How long you have to claim compensation for a flight in Denmark
3 years is Denmark’s limitation period for an EU261 claim. Forældelsesloven Section 3, stk. 1 sets that figure, and no competing Danish transport-specific rule was found to cut it shorter. That part is settled. What is not settled: no Danish court ruling was found applying Section 3 to an EU261 claim specifically, and no source pins down exactly when the count begins. Below: what is certain, what is not, which flights the rule covers, and how to complain, with or without a Danish digital ID.
Denmark’s limitation period for an #How long do you have to bring an EU261 claim in Denmark?
3 years is how long you have to bring an EU261 claim in Denmark. Forældelsesloven Section 3, stk. 1 sets that general period, and no competing Danish transport-specific rule was found to shorten it. Aviation claims are not singled out for a different figure.
That absence of a rival provision matters. Several countries that apply EU261 carry two competing statutes, or a shorter transport-specific rule sitting beside a longer general one. Denmark, on the sources checked, has neither: Section 3, stk. 1 reads “the limitation period is 3 years, unless another provision states otherwise”, and no other provision was found to state otherwise for a flight claim. What is missing is a ruling. No Danish court decision was found applying Section 3 to an EU261 claim in particular, so the length is settled while its application to this exact kind of claim has not been tested.
Source: Forældelsesloven (LBK nr. 1238 af 09/11/2015) Section 3, stk. 1 — retsinformation.dk, checked 2026-09-18.
Treat three years as your working deadline, and do not assume an aviation-specific shortcut exists, because none was found.
#Where does that deadline come from, and what starts the clock?
No deadline comes from EU261 itself. In Cuadrench Moré (C-139/11, 2012), the CJEU held that a compensation claim’s time limit is set by each Member State’s own rules on limitation of actions. Denmark answers with Forældelseslovens general three-year period, but the sources checked do not state exactly which date starts that count for a flight claim.
Cuadrench Moré settles only that EU261 leaves timing to national law; it says nothing about Danish procedure specifically. Forældelsesloven Section 3, stk. 1 fixes the length of the period at three years. What the provision we read does not give is the trigger date for an EU261 claim, and no source we hold sets out that starting point for a flight. Rather than guess at a later start, this page counts from the earliest date a claim could arise: the flight itself.
Source: CJEU C-139/11, Cuadrench Moré — eur-lex.europa.eu; Forældelsesloven Section 3, stk. 1 — retsinformation.dk, checked 2026-09-18.
Count your three years from the date of the flight itself, the most conservative starting point available, rather than assume a later trigger applies.
#Which flights does Denmark’s deadline govern?
Every flight leaving a Danish airport is covered under article 3(1)(a) of EU261, whichever airline operates it. A flight arriving in Denmark from outside the EU is covered only if the operating carrier is a Community carrier; outside that condition, EU261 does not reach the flight at all.
EU is covered only if the operating carrier is a Community carrier; outside that condition, EU261 does not reach the flight at all.Scope decides enforcement too, under article 16. Denmark’s regulator is competent for a flight leaving a Danish airport, on any carrier, and for a qualifying arrival from a third country. A flight into Copenhagen from elsewhere in the EU is a different state’s responsibility: article 16(1) gives scope to the country the flight departed from, not to Denmark just because that is where it landed. A Bangkok to Copenhagen flight operated by a Community carrier falls inside EU261 on arrival; the same route on a non-Community carrier does not. The operating carrier’s licence, not the Danish airport, decides whether an inbound flight is covered at all, and a passenger who already received benefits, compensation and assistance in the third country is outside article 3(1)(b).
Source: EU261 art. 3(1)(a)-(b), art. 16(1)-(2) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
Check the departure airport and operating carrier before assuming Denmark’s rules govern your flight rather than the country you actually left from.
#How do you complain in Denmark, with or without MitID?
Trafikstyrelsen (the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority) is Denmark’s National Enforcement Body for EU261, reachable through its dedicated portal, flypassager.dk. Its main digital complaint form runs through Borger.dk and MitID, but travellers without a Danish digital identity have an alternate route.
MitID is Denmark’s national digital login, and a passenger without it is not shut out: Trafikstyrelsen’s own guide names an alternate route for that situation. Before any of that, the airline gets six weeks to answer a written complaint; Trafikstyrelsen takes the case only after that window. Filing with Trafikstyrelsen is a different act from suing and runs on its own track, and no source we hold says it pauses the three-year period. The Commission’s own list names an enforcement body for every EU country, not only Denmark’s.
Source: Trafikstyrelsen, flypassager.dk, checked 2026-09-18.
Write to the airline first, wait the six weeks, and only then use the MitID form or its stated alternate if you have no Danish digital ID.
#What to do before the deadline runs out
3 years from your flight date is the safe deadline to work to in Denmark, since no source read sets a later starting point for a flight claim. A neighbouring country’s rule can differ sharply: a flight from Copenhagen and one from Malmö sit a bridge apart, yet claiming EU261 in Sweden runs on a ten-year period, not three.
SwedenCount three years from your own flight date first, because that is the safest starting point where no more specific trigger has been confirmed. Write to the airline in plain terms, naming the flight, the date, what happened and the amount you are claiming under EU261, and keep the letter’s own date as your record of when you acted. Once the airline’s six-week window has passed, Trafikstyrelsen’s flypassager.dk route is open, with its alternate path for a passenger without MitID; a straightforward claim may also fit the small claims routes used across Europe, and every country’s own period sits side by side on flight compensation time limits.
General information about EU261 claims in Denmark, not legal advice. For your specific case: Trafikstyrelsen or a lawyer in Denmark.
Count your three years from your flight date today, and send the written claim now rather than waiting on a later trigger date that no source confirms.
#Sources
- Forældelsesloven (LBK nr. 1238 af 09/11/2015) Section 3 - retsinformation.dk, checked 2026-09-18.
- Trafikstyrelsen, flypassager.dk - flypassager.dk, checked 2026-09-18.
- Trafikstyrelsen, complaint guide - flypassager.dk, 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.
European Commission, National Enforcement Bodies — Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (updated 27 August 2026) -