EU261 Compensation Calculator: Distance Bands, Exceptions, Claims

Under EU Regulation 261/2004 (usually called EU261), you are owed a fixed €250, €400 or €600 per passenger when a covered flight arrives three or more hours late, is cancelled at short notice, or you are bumped against your will. Which amount you get depends only on the flight distance, not on what you paid. You can claim directly from the airline for free, and most people never need a claims company.

Is your flight covered at all?

Before working out an amount, check that EU261 applies. It covers:

• Any flight departing an EU airport, on any airline. A Delta flight from Rome to Atlanta counts.
• Flights arriving in the EU from outside it, but only on an EU airline. Lufthansa from Chicago to Frankfurt counts. United on the same route does not.

Iceland, Norway and Switzerland apply the same rules. The UK left the EU and now runs its own copy, often called UK261. It works the same way, with amounts in pounds: £220, £350 and £520.

Passengers travelling free or on a discounted fare that is not available to the public are generally excluded. This often affects lap infants. Award tickets bought with frequent-flyer miles are covered.

The distance bands

Distance is measured as the great-circle distance. That is the shortest line over the earth's surface between the airport where your trip started and your final destination. It is not the miles the plane actually flew. You can check it with our route map and distance tool.

There is a special rule for long-haul delays. On a flight over 3,500 km that arrives between three and four hours late, the airline may pay half, which is €300.

These amounts are per person. A family of four on a long cancelled flight can be owed €2,400 in total.

When you qualify: delay, cancellation, bumping

Delay. What counts is your arrival time at the final destination. Your departure time does not matter. You qualify if you arrive three hours or more late. Arrival means the moment at least one aircraft door opens, not when the wheels touch down.

On a connecting trip booked as one ticket, a short first-leg delay that makes you miss your connection counts if you reach your final destination three or more hours late. This applies even if the connecting flight was outside the EU, as long as the trip started in the EU. If you booked the legs as separate tickets, each flight is judged on its own.

Cancellation. The amount of notice the airline gave you decides whether you can claim:

• 14 days or more: no compensation.
• 7 to 13 days: you can claim, unless the airline offered a new flight leaving no more than 2 hours earlier and arriving no more than 4 hours later than your original flight.
• Under 7 days: you can claim, unless the new flight left no more than 1 hour earlier and arrived no more than 2 hours later.

Denied boarding. If you are bumped from an overbooked flight against your will, you are owed the same amounts. If you volunteer to give up your seat, you get whatever deal you agreed with the airline instead.

Separately from compensation, you have a right to "care" during a long wait. That means meals, drinks, and a hotel with transport if you are stuck overnight. Care applies even when compensation does not. Our guide to your rights when a flight is cancelled or badly delayed covers refunds and rebooking in more detail.

The exceptions airlines use, and which ones hold up

Airlines do not have to pay compensation when the disruption was caused by "extraordinary circumstances." The legal test is that the event was outside the airline's control and could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures.

Usually accepted as extraordinary:

• Severe weather that makes flying unsafe
• Air traffic control restrictions and strikes by air traffic controllers
• Security threats and political unrest
• Bird strikes
• Hidden manufacturing defects that the aircraft maker announces

Usually not accepted, based on European Court of Justice rulings:

• Routine technical faults found during normal operation or maintenance
• Strikes by the airline's own pilots or cabin crew, including "wildcat" sick-outs
• Crew shortages and scheduling problems
• A delay to the earlier flight on the same aircraft, unless that earlier delay had an extraordinary cause itself

Keep two points in mind:

1. Ask for specifics. "Operational reasons" is not an explanation. Ask the airline what the cause was and how it made your flight late.
2. Check the knock-on effect. If bad weather caused a one-hour delay that grew to five hours, the airline must show the whole delay came from the weather. Looking up the inbound aircraft can show you what really held your plane up.

How to claim without a middleman

Claims companies typically keep roughly a quarter to over a third of your payout. Some add VAT on top of their fee, and many charge extra if the case goes to court.

Here is one per-person example:

1. Paris to New York is roughly 5,800 km, so the flight falls in the €600 band.
2. A claims company charging 30% takes €600 × 0.30 = €180.
3. You keep €600 − €180 = €420.

A firm is only worth using if you would otherwise give up on the claim. If you are willing to send a few emails, do it yourself.

Step 1: Gather evidence. You need:

• Your booking reference and boarding passes
• Photos of the departures board
• Any emails or texts from the airline
• The actual arrival time

Flight-tracking records on our flight status page help prove how late you arrived. Our guide to reading a flight status explains the difference between "landed" and "at gate."

Step 2: Claim with the airline that operated the flight. If you booked British Airways but Iberia flew the plane, you claim from Iberia. Use the airline's EU261 web form or write to customer relations. In your claim:

• Cite Regulation (EC) No 261/2004
• Name the article that applies: Article 7 sets the amounts, Article 5 covers cancellations, Article 4 covers denied boarding
• State the amount you are owed per passenger
• Ask for payment by bank transfer

You can refuse travel vouchers. The airline may only pay in vouchers if you agree in writing.

Step 3: Give it time, then escalate. Allow around six to eight weeks for a reply. If the airline refuses or does not answer, you have three options:

• The national enforcement body in the country where the incident happened. Every EU country has one, and filing is free. These bodies can pressure airlines, but in some countries they cannot force payment.
• An alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme, if the airline belongs to one. These are often free for passengers, and their decisions carry weight.
• Small claims court. For cross-border cases, the European Small Claims Procedure handles claims up to €5,000, mostly in writing. Court fees are modest and are usually recovered if you win.

Deadlines and what might change

EU261 does not set a time limit for claims. National law does, and limits vary widely, from about one year in some countries to six years in others. The limit that applies is usually that of the country where you would bring the claim. Claim as soon as you can, while your evidence is fresh.

EU institutions have spent several years negotiating a reform of EU261. Drafts have proposed raising the delay threshold above three hours. Before relying on these figures for a trip later in 2026 or beyond, check our travel news or the European Commission's passenger rights pages for the current rules. Changes generally apply to flights after their start date, not to past disruptions.

Frequently asked questions

Do I get compensation on top of a refund or a new flight?

Yes. Compensation is separate from your right to choose a refund or rerouting, and separate from meals and a hotel. If the airline reroutes you close to your original arrival time, the compensation can be cut in half.

Is compensation paid per person or per booking?

Per person. Every eligible passenger on the booking, including children with paid seats, is owed the full band amount. One person can file for the whole group.

What if I can't tell whether my delay was "extraordinary"?

Claim anyway and ask the airline to give the cause in writing. Airlines often cite weather or air traffic control by default. A specific reason that you can check, or a refusal to give one, is useful evidence if you escalate.