# Cancelled EU flight: refund in 7 days, or a voucher

Source: https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/cancelled-flight-refund-voucher/

> A voucher counts only with your signed agreement under article 7(3); €250-€600 stays owed after a refund, and the 7-day refund clock keeps running.

# Refund, re-routing or voucher after a cancelled EU flight

Accept a refund under EU261 article 8, and there is no swapping back to re-routing for that flight; the choice is final once you take the money. What it never touches is article 7 compensation. The €250, €400 or €600 depends on notice and cause, not on which of the two you picked.

## What are you owed when an EU flight is cancelled?

3 things follow a cancellation under EU261 article 8(1): reimbursement of the full ticket price within 7 days, re-routing to your destination at the earliest opportunity, or re-routing on a later date you choose. Article 5(1)(a) also owes care under article 9, and article 7 decides separately whether €250, €400 or €600 compensation is due.

Source: EU261 art. 5(1)(a) (care), art. 7(1) (compensation amounts), art. 8(1) (reimbursement and re-routing) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

**Your choice after a cancellation: what each option gives and gives up**

| If you choose | What article 8(1) gives you | What closes for this flight | Article 7 compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reimbursement | Full ticket price for the unused part, plus the flown part if it no longer serves your travel plan, plus a return flight home where relevant, within 7 days | Re-routing, and any self-booked replacement cost | Owed if the cancellation qualifies, unaffected by this choice |
| Re-routing at the earliest opportunity | Transport to your final destination as soon as possible | The refund | Owed if the cancellation qualifies, unaffected by this choice |
| Re-routing at a later date | Transport to your final destination on a date that suits you | The refund | Owed if the cancellation qualifies, unaffected by this choice |

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A confirmed reservation and check-in by the airline's own deadline, or 45 minutes before departure if it sets none, brings the flight into scope; a cancelled flight needs no check-in at all. This page walks through the EU261 refund or voucher choice itself: what the 7-day refund covers, when a voucher can replace it, what re-routing gets you instead, and whether taking the money changes your compensation claim. The amount itself is set out fully on the [EU261 delay and cancellation page](https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/flight-delay-compensation/).

Write down which option you choose, in your own words, before you contact the airline a second time.

## Refund within 7 days, and what 'reimbursement' actually covers

7 days is the article 8(1)(a) deadline once you pick reimbursement over re-routing. The refund is the full price of the journey's unused parts. It also covers the flown part, once that part no longer serves any purpose in your original travel plan, plus a return flight to your first departure point where relevant.

Source: EU261 art. 8(1)(a) (reimbursement) and art. 7(3) (payment form) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

That wording matters most on a multi-leg trip. Miss a connection because the first leg was cancelled, and the reimbursement can cover the whole booking, not only the cancelled segment, once the part you already flew stopped serving your plan. What it does not cover is a ticket you buy yourself on another airline: article 8(1)(a) refunds your original booking, not a replacement one.

An EasyJet passenger's account on the MoneySavingExpert forum (March 2026, passenger report) shows the gap in practice. Their flight from Nice to Bordeaux was cancelled minutes before boarding, they were told they could claim expenses if they arranged their own transport home, and they hired a car. Then EasyJet emailed asking whether they wanted a refund for the cancelled flight, which they agreed to. In their own words: "What I didn't realise at the time was that accepting the refund would apparently cancel my right to claim the travel expenses." A forum reply from eskbanker made the same practical point, writing that "once you accept a refund, it does make it difficult to then claim for the expenses." The poster's own account does not record a final outcome; they had by then raised the matter through aviation-authority channels.

Ask for re-routing, not a refund, if you have already spent money getting yourself home; the two do not combine.

## When does a voucher replace your refund?

Never automatically. Article 7(3) lists cash, electronic bank transfer, bank orders or cheques as the payment means, and travel vouchers or other services count only once you sign your agreement to them. Article 15(1) stops any airline contract term from taking that choice away from you.

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

The same rule reaches the refund, because article 8(1)(a) pays reimbursement through the means article 7(3) lists. A voucher can be offered alongside a cash option, but it is not the payment on its own; your signature is what converts it into one. An airline that emails a voucher code without ever asking you to agree to it has not met article 7(3), whatever the email calls the offer.

The 7-day reimbursement deadline keeps running while an airline dangles a voucher offer; nothing in article 8(1)(a) pauses it for that. If a voucher lands in your inbox before you agreed to one, reply in writing that you want cash, bank transfer or a cheque instead, citing article 7(3).

## Re-routing: at the earliest opportunity, or a date you choose

2 versions of re-routing sit inside article 8(1)(b) and (c): transport to your final destination at the earliest opportunity, or on a later date that suits you instead. Either way, article 8(3) makes the airline bear the cost of getting you from an alternative airport to the one you booked, or to another close-by destination you agree.

Source: EU261 art. 8(1)(b)-(c) (re-routing) and art. 8(3) (alternative airport) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

"Earliest opportunity" is not limited to the cancelling airline's own next flight; it is measured against what is genuinely available, which can include another carrier. A later, more convenient date is a separate right, not a downgrade of the first one. Ask for it outright if the disruption falls in the middle of a trip you would rather finish another time.

Name the airport swap in writing if the airline re-routes you somewhere other than your booked destination, and ask for the transfer cost up front.

## Does a refund cancel your right to compensation?

No. Article 7 compensation of €250, €400 or €600 turns on the notice you got and the cause of the cancellation, never on whether you chose reimbursement or re-routing under article 8. Article 12(1) keeps it as a right without prejudice to any further compensation available under national law.

Source: EU261 art. 5(1)(a)-(c) (rights on cancellation, notice), art. 7(1) (amounts), art. 12(1) (further compensation) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

If you took the refund and the airline wrote back that this settled the matter, it did not. Article 5(1) lists the two as separate entitlements on separate legal bases: assistance under article 8, which is where the refund sits, and compensation under article 7. Paying one does not discharge the other.

Notice decides compensation on its own timetable. Two weeks' notice or more, and none is owed at all. Between two weeks and seven days, none is owed if the replacement leaves no more than two hours early and lands under four hours late. Inside seven days, that tolerance tightens to one hour early and under two hours late. Outside those windows, and without proven extraordinary circumstances, €250, €400 or €600 is due by distance, whatever refund or re-routing choice you made under article 8 ([Changed my flight time eu](https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/flight-schedule-change/)).

Send the refund request and the compensation claim as two separate messages, one citing article 8, the other article 5 and 7, so the airline cannot answer only the cheaper one.

## If the airline refuses or stalls

4 weeks of airline silence is enough in Norway, 6 in Portugal and Austria, 8 in Cyprus: the wait before a national enforcement body will take your complaint is set by that country, not by EU261, which fixes no window at all. Complain to the airline in writing first, then to the body under article 16(1) ([EU261 right to care](https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/right-to-care/)).

Source: EU261 art. 16(1)-(2) (enforcement); European Commission, National Enforcement Bodies list, updated 27 August 2026; national complaint windows from each body's own page - eur-lex.europa.eu, transport.ec.europa.eu, reiselivsforum.no, anac.pt, apf.gv.at, mcw.gov.cy, checked 2026-09-18.

For a flight arriving in the EU from a third country, article 16(1) makes the arrival state's body competent, not the one you departed from. The Commission's list names a body for all 27 EU states plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. State your flight number, the date, your choice under article 8 and the amount you are owed under article 7 in one written complaint. Keep a dated copy of everything you send. Some bodies can order the airline to pay. Others only record the complaint and issue an opinion, so check what the body for your route can actually do before you rely on it alone. Paid with a UK card? [Section 75 and chargeback](https://airtravelrights.com/section-75-chargeback-flight-refund/) run through your card issuer instead.

> Still unpaid after a written complaint the airline has not answered? [AirHelp (third-party claim service)](https://airtravelrights.com/partner/airhelp?ref=atr-mn-eu261-refund-m) takes on stalled EU261 refund and compensation claims, no win no fee, and keeps a fee from any payout; the free complaint route above stays open.

Not your situation? A flight departing a UK airport falls under [UK261](https://airtravelrights.com/uk261/), in pounds. Routes to, from or within Canada fall under the [Air Passenger Protection Regulations](https://airtravelrights.com/canada-appr/). Unsure which law fits? [Work it out here](https://airtravelrights.com/which-law-covers-my-flight/). Flying in the US? US federal rules differ - see [US DOT rules](https://airtravelrights.com/us-dot/).

Check your own compensation band on the [compensation calculator](https://airtravelrights.com/compensation-calculator/) before you send either message, and read the [extraordinary circumstances](https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/extraordinary-circumstances/) page if the airline has already blamed one.

> Rather not chase the airline yourself? [AirHelp (third-party claim service)](https://airtravelrights.com/partner/airhelp?ref=atr-mn-eu261-refund-b) handles rejected or ignored EU261 claims, no win no fee, and keeps a fee from any payout; the airline's own claim form stays open too.

General information on EU261 refund or voucher for a cancelled flight, not legal advice. For your specific case: the national enforcement body of your departure country, the European Consumer Centre network or a solicitor.

## Sources

- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, arts. 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15, 16 - [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261), checked 2026-09-15.
- European Commission, National Enforcement Bodies - Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, updated 27 August 2026 - [transport.ec.europa.eu](https://transport.ec.europa.eu/document/download/d7b5dd33-4083-4faa-8132-b6dc8b3a1c07_en), checked 2026-09-15.
- MoneySavingExpert forum, Flight delay compensation board, "Easyjet cancelled my flight and won't reinburse my expenses as i accepted a refund for the flight" (11 March 2026) - [forums.moneysavingexpert.com](https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6659203/easyjet-cancelled-my-flight-and-wont-reinburse-my-expenses-as-i-accepted-a-refund-for-the-flight), passenger report, accessed 2026-09-18.