EU261 €EU261 (Regulation 261/2004): what it covers and what it pays

Checked 15 Sep 2026·16 min read

EU261 is Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, unamended as of 15 September 2026. It pays €250, €400 or €600 per passenger for a cancellation with short notice, a delay of three hours or more at arrival, or involuntary denied boarding, on a flight departing an EU, Icelandic, Norwegian or Swiss airport, on any airline. For a delay or cancellation, the operating carrier owes no compensation if it proves extraordinary circumstances. Care is still owed.

#EU261 €Which flights does EU261 cover?

EU261 covers a flight departing an EU airport — or one in Iceland, Norway or Switzerland — on any airline. It also covers a flight arriving from outside those countries, but only if a Community carrier operates it. A US carrier’s own flight into the EU falls outside that second rule.

Source: EU261 art. 2(c), art. 3(1)-(5); EEA JCD 171/2004; EU-Switzerland Air Transport Agreement, Annex — eur-lex.europa.eu; IAA — iaa.ie; EU operating-licence and EASA third-country operator lists, checked 2026-09-15.

The booking needs a confirmed reservation and check-in by the time the airline set or, if it set none, at least 45 minutes before the published departure; a cancelled flight needs no check-in. A frequent-flyer redemption counts. A free ticket, or a reduced fare not available to the public, does not. The aircraft must be motorised and fixed-wing. The airline that flew the route owes the money; a Community carrier holds an operating licence granted by an EU Member State under Regulation 2407/92.

The Irish Aviation Authority gives the example: a New York-Dublin flight delayed on Aer Lingus is covered, the same route on American Airlines is not. The licence decides it: Aer Lingus Limited holds an Irish operating licence, and American Airlines, Inc. is a third-country operator.

EU261 was written into the EEA Agreement in 2004, so a departure from an Icelandic or Norwegian airport is covered as an EU departure is. Switzerland incorporated it through its own Air Transport Agreement with the EU. Under that agreement, an air carrier licensed in Switzerland counts as a Community air carrier. That status covers its third-country flights arriving in Switzerland or the EU.

Not your situation? A flight departing a UK airport falls under UK261, in pounds. Routes to, from or within Canada fall under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. Flying in the US? US federal rules differ — see the US DOT hub. Unsure which law fits? Work it out here. Disabled or reduced-mobility passenger? See special assistance at UK and EU airports.

Check the operating carrier on your booking against both airports before assuming EU261 applies.

#How much compensation does EU261 pay?

€250, €400 or €600 per passenger is what EU261 pays, in three bands set by distance and by whether the flight stays inside the EU, Iceland, Norway or Switzerland. The band follows the great-circle distance to your final destination, once a delay reaches three hours, a cancellation lacks enough notice, or boarding is denied against your will.

Source: EU261 art. 7(1)(a)-(c), art. 7(2), art. 7(4); CJEU joined cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 Sturgeon, para 63 — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

€250 / €400 / €600 never combine: only one band applies per passenger. An intra-Community flight, one that both starts and ends inside that area, stays at €400 even past 3,500 km. Only a flight over 3,500 km that leaves the area, or starts outside it, reaches the €600 band. The amount is per passenger, not per booking or per family. Four passengers denied boarding on the same reservation are owed four times their band’s figure.

Article 7(2) lets the airline halve the payment for a passenger re-routed under article 8. The new flight must arrive no more than two, three or four hours late, by band. The same 50% cut reaches a plain delay, but only in the top band. The Sturgeon ruling, at paragraph 63, limits it to flights outside article 7(2)(a) and (b). On those, an airline may pay €300, not €600, when you arrive three hours or more but less than four hours late. Article 7(2) says “may”: the cut is the airline’s option. The delay cut never touches the €250 or €400 bands. An intra-Community flight over 3,500 km that lands 3 hours 30 minutes late keeps its full €400.

Work out your own band before you claim. Run your route through the compensation calculator rather than assuming the top figure applies.

#When do delays, cancellations and denied boarding qualify?

EU261 compensation is owed if your flight is in scope and one of 3 triggers applies: a delay of 3 hours or more at arrival, a cancellation with under 14 days' notice and no replacement inside the article 5 windows, or involuntary denied boarding. For a delay or cancellation, the airline must also fail to prove extraordinary circumstances.

Source: EU261 art. 4(1)-(3), art. 5(1)(a)-(c)(i)-(iii); CJEU joined cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 Sturgeon, operative part point 2 — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

Sturgeon (C-402/07 and C-432/07, 2009) held that a passenger reaching their final destination three hours or more after the original scheduled arrival can claim article 7 compensation, on the same terms as a cancellation. That is CJEU case law, not EU261’s own text: the CJEU read articles 5, 6 and 7 together that way, and no amendment has since written it into the Regulation itself.

Cancellation eligibility runs on notice first. With at least two weeks' notice, no compensation is owed. Between two weeks and seven days, none is owed if the airline offers a replacement leaving no more than two hours early and landing less than four hours late. Inside seven days, the tolerance tightens to one hour early and less than two hours late. Re-routing or a refund, and care, stay owed whatever the notice. The airline carries the burden of proving when it told you.

Denied boarding works differently again. The airline must call for volunteers first, and only an involuntary refusal triggers immediate compensation, plus the same re-routing and care duties as a cancellation.

Do not confuse this compensation trigger with article 9 right to care. Care starts earlier, at two, three or four hours by band, regardless of whether the fixed payment is ever owed. The full delay-threshold comparison against UK261, Canada and the US sits on the flight delay threshold rules page.

Check the airline’s own delay or cancellation message against these three tests before assuming either way, and write down the time it gives you.

#What counts as extraordinary circumstances under EU261?

Article 5(3) removes EU261’s fixed payment only when the airline proves extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. The Regulation does not define them, so CJEU case law draws the line. They never remove the airline’s duty of care.

Source: EU261 art. 5(3); CJEU C-549/07 Wallentin-Hermann; CJEU C-28/20 Airhelp v SAS; CJEU C-12/11 McDonagh, operative part 1-2 — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

In Wallentin-Hermann (C-549/07, 2008), the CJEU set two limits. The cause must not be part of the normal running of the airline, and it must be beyond the airline’s actual control. So a technical problem found during maintenance is not, on its own, extraordinary. In Airhelp v SAS (C-28/20, 2021), the Grand Chamber held that a lawful strike by the carrier’s own pilots is not extraordinary either. It stays internal to the carrier’s activity.

Extraordinary circumstances remove only the fixed article 7 payment. In McDonagh (C-12/11, 2013), the CJEU held that even the 2010 volcanic-ash airspace closure did not release the airline from its article 9 right to care. That is meals, calls and a hotel where an overnight stay is needed, because article 5(3) exempts compensation, not care. If the airline fails to provide care and you pay yourself, you get back what was necessary, appropriate and reasonable. McDonagh sets that limit.

Put a written request to the airline for the specific cause and the measures it says it took. A bare “operational reasons” reply proves nothing under article 5(3), and the article 9 care stays owed regardless of its answer.

#How do you claim under EU261 yourself?

Article 7 is what you cite when you write to the airline yourself: your flight number, date and the amount from the distance table, plus article 5(1)(c) for a cancellation. No solicitor or claims company is required. The airline must pay in cash, bank transfer or cheque; vouchers need your own signed agreement.

Source: EU261 art. 3(5) (operating carrier), art. 7(3) (payment form), art. 15(1) (no waiver) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

Identify the operating carrier first: the airline that flew the route, not necessarily the one you booked with. Article 3(5) makes that carrier the one that owes you; the glossary entry on the operating air carrier explains the term. Use its own online claim form where one exists; otherwise email or write, because a paper trail matters more than the channel. State your flight number, date and airport pair. Add the delay or the article 5 cancellation notice you got, and the amount from the distance table — do not leave the airline to work it out. A booking confirmation, boarding pass and any disruption message, screenshots included, are enough to open a claim. Note the reason the airline gave you at the time, in its own words if possible. That first message is your record if the reason changes once you claim.

Article 15(1) bars the airline from limiting or waiving any of this in its own terms and conditions, so a clause promising only a voucher cannot take away your right to be paid in money. If the airline offers a voucher instead of cash, you can still insist on a bank transfer or a cheque. A voucher only counts once you sign for it yourself.

A full claim letter, plus the amount table applied to a KLM, Lufthansa or Air France flight, sits on the dedicated EU261 delay and cancellation compensation page. Keep a dated copy of everything you send.

#Who enforces EU261, and where do you complain?

27 EU states, plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, each name a body responsible for enforcing EU261 under article 16(1), current as of the European Commission’s list updated 27 August 2026. Start with the body of the country your flight left from or, for a flight arriving from outside, the country where it landed.

Source: EU261 art. 16(1)-(2); European Commission, National Enforcement Bodies list (updated 27 Aug 2026) — transport.ec.europa.eu; Irish Aviation Authority, Air Passenger Rights — iaa.ie, checked 2026-09-15.

Article 16(1) puts the duty on each Member State to name a body for flights leaving its own airports and for third-country flights arriving there. The Commission’s list, current to 27 August 2026, names bodies for all 27 EU states. Iceland and Norway are covered under the EEA Agreement, and Switzerland under its own air transport agreement with the EU — 30 countries in total. Article 16(2) also lets you complain to any designated body about an incident at a Member State airport, or on a third-country flight arriving there.

Ireland is one working example. The Irish Aviation Authority describes itself as the national enforcement body for EC 261/2004. It took over the role on 1 May 2023, when the Commission for Aviation Regulation was dissolved, and takes complaints through its own online MySRS portal. Its guidance tells passengers to complain to the enforcement body of the state the disrupted flight departed from. Full Ireland detail — IAA complaints, the European Consumer Centre and small claims — sits on the Ireland flight compensation page.

Find the competent body on the Commission’s list before you write your complaint: your departure country’s, or your arrival country’s for a flight from outside. Name your flight number, date and the article you rely on.

Rather not chase the airline or a national body yourself? AirHelp (third-party claim service) takes on rejected or stalled EU261 claims, no win no fee, and keeps a fee from any payout; the free complaint route above stays open.

Do it yourself · freeClaim with the airline, then the regulator

• Write to the airline and keep the reference
• Refused: the enforcement body of the country you left, free
• You keep all of the compensation

Use the claim letter template →

Hand it overAirHelp takes the claim, no win no fee

• They deal with the airline for you
• AirHelp's fee is 35% of the compensation, VAT included, and nothing if the claim fails.

Start with AirHelp →Third-party claim service

#How long do you have to claim under EU261?

6 years is Ireland’s limit for an EU261 claim, because the Regulation sets no EU-wide deadline: the CJEU ruled in Cuadrench Moré that each Member State’s own rules on limitation of actions decide. Your own deadline depends on the national law that governs your claim, not on EU261 itself.

Source: EU261 (no limitation article); CJEU C-139/11 Cuadrench Moré, operative part; Statute of Limitations 1957 (Ireland) s.11(1); IAA APR FAQs — eur-lex.europa.eu, revisedacts.lawreform.ie, iaa.ie, checked 2026-09-15.

EU261 itself is silent on how long you have to sue; article 7 fixes the amount, not the deadline. In Cuadrench Moré (C-139/11, 2012), the CJEU held that the time limit for bringing an EU261 claim is set by each Member State’s own rules on limitation of actions.

That makes the answer a question of national law. Ireland’s Statute of Limitations 1957 gives six years from the date the cause of action accrued. The Irish Aviation Authority lists three routes for the claim itself: the Small Claims procedure in the District Court, the European Small Claims Procedure, or a complaint to the competent enforcement body. Treat the figure as a hard stop, not a target. Gathering evidence, waiting for the airline’s final answer, and any escalation step all eat into the time you actually have left.

Confirm your own country’s limitation period, or the period where you plan to sue, before treating six years as a safe assumption outside Ireland. Every regime’s limitation period side by side is on the flight compensation time limits page.

#What is the status of the EU261 reform in 2026?

10 September 2026 is the date of the draft final act for the EU261 revision, now waiting only for signature and publication in the Official Journal. The revision applies 12 months after it enters into force; until then, the original 2004 text above is the one that applies.

Source: European Parliament Legislative Observatory, procedure 2013/0072(COD); Council and Parliament joint text PE-CONS 39/26, art. 3 — oeil.europarl.europa.eu, data.consilium.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

A revision of EU261 has cleared Parliament and Council but has not been signed or published. Parliament took its third-reading decision on 7 July 2026; the Council followed on 13 July 2026. The joint text became draft final act 00039/2026/LEX on 10 September 2026. The Legislative Observatory records the procedure’s stage as “Awaiting signature of act”, the step before Official Journal publication, which has not happened yet.

Once published, the revision enters into force 20 days later, and its own provisions apply a further 12 months after that. Nothing about that timetable changes any figure in the table above. The €250/€400/€600 bands and the notice windows still run on the unamended 2004 text, and the three-hour delay rule on the Sturgeon case law, until the revision applies. Watch for the Official Journal entry itself, not a specific month on a calendar. Treat any date you read elsewhere as unconfirmed until that entry appears.

Recheck this page once the Official Journal actually publishes the act, rather than trusting a predicted date. The 12-month countdown to application starts from entry into force, 20 days after that publication, not from today.

All guides in this topic

• EU flight delay compensation: €250–€600 at 3 hours late — Cancelled with under 14 days' notice? The same €250–€600 can be owed.
• Flight delay compensation Ireland: €250–€600, IAA, 6 years — Which Ryanair and Aer Lingus companies EU261 covers into Ireland, when a long-haul delay pays €300, and the €2,000 Small Claims limit (checked Sept 2026).
• Refund, re-routing or voucher after a cancelled EU flight
• When a schedule change becomes a cancellation under EU261
• When your EU261 flight lands somewhere else
• Downgraded to a lower class: what EU261 pays back
• Extraordinary circumstances: when an EU airline does not have to pay
• Meals, hotels and transfers: the EU261 right to care
• Complaining to a national enforcement body under EU261
• Taking an EU261 claim to court
• EU261 reform: what the adopted revision would change

Claiming country by country: deadline and enforcement body

• Austria — three years from knowledge; apf only after a 6-week airline wait
• Belgium — two years since 21 December 2023, not the ten-year civil code period
• Croatia — two laws compete, five years or two; act within two
• Cyprus — six years, or two to be safe; the DCA gives the airline 8 weeks
• Czechia — three years from knowledge, with a ten-year long-stop
• Denmark — three years; complain through Trafikstyrelsen
• Finland — three years general, two for air carriage, no ruling; act within two
• France — five years; DGAC only after two months' wait
• Germany — three years, counted from 31 December
• Greece — two years or twenty, no ruling picks one; act within two
• How long you have to claim compensation for a flight in Hungary
• Iceland — four years via the EEA; Samgöngustofa needs the airline’s rejection first
• Italy — six months, one year or ten, and no ruling picks one
• Malta — unresolved; act within two years
• Netherlands — two years to sue; the ILT takes complaints for one
• Norway — three years via the EEA; Transportklagenemnda after 4 weeks
• Poland — one year, settled by the Supreme Court
• Portugal — twenty years on paper, two to be safe
• Spain — five years; AESA after a written claim to the airline
• Sweden — ten years to sue; ARN’s one-year rule for the dispute board
• Switzerland — act within two years; a Basel court has already applied the shorter figure

General information, not legal advice. For your specific case: contact the enforcement body of your departure country, the European Consumer Centre network or a solicitor.

#Sources

• Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, arts. 2-10, 15, 16 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• Sturgeon, joined cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 (2009), CJEU - eur-lex.europa.eu.
• Wallentin-Hermann, C-549/07 (2008), CJEU - eur-lex.europa.eu.
• Airhelp v SAS, C-28/20 (2021), CJEU - eur-lex.europa.eu.
• McDonagh, C-12/11 (2013), CJEU - eur-lex.europa.eu.
• Cuadrench Moré, C-139/11 (2012), CJEU - eur-lex.europa.eu.
• EEA Joint Committee Decision No 171/2004 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• EU-Switzerland Air Transport Agreement, consolidated 15 July 2023 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• European Commission, National Enforcement Bodies — Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, updated 27 August 2026 - transport.ec.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• Irish Aviation Authority, Air Passenger Rights and APR FAQs - iaa.ie, iaa.ie FAQs, checked 2026-09-15.
• European Commission, EU air carriers holding an active operating licence (Aer Lingus Limited) - transport.ec.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• EASA, authorised third-country operators list (American Airlines, Inc., USA-0105) - easa.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• S.I. No. 219/2023 (dissolution day, 1 May 2023) - irishstatutebook.ie, checked 2026-09-15.
• Statute of Limitations 1957 (Ireland), s.11(1) - revisedacts.lawreform.ie, checked 2026-09-15.
• European Parliament Legislative Observatory, procedure 2013/0072(COD) - oeil.europarl.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• Council of the European Union, joint text PE-CONS 39/26 - data.consilium.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

#FAQ

What does EU261 cover?

EU261 covers a flight departing any EU, Icelandic, Norwegian or Swiss airport, on any airline, and a flight arriving from outside those countries only when a Community carrier operates it. It pays €250, €400 or €600 per passenger for a qualifying delay, cancellation or involuntary denied boarding; proven extraordinary circumstances remove the delay or cancellation payment, not care.

Does EU261 apply to non-EU airlines?

Yes on departure: article 3(1)(a) covers any carrier leaving an EU, Icelandic, Norwegian or Swiss airport, whatever its nationality. A US airline's flight arriving from outside those countries is not covered, because article 3(1)(b) requires a Community carrier; under the EU-Switzerland Air Transport Agreement, an airline licensed in Switzerland counts as one.

Does EU261 apply to flights from the US to Europe?

Only if a Community carrier operates it: article 3(1)(b) covers a flight from the US into the EU, Iceland, Norway or Switzerland only when the operating airline holds an EU Member State operating licence or is licensed in Switzerland. A US carrier's own flight on that route is not covered; its flight leaving Europe for the US is.

Which national enforcement body handles my EU261 complaint?

Under article 16(1) of EU261, the body of the country your flight left from or, for a flight arriving from outside, the country it landed in. The European Commission's list, updated 27 August 2026, names bodies for all 27 EU states plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Ireland's is the Irish Aviation Authority.