# EU261 in Portugal: 20 years on paper, 2 to be safe Source: https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/claim-in-portugal/ > A Porto Court of Appeal ruling holds the Montreal Convention''s 2-year bar, not the Código Civil''s 20, governs an EU261 claim; the top court has not settled it. # How long you have to claim compensation for a flight in Portugal Twenty years is Portugal's Civil Code answer. A Portuguese Court of Appeal has since ruled that a much shorter deadline governs an EU261 claim instead, and that second number is what this page is really about. ## How long do you have to bring an EU261 claim in Portugal? 2 years is the deadline to treat as real for an EU261 claim from Portugal, even though the Código Civil sets an ordinary period of 20 years, under article 309. A Portuguese Court of Appeal has ruled the Montreal Convention's 2-year bar overrides both, in a case about exactly this kind of claim. Source: Código Civil art. 309 - diariodarepublica.pt; Tribunal da Relação do Porto, case 749/23.0T8ILH.P1 - dgsl.pt, checked 2026-09-18. Article 309 of the Código Civil sets Portugal's general limitation period at twenty years; of the other countries this site has checked, only [Greece's residual Civil Code period](https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/claim-in-greece/) also reaches twenty. It is not that simple. In case 749/23.0T8ILH.P1, a Portuguese Court of Appeal, the Tribunal da Relação do Porto, held that the Montreal Convention's own two-year period overrides Regulation 261/2004 and Portugal's ordinary civil rules too, in a dispute that was itself an EU261 claim. No ruling from Portugal's Supreme Court, the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, settling the question either way was found. Two of the other EU countries checked for this site [read the same underlying issue the opposite way](https://airtravelrights.com/montreal-convention/two-year-time-limit/): Germany's Bundesgerichtshof and Italy's Corte di Cassazione both hold that Montreal's two-year bar does not reach EU261's fixed compensation. The Netherlands also works to two years, but through its own Civil Code, article 8:1835, not through Montreal. Portugal, on the one ruling found, sits on Montreal's side. Until a higher Portuguese court resolves that conflict, treat two years, not twenty, as the number that decides whether your claim is still alive. Every country's own figure sits side by side on [flight compensation time limits](https://airtravelrights.com/flight-compensation-time-limits/). ## Where does that deadline come from, and what starts the clock? Two competing legal sources set Portugal's clock: article 309 of the Código Civil, twenty years from when the right could first be exercised, and article 35(1) of the Montreal Convention, two years from arrival, from the date the aircraft ought to have arrived, or from when carriage stopped. Source: Código Civil art. 309 - diariodarepublica.pt; Montreal Convention 1999, art. 35(1) - eur-lex.europa.eu; Tribunal da Relação do Porto, case 749/23.0T8ILH.P1 - dgsl.pt, checked 2026-09-18. Regulation 261/2004 fixes no deadline of its own. In Cuadrench Moré (C-139/11, 2012) the CJEU held that each Member State's own limitation rules decide instead, which is what puts this question in front of Portuguese law at all. Article 309 reads, in the original: "O prazo ordinário da prescrição é de vinte anos", the ordinary limitation period is twenty years, running from when the right could first be exercised, the flight date itself for an EU261 claim. Article 35(1) of the Montreal Convention starts differently: two years from arrival, from the date the aircraft ought to have arrived, or from when carriage stopped. The Tribunal da Relação do Porto applied that shorter count instead of article 309's, so the working clock, on the one ruling that exists, runs on Montreal's terms. A flight that landed, or should have landed, on 5 June 2026 reaches its two-year mark on 5 June 2028 under that ruling, and its twenty-year mark on 5 June 2046 under article 309 alone. Only the first date is safe to plan around. Count from your flight date under the shorter rule, and do not let the Civil Code's twenty years talk you into waiting. ## Which flights does Portugal's deadline govern? Article 3(1)(a) of Regulation 261/2004 covers every flight leaving a Portuguese airport, on any airline, whatever country that airline is based in. Whichever deadline eventually governs, two years or twenty, it applies to a claim on any of those flights, because Portugal's courts are the ones that would hear it. Source: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, art. 3(1)(a)-(b) and art. 16 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-18. Departure coverage is unconditional: a flight leaving Lisbon, Porto, Faro or any other Portuguese airport falls under EU261 whatever airline operated it, Portuguese, another EU carrier, or one based outside Europe. A flight arriving into Portugal from outside the EU is narrower. Article 3(1)(b) brings it under EU261 only if the operating carrier is a Community carrier, one holding an EU operating licence, and only if you did not already receive compensation and assistance in the country you departed from. A Portugal-bound flight on a non-EU carrier departing outside the EU sits outside EU261 altogether, so neither deadline on this page applies to it; [a different regime](https://airtravelrights.com/which-law-covers-my-flight/) may cover it instead. Article 16 gives Portugal's enforcement body competence over flights leaving Portugal, and over a third-country flight arriving in Portugal on a Community carrier. Confirm your flight fits one of those two categories before relying on the rest of this page. ## Who handles a complaint in Portugal, and what can they do? ANAC, the Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil, is Portugal's enforcement body, and its own complaint page states a 6-week wait after writing to the airline before it will take up a case. ANAC sanctions the airline; it does not award compensation itself. Source: ANAC, complaint procedure - anac.pt, checked 2026-09-18. Complain to the airline first. ANAC's own page sets out the route: write to the airline, and escalate to ANAC only once six weeks have passed with no reply, or with a reply you consider unsatisfactory. ANAC's complaint page also states a five-year figure, worth being precise about: ANAC's own text ties it to how long the authority retains a complaint on file, a data-retention period, not a deadline for bringing a claim. Confusing that five years with either number in the first section of this page would be a serious mistake. ANAC's role stops at sanctioning the airline for breaching the Regulation. Collecting the money still runs through a court or an alternative dispute resolution body, not through ANAC directly, whichever of the two limitation periods above turns out to govern your case. ## What to do before the deadline runs out 2 years, not 20, is the number to work to for a flight from Portugal, given the one ruling on record. Waiting because the Civil Code's twenty-year figure sounds safe is the single most expensive mistake this page can help you avoid. Source: Código Civil art. 309; Montreal Convention art. 35(1); ANAC complaint procedure, checked 2026-09-18. Write your flight's date down today, whichever of arrival, expected arrival, or the day carriage stopped applies to your case, and count two years forward from it as your working deadline, not twenty. Complain to the airline in writing first, citing article 7 of Regulation 261/2004, and give it a fair chance to answer before you escalate to ANAC after six weeks, or move towards a court claim. If your two-year mark is already close, do not spend that time waiting on ANAC's response; a court claim, not an ANAC complaint, is what actually stops the clock. > If Portugal's two-year figure is already close and you would rather not run the claim yourself, [AirHelp (third-party claim service)](https://airtravelrights.com/partner/airhelp?ref=atr-gd-eu261-pt-b) can take it on, no win no fee, and keeps a fee from any payout. The free routes above, the airline directly and ANAC, stay open too. This page states Portugal's position as the Código Civil, the Montreal Convention and the one Court of Appeal ruling on this point read on the date checked, not advice on your specific claim, and the point above that court is genuinely unresolved. General information, not legal advice: for your specific case, contact ANAC, a Portuguese consumer-advice service or a solicitor. If your flight was more than two years ago, get advice now rather than rely on the twenty-year figure alone. ## Sources - Código Civil (Decreto-Lei n.º 47344/66), art. 309 - [diariodarepublica.pt](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/legislacao-consolidada/decreto-lei/1966-34509075), checked 2026-09-18. - Tribunal da Relação do Porto, case 749/23.0T8ILH.P1 - [dgsl.pt](https://dgsl.pt/acordaos/6c481172bb18f59f), checked 2026-09-18. - ANAC, complaint procedure ("Como apresentar uma reclamação") - [anac.pt](https://www.anac.pt/vPT/Passageiros/DireitosPassageiro/comoapresentarumaqueixa/Paginas/Comoapresentarumareclamacao.aspx), checked 2026-09-18. - Cuadrench Moré, C-139/11 (2012), CJEU, operative part - [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62011CJ0139), checked 2026-09-18. - Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, arts. 3(1)(a)-(b) and 16 - [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261), checked 2026-09-18. - Bundesgerichtshof, 10 December 2009, Xa ZR 61/09 - [bundesgerichtshof.de](https://www.bundesgerichtshof.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/Zivilsenate/Xa_ZS/2009/Xa_ZR__61-09.pdf), checked 2026-09-18. - Corte Suprema di Cassazione, Ordinanza n. 4427/2024 - [italgiure.giustizia.it](https://www.italgiure.giustizia.it/xway/application/nif/clean/hc.dll?verbo=attach&db=snciv&id=./20240220/snciv@s30@a2024@n04427@tO.clean.pdf), checked 2026-09-18. - Montreal Convention 1999, art. 35(1) - [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:22001A0718(01)), checked 2026-09-18. - 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.