EU261 €How long you have to claim compensation for a flight in Austria

Checked 15 Sep 2026·7 min read

3 years is how long you have to bring an EU261 claim in Austria, and the clock is not tied to your flight date. Under Section 1489 of the ABGB, it starts once you know, or should reasonably have known, both the damage and the airline responsible for it. For most delays and cancellations you know both on the day, so count from the flight unless you have a clear reason not to. Below: what that knowledge trigger means in practice, which flights it covers, who handles a complaint, and what to do before the three years run out.

#EU261 €How long do you have to bring an EU261 claim in Austria?

3 years is how long you have to bring an EU261 claim in Austria, and the clock is not tied to your flight date. Under Section 1489 of the ABGB, it starts once you know, or should know, both the damage and who caused it.

The trigger is not a fixed calendar point: Section 1489 runs from when the injured party knew, or ought to have known, the damage and the identity of the party responsible. That is a different design from the rule next door: claiming EU261 in Germany also gives three years, but counts them from the end of the calendar year in which the claim arose and the passenger knew or should have known of it. Austria has no year-end rounding. The words “should have known” matter: a passenger who saw the delay on the departures board cannot later argue the clock started only when the airline wrote back. No Oberster Gerichtshof ruling applying Section 1489 specifically to an EU261 claim was found, so this is the general civil-liability statute read on its own wording, not a rule confirmed case by case.

Source: ABGB Section 1489 — Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), checked 2026-09-18.

Write down both your flight date and the date you knew which airline was responsible, and count three years from the earlier one.

#Where does that deadline come from, and what starts the clock?

No deadline is set by EU261 itself: in Cuadrench Moré (C-139/11, 2012), the CJEU held that a compensation claim’s time limit comes from each Member State’s own limitation law. In Austria, the provision that fills that gap is ABGB Section 1489’s three-year period, with its knowledge trigger.

Cuadrench Moré settled only that EU261 sets no deadline of its own, leaving each Member State to apply its own rules on limitation of actions; it did not create a new EU-wide clock a passenger could rely on instead. The statute that answers the question in Austria is the ABGB’s civil-liability period for any “Entschädigungsklage”, a claim for compensation. No Oberster Gerichtshof ruling was found confirming how Section 1489 applies to an EU261 claim in particular, so the three years, and its knowledge trigger, are the general statute read on its own wording, not a rule tested case by case in this specific context.

Source: CJEU C-139/11, Cuadrench Moré — eur-lex.europa.eu; ABGB Section 1489 — Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes, checked 2026-09-18.

Treat the general civil-liability statute as your rule, since no Austrian ruling narrows or confirms it for an EU261 claim specifically.

#Which flights does Austria’s deadline govern?

Every flight leaving an Austrian airport is covered under article 3(1)(a) of EU261, on any airline, Austrian-licensed or not. A flight arriving in Austria from outside the EU is covered only if the operating carrier is a Community carrier; on any other carrier, EU261, and Austria’s three-year deadline, do not apply.

Article 16 hands enforcement to whichever state has scope over the flight, so landing in Vienna does not make Austria’s body competent. Austria’s National Enforcement Body, apf, is competent for a flight leaving an Austrian airport regardless of airline, and for a flight arriving in Austria from outside the EU on a Community carrier. For a flight into Austria from elsewhere in the EU, article 16(1) makes the enforcement body of the departure country the competent one. A passenger flying Vienna to a non-EU destination on a non-Community carrier is outside EU261 for that leg. Austria’s own deadline does not rescue it.

Source: EU261 art. 3(1)(a)-(b), art. 16(1)-(2) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

Match the operating carrier’s licence and the departure airport to the flight before assuming Austria’s three years, rather than another country’s rule, applies.

#Who handles a complaint in Austria, and what can they do?

apf (Agentur für Passagier- und Fahrgastrechte) is Austria’s free dispute-resolution body for EU261 complaints, but it is not the first step. The airline gets 6 weeks to answer your written complaint before apf will take the case on as a voluntary alternative to going to court.

apf runs a voluntary alternative dispute resolution service. It is not a court, and not a mandatory pre-court step: nothing requires a passenger to use it before suing. No source we hold says an apf case pauses or extends the ABGB Section 1489 deadline running alongside it, so plan as though it does not. Its practical value is that it costs nothing. Contact the airline first, in writing, with the flight details and the amount claimed; apf’s own process opens only once the airline has had 6 weeks to answer. The Commission’s own list names an enforcement body for every EU country, not just Austria’s.

Source: apf.gv.at, Agentur für Passagier- und Fahrgastrechte, checked 2026-09-18.

Write to the airline first and wait the full six weeks before opening a case with apf, so the complaint does not look premature.

#What to do before the deadline runs out

3 years from the date you actually knew, or should have known, the damage and the airline responsible for it is your Austrian deadline, not 3 years from your flight date. Work out that knowledge date first, then write to the airline, and keep the court deadline in view while any apf case runs.

Find that moment first. The date you actually knew, or reasonably should have known, both what happened and which airline caused it is where the three years start under Section 1489, not your flight date. Write to the airline in plain terms, naming the flight, the date and the amount you are claiming under EU261, and keep a copy with its own date; that record is your proof of when you acted, separate from the knowledge date that sets when your right expires. If the airline refuses or stays silent past six weeks, apf’s free service is one route, and a claim too small to justify a lawyer on its own may still fit the small claims routes used across Europe; every country’s own deadline sits side by side on flight compensation time limits.

General information about EU261 claims in Austria, not legal advice. For your specific case: apf or a lawyer in Austria.

Pin down your knowledge date today, send the written claim now, and do not let an open apf complaint be the reason your three years run out.

#Sources

• ABGB Section 1489 - Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), checked 2026-09-18.
• apf, Agentur für Passagier- und Fahrgastrechte - apf.gv.at, checked 2026-09-18.
• apf, complaint timing guidance - apf.gv.at, checked 2026-09-18.
• Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, arts. 3, 16 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• CJEU C-139/11, Cuadrench Moré - eur-lex.europa.eu.
• European Commission, National Enforcement Bodies — Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (updated 27 August 2026) - transport.ec.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

#FAQ

When does the Austrian three-year period start?

From the moment you knew, or reasonably should have known, the damage and the identity of the airline responsible: Section 1489 of the ABGB names no fixed date. No Austrian court ruling was found applying that trigger to an EU261 case, so count 3 years from the flight unless you truly learned later.