Who is eligible for EC 261?

Passengers who have experienced a disruption to their flight can claim EC 261 compensation from the airline of the specific flight. To be eligible, the flight must have departed from the EU with any airline or landed in the EU while being operated by a European airline.



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If departing from a non-member country, the airline must be licensed in a Member State. The EU recently expanded this rule to include flights departing from the EU to the U.S. and some other countries, and even connecting flights within the U.S. operated by U.S. partners of EU airlines.

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Under EC 261, you could be entitled to file a delayed flight claim for up to €600 cash flight compensation if… You arrived at your destination more than 3 hours later than planned. You checked in for your flight on time (generally no less than 45 minutes before departure).

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Yes, EU261 still applies to the UK. The regulations were incorporated into UK law in 2018, and they continue to protect the rights of passengers travelling from and to the UK on flights operated by EU and non-EU airlines.

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Tweeting at the airline's customer service team, submitting a request for compensation online or writing a letter the old fashioned way are other options that have met with success…

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If an airline is not honoring its refund policies or the airline's refund policies seem unfair or deceptive consider suing the airline in small claims court. In small claims court, the judge will be the ultimate decider of whether an airline's refund terms are fair or enforceable.

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There are no federal laws requiring airlines to provide passengers with money or other compensation when their flights are delayed. Each airline has its own policies about what it will do for delayed passengers. If your flight is experiencing a long delay, ask airline staff if they will pay for meals or a hotel room.

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It depends. The EU regulation clearly states that all passengers are entitled to compensation in case of a flight is delayed more than three hours. However, it also explains that passengers travelling free of charge are not entitled to ask for such compensation.

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You're legally entitled to get compensation if the cancellation is the airline's responsibility and both the following apply: the replacement flight delays your arrival by 2 or more hours. your flight was cancelled less than 14 days before departure.

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Extraordinary circumstances are, for example, bad weather, strikes — everything caused by a third party or that the airline couldn't have predicted. Disrupted flight due to extraordinary circumstances? You could still be able to get flight compensation!

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Measuring delays
The standard airline measure is to use 'gate-to-gate' – the times that the aircraft starts and stops moving (however, for the purposes of EU compensation, under EC 261/2004, a court has ruled that the arrival time is when at least one door is open).

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