Downgraded to a lower class: what EU261 pays back
A downgrade under EU261 pays back 30%, 50% or 75% of the price of the flight you were downgraded on, taxes and charges excluded, within 7 days and on top of anything owed for a delay or a cancellation. Article 10 sets this out as its own right, priced on that one flight, not on your whole trip.
#What do you get back when you are downgraded?
30% is the smallest share of a downgraded flight’s fare that EU261 pays, and it only applies to the shortest routes. Article 10(2) sets three bands by distance: 30% up to 1,500 km, 50% on longer intra-EU routes and other flights up to 3,500 km, 75% on everything beyond that, refunded within 7 days of your written request.
Distance of the downgraded flight | Refund of that flight's fare, taxes excluded |
|---|---|
1,500 km or less | 30% |
Over 1,500 km within the EU (except mainland Europe-French overseas departments), and other flights 1,500-3,500 km | 50% |
All other flights, and mainland Europe-French overseas departments | 75% |
EU (except mainland Europe-French overseas departments), and other flights 1,500-3,500 kmSource: EU261 art. 10(2)(a)-(c) (downgrade reimbursement) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
A downgrade is being seated in a class below the one you booked and paid for — business down to premium economy, or premium economy down to economy. Article 10(2) needs no deliberate cause and carves out no exception for an aircraft swap or a maintenance issue, so the percentage applies whatever the airline’s reason. One route is treated differently: mainland European territory to a French overseas department, or the reverse, sits in the top 75% band whatever the kilometres.
Write down the class you booked, the class you actually flew, and the distance of that flight before you calculate anything.
#How is the percentage worked out, and on which fare?
The percentage is worked out on the price of that one flight, net of taxes and charges, using the distance bands article 10(2) sets out — not on the total cost of a multi-flight booking. The Court of Justice settled both in Mennens: the other flights on the same ticket, and the ticket’s taxes, sit outside article 10(2).
Source: EU261 art. 10(2) (downgrade bands and 7-day deadline) — eur-lex.europa.eu; Mennens, C-255/15 (2016), operative part points 1 and 2 — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-18.
Take a 3,000 km flight priced at €480 for that sector before taxes and charges: that distance sits in the 50% band, so €240 is the refund due. On a 6,000 km flight priced at €980 net of taxes, the 75% band applies, so €735 is due, and a pricier overall ticket changes nothing, because only this sector was downgraded. Taxes and charges stay out of the base as long as neither owing them nor their amount depends on the class you bought, so a receipt reading €480 fare plus €200 tax is refunded on the €480.
If the ticket shows one through-fare and no figure for the downgraded flight, split that fare, taxes aside, by distance: that flight’s kilometres over the total kilometres the ticket entitles you to fly. An €800 fare covering a 3,000 km leg and a 2,000 km leg gives 3,000 ÷ 5,000 of €800, which is €480 for the downgraded leg, and the 50% band turns that into €240.
Ask the airline in writing for the fare paid for that sector; if it will not break the through-fare out, do the distance split yourself.
#Downgrade is not denied boarding, and not a delay
Denied boarding needs an airline to refuse you a seat entirely; a downgrade needs you to fly, only in a lower class. Article 4 pays €250-€600 for denied boarding by distance; article 10 pays 30%, 50% or 75% of one flight’s fare for a downgrade, and the two amounts never combine on a single seat.
Source: EU261 art. 4(1)-(3) (denied boarding), art. 7, 8, 9 (compensation and assistance), art. 10(2) (downgrade) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
Article 4 covers denied boarding: volunteers first, then immediate article 7 compensation plus articles 8 and 9 assistance if the airline still refuses you a seat against your will. None of that applies to a downgrade: you fly on the booked flight, in a lower cabin.
A passenger bumped from one flight and downgraded on the next files two separate claims, one under article 4 and 7, one under article 10, and neither claim reduces the other.
Name the event that actually happened to you, denied boarding, downgrade or delay, before you send a figure to the airline; the EU261 delay and cancellation page covers the other two.
#Being upgraded, and what the airline may not charge
Nothing. Article 10(1) is a single sentence: no supplementary payment may be requested from a passenger who is placed in a higher class than the one paid for. An airline that upgrades you and then invoices you for the difference has no EU261 basis for that charge.
Source: EU261 art. 10(1) (upgrade) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
Article 10 is symmetrical: a downgrade refunds part of what you paid, an upgrade costs you nothing extra, and neither outcome turns on why the airline moved you or on whether it ever admits fault. A voluntary, requested upgrade you pay for through a separate paid-upgrade offer is a different transaction outside article 10(1) entirely, because you asked for it and agreed a price; what article 10(1) blocks is a bill for an upgrade the airline decided on its own to give you.
Point to article 10(1) directly if an unrequested seat move arrives with a charge attached.
#Claiming it: what to send, and what airlines argue
Send your booking confirmation, boarding pass and the downgraded sector’s fare net of taxes, citing article 10(2) and your distance band. Article 3(5) makes the operating carrier, not always the name on your ticket, the one who owes the refund; article 7(3) sets cash or bank payment as default, a voucher only if you sign for one.
Source: EU261 art. 3(5) (operating carrier), art. 7(3) (form of payment), art. 15(1) (no waiver) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
Airlines most often argue that a downgrade was compensated by a fare-difference credit issued automatically, or that a seating change within the same booked cabin category does not count. Neither argument sits inside article 10(2)'s own wording: the test is the class you flew against the class you paid for. Article 15(1) bars a clause in the airline’s conditions of carriage from limiting this right, so a store-credit-only term does not settle the claim.
If you were also delayed or the flight was cancelled, send that claim separately under article 7, since the two do not offset each other and are decided on different facts.
#If the airline pays in vouchers or refuses
Article 7(3) lists cash, electronic bank transfer, bank orders or bank cheques as EU261’s payment methods, and that rule covers a downgrade refund too. A voucher counts only with your signed agreement, so an airline that offers one you never asked for, or refuses outright, has not met article 10(2) or article 15(1).
Source: EU261 art. 7(3) (form of payment), art. 15(1) (no waiver), art. 16(1) (enforcement) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
Reply asking for cash or bank payment. A flat refusal is not a defence: article 10(2) carries no extraordinary-circumstances exception.
Article 16(1) puts a national enforcement body behind this right. No EU-wide deadline applies; each country’s own limitation rules decide how long you have, and they differ sharply — see time limits by country.
No answer to a written claim? The airline-refused escalation map sets out what comes next. Flying from the UK instead? See UK261 and its downgrade refund for UK flights; to or within Canada, the Air Passenger Protection Regulations; US federal rules differ, see US DOT (Changed my flight time eu).
UK instead? See 
Canada, the 
US federal rules differ, see General information on EU261 downgrades, 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. 3, 7, 10, 15 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
- CJEU (Third Chamber), C-255/15 Mennens, judgment of 22 June 2016, operative part points 1 and 2, paras 24-25, 28-30, 34-39 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-18.