EU261: Regulation 261/2004
EU261 is the EU regulation that gives air passengers rights when flights are cancelled or seriously delayed, or when boarding is denied. It provides for assistance while you wait, for a refund or re-routing, and (in some cases) for compensation at fixed levels.
What EU261 is
EU261 is the everyday name for Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council. It lays down common rules on compensation and assistance for air passengers in the event of denied boarding, cancellation and long delay, and it applies directly in the EU and, through the EEA Agreement, also in Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.
The rules are mandatory in the passenger's favour. An airline cannot contract your rights away in its terms and conditions.
Who the regulation protects
When your air passenger rights apply
- Flights departing from an airport in the EU/EEA, whichever airline operates them.
- Flights arriving in the EU/EEA from a country outside it, where the operating airline is registered in the EU/EEA.
Journeys with no EU/EEA connection at all are normally not covered. You normally need a confirmed reservation and must have presented yourself for check-in on time, unless this requirement did not apply or other circumstances prevented it.
Three separate rights: keep them apart
Assistance
Meals, refreshments, a way to contact family and, where needed, a hotel. Assistance can apply from relatively short waits, whether or not you turn out to be entitled to compensation.
Refund or re-routing
If your flight is cancelled or you are denied boarding, you can choose between a refund of your unused ticket and re-routing to your final destination. If the flight is delayed instead and the delay is at least five hours, you can choose to abandon the journey and get a refund (and, where relevant, a return flight to your first point of departure), but the regulation gives no right to re-routing. A refund is your ticket money back; it is not the same as compensation.
Compensation
A fixed amount per passenger under Article 7, scaled by flight distance. It applies only in some cases, and not where the cause was an extraordinary circumstance.
How these rights play out depends on what happened to your flight. See our guides to delayed flights, cancelled flights and denied boarding.
The three-hour threshold for delays
For delays, the starting point is that you may be entitled to compensation if you reach your final destination three hours late or more. What counts is the arrival time, not how late the departure was. A late departure that the aircraft makes up en route normally gives no right to compensation.
Assistance (meals, refreshments and a way to contact family) can become relevant at shorter waits, regardless of whether you are ultimately entitled to compensation.
Distance bands and compensation levels
Where compensation is due, the amount is set at fixed levels that step up with flight distance. The ladder below shows the fixed amounts.
€250
€400
€600
Flights up to 1,500 km
1,500–3,500 km (and longer intra-EU flights)
Flights over 3,500 km
The amounts apply per passenger. Read more on compensation amounts.
The most common exception
The airline does not have to pay compensation if the disruption was caused by an extraordinary circumstance outside its control which could not have been avoided even with reasonable measures. A refund and assistance may still apply. The exception is interpreted narrowly.
Extraordinary does not mean whatever the airline says
An example
You fly a route of just over 2,000 km and arrive four hours late because of a technical fault discovered before departure. Since you were more than three hours late reaching your final destination, and a technical fault normally sits within the airline's control, you may be entitled to compensation at the fixed amount for that distance, on top of any assistance you received at the airport.
Experienced flight disruptions? Check what you may be entitled to!
Answer a few questions about your journey and we will give you a preliminary assessment under the applicable rules.