the date on the email. We review your case against the regulation and the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU.
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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
- Judgment in Joined Cases C-146/20, C-188/20, C-196/20 and C-270/20, AD and Others v Corendon Airlines, JG and Others v OP (acting as liquidator of Azurair GmbH), Eurowings GmbH v flightright GmbH and AG and Others v Austrian Airlines AG (First Chamber, 21 December 2021) · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice of the EU · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-06
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Article 2(l), Article 5(1)(b)-(c), Article 5(3), Article 5(4), Article 7(1)-(2) and Article 8(1) · EUR-Lex · Regulation · retrieved 2026-10-06
- Judgment in Joined Cases C-402/07 and C-432/07, Sturgeon and Others v Condor Flugdienst GmbH and Böck and Lepuschitz v Air France SA (19 November 2009) · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice of the EU · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-06
- Judgment in Case C-395/20, EP and GM v Corendon Airlines Turistik Hava Taşımacılık A.Ş. (First Chamber, 21 December 2021) · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice of the EU · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-06
- Judgment in Case C-558/24, Corendon Airlines Turistik Hava Tasimacilik AS v Myflyright GmbH (Eighth Chamber, 30 October 2025) · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice of the EU · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-06
- Judgment in Case C-263/20, Airhelp Limited v Laudamotion GmbH (First Chamber, 21 December 2021) · EUR-Lex / Court of Justice of the EU · Case law · retrieved 2026-10-06
- 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 2026-10-06