EU261 Flight Compensation in 2026: When You're Owed €250 to €600

Under EU Regulation 261/2004, known as EU261, you can claim €250 to €600 in cash when your flight arrives at its final destination 3 or more hours late, is cancelled on short notice, or you are bumped because of overbooking, as long as the cause was something the airline could control. The amount is fixed by flight distance, not by what you paid for your ticket, and it is separate from your right to a refund and your right to meals and a hotel while you wait.

The single most useful thing to understand is that a refund and compensation are two different rights. A lot of travelers ask for a refund, get told they are not owed one because they accepted an alternative flight, and assume that is the end of it. It is not. If you still arrived 3 or more hours late for a reason within the airline’s control, you can be owed compensation on top of the flight you eventually took.

This guide covers who qualifies, the exact amounts, the situations airlines use to dodge the payment, and how to claim it yourself without handing 25 to 35 percent to a claims company.

Which flights are covered by EU261

EU261 is about where you fly, not which airline you fly. Coverage works like this:

• Any flight departing from an EU airport is covered, on any airline in the world.
• Flights arriving in the EU from outside are covered only if operated by an EU airline.
• Flights within the EU are covered on any airline.

The EU here includes the 27 member states plus Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland, and the EU outermost regions.

A quick example of how the airline matters on arrivals: a flight from New York to Paris on Air France is covered, because Air France is an EU carrier. The same route on a US carrier is not covered, because it arrived in the EU on a non-EU airline. But a Paris to New York flight is covered no matter who operates it, because it departed the EU.

If your trip departed the United Kingdom rather than the EU, the near-identical UK rules apply instead. See the UK261 flight compensation guide. For US itineraries, the rules are completely different and there is no delay compensation at all: see the US flight refund rights guide.

How much compensation you get

The compensation is set by the regulation based on flight distance. It does not scale with your fare, so a €60 budget ticket and a €600 business fare on the same route are owed the same amount.

So a short hop like London to Amsterdam pays €250. A medium flight like Madrid to Moscow pays €400. A long-haul like Frankfurt to Los Angeles pays €600. Intra-EU flights are capped at €400 even when they are long, because the €600 band only applies to flights that are not within the EU.

Do you still get compensation if the airline rebooked you?

Yes, and this is the part airlines are quietest about. Accepting a re-routing or an alternative flight does not waive your compensation. If you still reached your final destination 3 or more hours late and the cause was within the airline’s control, the cash compensation still stands.

There is one reduction to know about. Under Article 7(2), if the airline offered you re-routing and you arrived only modestly late, it can cut the compensation by 50%. The thresholds:

• €125 instead of €250 if you arrived no more than 2 hours late on a flight of 1,500 km or less.
• €200 instead of €400 if you arrived no more than 3 hours late on a medium-haul or intra-EU flight.
• €300 instead of €600 if you arrived no more than 4 hours late on a long-haul over 3,500 km.

If your delay was longer than those bands, you get the full amount. The reduction comes up most often with cancellations where the airline put you on a close replacement, not with long tarmac delays.

Refund versus compensation: they are not the same thing

When a flight is cancelled or you are bumped, EU261 gives you a menu of separate rights. They stack:

1. A choice of refund or re-routing. Either your money back within 7 days (for the unused part of the ticket, and the used part if the flight no longer serves a purpose), or a new flight to your destination at the earliest opportunity, or a later date that suits you.
2. The right to care while you wait. Meals and refreshments appropriate to the wait, a hotel and transport to it if you are delayed overnight, and two phone calls or emails. The airline owes this regardless of the delay cause, even in bad weather.
3. Cash compensation of €250 to €600 if the delay, cancellation, or denied boarding meets the conditions.

The mistake to avoid is treating these as one thing. Getting a refund does not collect your compensation, and getting a hotel does not either. If you only asked for a refund, you can still go back and claim the compensation separately.

When delays and cancellations are covered, and when they are not

Compensation is owed when the cause was within the airline’s control. It is not owed for “extraordinary circumstances” the airline could not have avoided. The regulation and the case law draw the line roughly like this:

Usually covered (within the airline’s control):

• Technical and mechanical problems that are part of normal operations
• Crew shortages and crew scheduling failures
• Overbooking
• Most operational and logistical issues

Usually not covered (extraordinary circumstances):

• Bad weather
• Air traffic control restrictions and decisions
• Security alerts and risks
• Political instability
• Strikes outside the airline, where the airline can prove it could not avoid the disruption

The important detail: the airline has to prove the cause was extraordinary. A vague “operational reasons” or “technical issue” line is not a defense, because most technical faults are specifically treated as within the airline’s control. If you get a thin explanation, push back and ask them to state the cause and why it was unavoidable.

Cancellations and the 14-day rule

For cancellations, compensation turns on how much notice you got:

• More than 14 days before departure: no compensation. You still get a refund or a new flight.
• 7 to 14 days before: compensation is avoided only if the replacement departs no more than 2 hours early and arrives less than 4 hours after your original time.
• Less than 7 days before: the airline avoids compensation only with an even closer replacement (departing no more than 1 hour early and arriving under 2 hours late).

If the cancellation was within the airline’s control and the notice or replacement did not meet those bars, you can claim the same €250 to €600 as a delay.

Denied boarding and overbooking

If you were bumped from an overbooked flight against your will, and you checked in on time with a valid reservation, you are owed compensation on the same €250 / €400 / €600 scale, plus the choice of refund or re-routing and the right to care. The airline must first ask for volunteers to give up seats in exchange for agreed benefits; only after that can it deny boarding involuntarily.

There is no compensation if you were denied boarding for reasonable health, safety, or security reasons, or because you lacked required travel documents.

How to claim EU261 compensation

The process is a written claim, and you do not need to pay anyone to send it.

1. Confirm the flight qualifies on coverage, the 3-hour or cancellation or denied-boarding trigger, and a cause within the airline’s control.
2. Gather evidence: booking confirmation, boarding passes, flight number and date, and any message stating the delay reason and length.
3. Find the airline’s claims channel. Many carriers have a dedicated EC 261 claim form or email. Use the official one.
4. Send a written claim citing Regulation (EC) 261/2004, stating your flight details, the delay length at your final destination, and the exact amount you are claiming.
5. Escalate for free if refused. Take it to the national enforcement body in the country of departure, or an alternative dispute resolution scheme the airline belongs to. Court is a last resort.

How to claim without using AirHelp or a claims company

Claims companies advertise heavily and make the process sound complicated. For a standard 3-hour delay it is not. They typically keep 25 to 35 percent of your payout for sending the same letter you can send yourself, so on a €600 claim that is €150 to €210 gone.

Do it yourself when the case is clear: a long delay or cancellation for a reason within the airline’s control, with your evidence in hand. Consider a claims company only when the airline is genuinely stonewalling and you would otherwise abandon the claim, or when the dispute needs court action you do not want to manage. The national enforcement body and ADR routes are free, so most people never need to pay anyone.

How long you have to file

There is no single EU-wide deadline. Each country sets its own limit under national law, and they range from roughly one year to several years depending on where the claim is brought. Because the clock starts from the flight date and the limits vary, claim as soon as you reasonably can. Hold on to your booking confirmation, boarding passes, and any delay notices in the meantime.

The bottom line

EU261 is one of the strongest passenger-protection rules in the world, and most of the money that goes unclaimed goes unclaimed because people either do not know they qualify or assume accepting a rebooking ended their rights. If your flight left the EU (or arrived in the EU on an EU airline), ran 3 or more hours late for a reason within the airline’s control, and you have your booking details, you can almost certainly claim €250 to €600 yourself, for free, in a single written request.

Not sure which country’s rules apply to your specific trip? Start with Are You Entitled to Flight Compensation? to find the right regime, then check the UK261 guide for UK departures or the US refund rights guide for US itineraries. If you are weighing two European carriers with different reputations for honoring claims, our airline comparisons like Ryanair vs easyJet cover refund and rebooking behavior in practice.