Your Air Passenger Rights are protected by Regulation (EC) 261/2004. This Regulation provides common rights on flight compensation for passengers in the event of more than a 3-hour delay, cancellation and overbooking.
EU means the 28 EU countries, including Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion Island, Mayotte, Saint-Martin (French Antilles), the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
A flight is considered disrupted and you can claim for compensation if:
Itenenrary | EU air carrier | Non-EU air carrier |
---|---|---|
From inside the EU to inside the EU | Covered | Covered |
From inside the EU to outside the EU | Covered | Covered |
From outside the EU to inside the EU | Covered | Not covered |
From outside the EU to outside the EU | Not covered | Not covered |
Your right to compensation under EC 261 does eventually expire, but the time limit varies from one country to the next. You should note that the country you claim in is not decided by your nationality, but is determined by where the headquarters of the airline is, or what court has jurisdiction in cases concerning the airline.
1 year | 2 years | 3 years | 5 years | 6 years | 10 years |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Belgium | Iceland | Austria | Bulgaria | Cyprus | Latvia |
Poland | Netherlands | Croatia | France | Ireland | Lithuania |
Slovakia | Czech Republic | Greece | United Kingdom | Luxembourg | |
Slovenia | Denmark | Hungary | Malta** | ||
Switzerland | Estonia | Spain | |||
Italy* | Finland | ||||
Germany | |||||
Norway | |||||
Portugal | |||||
Romania | |||||
Sweden |
If your flight was
Up to 1500 km
You can get:
€250
If your flight was
From 1500 - 3500 km
You can get:
€400
If your flight was
More than 3500 km
You can get:
€600
Your flight was delayed,
but arrived at the final destination
less than 3 hours late.
If your flight has been canceled more than 14 days before the planned arrival date, the flight is not considered compensable.
Strikes at the airlines or the airport, or various other incidents that the airline can’t control can be considered as extraordinary circumstances, making the flight not eligible for compensation.
If the weather conditions at either the origin airport or the destination make operating an aircraft unsafe, your disrupted flight is not considered eligible for compensation.
When a plane breaks down due to a manufacturing flaw (and not negligent maintenance), it is considered an extraordinary circumstance. Thus the flight is not eligible for compensation.
If your flight is to the EU, but your carrier isn't registred in the EU, the flight is not considered for a compensation.