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

Checked 15 Sep 2026·7 min read

3 years is Germany’s limitation period for an EU261 claim, but the clock does not start on your flight date. Under §199(1) of the BGB, it starts at the end of the calendar year the claim arose. A flight in March and a flight in November of the same year can share a deadline; two flights just days apart on either side of New Year’s Eve can end up a year apart. Below: how that count actually works, which flights it covers, who enforces it, and what to do before time runs out.

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

3 years is Germany’s limitation period for an EU261 claim, the regelmäßige Verjährungsfrist set by §195 of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch. What makes it different is the start. Under §199(1), the clock begins at the end of the calendar year your claim arose, not on the flight date itself.

Two flights close together on the calendar can still land a year apart in deadline. A flight on 30 December 2026 counts as arising in 2026, so its 3-year period starts running on 31 December 2026 and expires on 31 December 2029. A flight just 3 days later, on 2 January 2027, counts as arising in 2027 instead, so its period starts on 31 December 2027 and expires on 31 December 2030, a full year later than the first flight’s deadline despite only 3 days between the two flights. §199(1) attaches one further condition to that start: the year it counts from is the year in which you knew, or should have known, of the claim.

Source: BGB §195 (period) and §199(1) (start of the period) — gesetze-im-internet.de, checked 2026-09-18.

Work out your own claim from the calendar year your flight fell in, not from the exact date.

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

EU261 sets no deadline of its own: in Cuadrench Moré (C-139/11, 2012), the CJEU held that the time limit for a compensation claim comes from each Member State’s own rules on limitation of actions. Germany has no aviation-specific deadline either, so the general 3-year civil-law period under §195 of the BGB fills that gap.

German case law has settled two points the statute itself does not answer. The Montreal Convention sets its own, shorter deadline for certain claims, but that limit does not carry over to EU261 compensation, directly or by analogy. EU261 claims stay on the ordinary 3-year civil period. And the same 3-year period reaches a claim even where the disrupted flight was booked as part of a package holiday, not sold on its own. Neither point changes the count itself. Both confirm that the BGB’s ordinary rule, not a shorter transport-specific one, is what actually governs.

Source: CJEU C-139/11, Cuadrench Moré — eur-lex.europa.eu; BGB §195 — gesetze-im-internet.de; Bundesgerichtshof, decisions of 10 December 2009 and 4 June 2024 on the BGB period’s reach — bundesgerichtshof.de, checked 2026-09-18.

Check whether your claim already survived a Montreal or package-holiday objection; if so, the ordinary 3-year period still applies.

#Which flights does Germany’s deadline govern?

Every flight leaving a German airport is covered under article 3(1)(a) of EU261, on any airline. A flight arriving in Germany from outside the EU is covered only if the operating carrier is a Community carrier. On any other carrier, Germany’s 3-year deadline, and EU261 itself, do not apply to that flight.

Article 16 hands enforcement to the same country as scope. Germany’s regulator, the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt, is competent for a flight leaving a German airport, whatever the airline, and for a flight arriving in Germany from outside the EU on a Community carrier. For a flight into Germany from another EU country, the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt points you to the enforcement body of the departure country instead.

Not your situation? UK261 covers a flight leaving a UK airport instead, in pounds. The Air Passenger Protection Regulations cover Canadian routes. US federal rules apply if you are flying within, to or from the US instead of the EU. If you are not sure which regime fits, work it out here.

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 to the flight before assuming Germany’s rules, not another country’s, apply.

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

Article 16 names nobody: each member state designates its own body, and Germany designated the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA). Its remit is flights leaving a German airport and flights into one from a third country, with no carrier condition attached. It runs its own complaint process, separate from the 3-year court deadline above, and does not itself pay you compensation.

The LBA can investigate and press an airline over a refusal, but filing a complaint with it is not the same act as suing in a German court, and it does not hand you the money itself. The 3-year period under §195 BGB is the deadline for that court claim, running on its own track. Writing to the airline first, with your flight details and the amount claimed, is still sensible, even though no separate rule requires it before the LBA acts. The Commission’s own list names an enforcement body for every EU country, not just Germany’s.

Source: EU261 art. 16(1)-(2) — eur-lex.europa.eu; Luftfahrt-Bundesamt, Fluggastrechte — lba.de, checked 2026-09-18.

Send the airline your claim in writing first, then bring an unresolved one to the LBA.

#What to do before the deadline runs out

3 dates decide your German deadline: the year your flight fell in, the last day of that year, and the day 3 years after that. Work them out first, write to the airline, and do not let an open LBA complaint be the reason a court deadline passes unused.

Find the calendar year your claim arose in first, not the exact date. That year’s 31 December is where the 3-year count starts, under §199(1); add 3 years to that date and you have the deadline for a court claim. Write it down and treat it as fixed, because a decision handed down in 2024 confirmed the same ordinary period applies even when the flight was part of a package holiday, so there is no shorter route that quietly cuts the time available.

Write to the airline before you do anything else: name the flight, the date, what happened and the amount you are claiming under EU261. If it refuses or stays silent, you can take the matter to the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt, or go straight to a German court instead. Keep the letter’s date. It is your own record of when the claim started, separate from the calendar-year rule that sets when it ends. A claim too small to bother a German court on its own may still fit the small claims routes used across Europe, and every country’s own deadline sits side by side on flight compensation time limits.

Working out the year-end count and chasing the LBA yourself? AirHelp (third-party claim service) can take on a refused or ignored EU261 claim, no win no fee, and keeps a fee from any payout. Writing to the airline and a complaint to the LBA both stay open to you either way.

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

General information about EU261 claims in Germany, not legal advice. For your specific case: the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt, a German consumer body or a solicitor.

Fix your year-end deadline today, send the written claim now, and do not let an LBA complaint be the reason a court deadline slips by.

#Sources

• Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch §195 and §199 - gesetze-im-internet.de, checked 2026-09-18.
• Bundesgerichtshof, Xa ZR 61/09 (10 December 2009) - bundesgerichtshof.de, checked 2026-09-18.
• Bundesgerichtshof, X ZR 62/23 (4 June 2024) - bundesgerichtshof.de, checked 2026-09-18.
• Luftfahrt-Bundesamt, Fluggastrechte - lba.de, 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

Does the UK six-year limit apply to my flight from Germany?

No, and Germany's clock is not merely shorter - it starts differently. BGB §195 gives three years, but §199(1) starts them at the end of the calendar year the claim arose, so two flights three days apart can expire a full year apart. Six years belongs to England and Wales, on a UK departure.

Who do I complain to about an airline in Germany?

The Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA), Germany's National Enforcement Body for EU261, handles complaints for a flight leaving a German airport, and for a flight arriving from outside the EU on a Community carrier. It can investigate and press the airline, but a complaint to it runs separately from the 3-year court deadline; it does not itself pay you.