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What it pays
| Flight distance | Compensation | Reduced amount |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | €250 | — |
| Over 1,500 km within the EU | €400 | — |
| 1,500–3,500 km | €400 | — |
| Over 3,500 km | €600 | €300 if 3–4h late |
That last row is the one almost every online checker gets wrong. On a flight over 3,500 km, Article 7(2) halves the award to €300 where you arrived between three and four hours late. The full €600 needs an arrival more than four hours behind schedule.
Who it covers
Two routes in. Any flight departing an airport in the EU, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein or Switzerland is covered, whichever airline operates it. And any flight arriving in that area from outside it is covered only if the operating carrier holds an EU licence.
That asymmetry is where most failed claims come from. Flying Chicago to Rome on an American carrier, you are outside the regulation. The same journey on ITA Airways or Lufthansa is inside it. The ticket, the currency you paid in and your own nationality make no difference at all.
The EU's outermost regions count as EU territory here — the Canary Islands, Madeira, the Azores, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion and Mayotte. The overseas territories do not, so New Caledonia and French Polynesia sit outside.
How the delay is measured
By arrival at your final destination, not by departure. The Court of Justice settled in Sturgeon that a long delay attracts the same compensation as a cancellation, and later clarified that arrival means the moment a door opens and passengers can leave the aircraft. That distinction is worth real money on a borderline claim, because wheels-down to doors-open is routinely fifteen or twenty minutes.
On a single booking with connections, what counts is how late you reached the end of the journey. A short delay that costs you a connection can produce a full long-haul claim — see missed connections.
Cancellations
Compensation is due unless the airline told you at least fourteen days ahead. Inside that, it can still reduce or avoid payment by offering a re-route on close timings: at seven to fourteen days' notice, leaving no more than two hours early and arriving under four hours late; at under seven days, no more than one hour early and under two hours late.
Separately from compensation, you always choose between a full refund and re-routing. The airline does not get to decide that for you, and a voucher is not a refund.
The duty of care, which survives everything
Article 9 obliges the airline to look after you while you wait: food and drink proportionate to the delay, two phone calls or emails, and a hotel with transport to it if you are kept overnight. This applies even when compensation does not — a genuine weather cancellation still has to feed and house you. If the airline leaves you to sort yourself out, pay for something reasonable, keep the receipt and claim it back. These costs are not capped by the compensation bands.
When they refuse
Article 5(3) is the escape hatch: extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided by all reasonable measures. The burden of proving it sits entirely with the airline. Weather, air traffic control and security alerts qualify. Technical faults, crew shortages and strikes by the airline's own staff generally do not, however often they are quoted at you. There is a guide to pushing back.
Is it about to change?
The regulation has been under reform for years, and the EU institutions reached a political agreement in June 2026. Nothing has changed for a flight disrupted today, and the three-hour threshold appears to have survived. We set out what is known, and what is still guesswork, in the reform guide.
Put your flight through the calculator
All four regimes checked at once, with the article each number comes from.