Flight delay compensation in the EU is fixed by law, and you can claim it straight from the airline without paying a commission to anyone. Whether you are owed money depends on three things: how late you arrive at your final destination, how far you were flying, and what caused the disruption.
When EU passenger rights apply
The rules cover you in two situations:
- Your flight departs from an airport in the European Union — on any airline, including a non-European one.
- Your flight arrives in the EU on an airline based in the EU.
Norway, Iceland and Switzerland apply the same rules, so a departure from Oslo or Zurich is treated like an EU departure. The United Kingdom runs its own near-identical scheme for flights leaving UK airports and for UK carriers arriving home.
A connection counts as one journey when it is on a single ticket. If you booked the legs separately — a low-cost flight into a hub and a long-haul flight out of it — the second airline is not responsible for the first one’s delay.
Care while you wait
Once the delay passes the threshold set for the flight distance, the airline owes you practical help, whatever the reason for the disruption:
- Meals and refreshments, in proportion to how long you are waiting.
- Hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and the hotel if you are stuck overnight.
- A way to contact people — calls, messages or email.
Ask at the airline’s service desk. If nobody is there and you pay for a hotel or a meal yourself, keep every receipt and claim it back afterwards. Reasonable, necessary costs are reimbursable.
Refund or re-routing
You choose, not the airline:
- A full refund of the ticket, plus a flight back to your starting point if you are already partway through the journey.
- Re-routing at the earliest opportunity.
- Re-routing at a later date that suits you.
If the airline cannot offer a reasonable alternative and you arrange your own transport, you can claim the cost back — keep the receipts and stay sensible about the price.
Cash compensation
For a delay of three hours or more at your final destination, a fixed sum is due. The amount is set by law and scaled in distance bands, so a short hop pays less than a long-haul flight. It is paid per passenger, and it is separate from any expenses you claim.
Cancellations work the same way, unless the airline told you well in advance and offered a reasonable alternative, or the cause was extraordinary. Being bumped because of overbooking is treated in the same family of rules.
What counts as extraordinary circumstances
No compensation is due when the disruption was outside the airline’s control. Typical examples:
- Severe weather that closes the airport or stops handling.
- Air traffic control restrictions, or strikes by air traffic controllers.
- Security alerts, political unrest, airport closures.
- Strikes by airport or ground-handling staff.
Two things that are usually not extraordinary: a technical fault that is part of normal aircraft operation, and a strike by the airline’s own crew. Courts have generally treated those as the airline’s own responsibility.
Even in extraordinary circumstances, care and refund or re-routing still apply. Only the cash compensation falls away.
How to claim, step by step
- At the airport, ask for the reason for the delay or cancellation in writing, and photograph the departure board.
- Keep your boarding passes, booking confirmation and every receipt.
- Submit a claim through the airline’s own form or by email. Give the flight number, route, booking reference and what you are asking for.
- Wait for the reply. If the airline refuses or ignores you, escalate.
- Escalate to the national enforcement body of the country you departed from or arrived in, to the airline’s alternative dispute resolution scheme, or to a small claims court.
Deadlines vary by country, so file early. You can claim for every passenger on the booking, including children.
Claim agencies: do you need one?
No. Starting a claim costs you nothing, and agencies take a share of whatever they recover. They make sense if you would rather not deal with the paperwork, or if the airline is stonewalling — but you can always go to the enforcement body yourself.
Why claims get rejected
- The delay was measured at departure instead of at arrival at the final destination.
- The trip was booked as separate tickets, so it was not one journey.
- The cause was genuinely extraordinary.
- Receipts are missing, so expenses cannot be verified.
- The claim was filed after the national time limit.
- A voucher was accepted as settlement instead of cash.
If your flight is cancelled
You are entitled to a refund or re-routing, and to compensation unless you were warned in advance or the cause was extraordinary. If you are stranded away from home, the airline still has to look after you — meals, hotel and transport — even when the weather is the reason.