# EU261 schedule change: the 14-day cancellation test

Source: https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/flight-schedule-change/

> Under 7 days'' notice EU261 owes €250-€600 unless the replacement leaves within 1 hour and lands under 2 hours late; the airline must prove when it told you.

# When a schedule change becomes a cancellation under EU261

[EU261](https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/) tests a rescheduled flight the way it tests any cancellation: by how many days' notice you got and how close the replacement sits to your original times. 14 days or more before departure, nothing is owed under article 5(1)(c)(i). Inside that window the tolerance on the replacement narrows the closer you get to departure, and missing it makes the article 7 amounts due.

## Is a moved flight a delay or a cancellation?

14 days is the line EU261 actually runs on, not the word printed on the airline's message. Article 5(1)(c) and its two shorter notice windows are the only provisions keyed to advance warning, so a change announced before you fly is tested against them once your booked flight no longer operates as scheduled, whatever the message calls it.

Source: EU261 art. 5(1)(a)-(c) (rights after a cancellation), art. 6(1) (delay at departure) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

Article 5(1) lists three things a cancelled flight earns: assistance under article 8, care under article 9, and, in point (c), compensation unless the airline meets one of the notice exceptions below. None of that text asks what heading the airline put on its message. A change to your booked departure or arrival time, told to you before you travel, is the fact that starts the test, and article 5's notice windows are the only rules built to answer a question asked ahead of the day.

A flight running late on the day itself, same flight number, no advance warning, is a different case. Article 6 measures that by the delay at arrival, three hours or more, once you have actually flown it. No CJEU ruling is cited here for where that line sits; EU261's own text gives the notice test above, and that is what this page answers from.

Write down, on the day you are told, the old departure and arrival time against the new ones.

## What notice periods decide whether you are paid?

Between 14 and 7 days' notice, EU261 owes nothing only if the replacement leaves no more than 2 hours before your original departure and lands less than 4 hours after your original arrival. Under 7 days, that tightens to 1 hour early and 2 hours late. Miss either limit and €250, €400 or €600 is due by distance.

**Notice periods and replacement times that decide EU261 compensation**

| When the notice reached you | Replacement departs | Replacement arrives | EU261 compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 days or more before scheduled departure | No condition | No condition | Not owed |
| Between 14 and 7 days before | No more than 2 hours before scheduled departure | Less than 4 hours after scheduled arrival | Not owed if both limits are met; otherwise €250 / €400 / €600 by distance |
| Less than 7 days before | No more than 1 hour before scheduled departure | Less than 2 hours after scheduled arrival | Not owed if both limits are met; otherwise €250 / €400 / €600 by distance |

Source: EU261 art. 5(1)(c)(i)-(iii) and art. 5(4) (notice windows, burden of proof), art. 7(1) (amounts), art. 5(3) (extraordinary circumstances) with arts. 8 and 9 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

Both limits inside a window must hold, and the flat 2-hour/4-hour test in the middle row applies regardless of your distance band. Take 12 days' notice on a route in the 1,500-3,500 km band: a replacement that departs 2 hours 15 minutes early already fails the departure limit, so the €400 amount becomes due even if that replacement then lands exactly on time. A separate rule, article 7(2), lets the airline halve a compensation amount once due, when re-routing arrives within 2, 3 or 4 hours of the original arrival by band; landing on time sits inside that 3-hour ceiling, so €200 rather than €400 is what the airline may pay. That reduction never revives an amount the notice test has already ruled out.

Either amount can still be avoided if the airline proves extraordinary circumstances under article 5(3) that reasonable measures could not have avoided; a schedule change gets no exemption from that defence. What that proof removes is the article 7 payment alone: the refund, re-routing and care in the sections below stay owed.

Check both tests separately: the notice-window test that decides whether anything is owed, and the distance-banded reduction that can only ever shrink an amount already due.

## Being moved to a different airport

The airline pays for getting you onward, not you. Article 8(3) makes the operating carrier bear the cost of transferring you from the alternative airport to the one on your booking, or to another close-by destination you agree with it, whenever it puts you on a flight to a different airport serving the same town, city or region.

Source: EU261 art. 8(3) (alternative airport) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

This rule runs alongside the notice-window test: a different airport can trigger compensation on its own facts, and the transfer cost is owed regardless. The regulation names three destinations for that transfer: the airport you actually booked, or another close-by point you agree to instead; nothing in the text lets the airline pick a distant third option and leave you to fund the last leg yourself.

Keep the receipt for any transfer you pay for yourself and the message that named the alternative airport, then bill the airline for the fare rather than absorbing it.

## Refusing the new time: your refund and re-routing rights

Article 8(1) gives you three choices once a schedule change counts as a cancellation: reimbursement of the full ticket cost within 7 days, re-routing to your final destination at the earliest opportunity, or re-routing on a later date that suits you. The choice is yours, and it sits apart from any compensation the change also earns.

Source: EU261 art. 8(1) (reimbursement or re-routing) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

None of the three options above turns off article 7 compensation. Taking a refund ends this particular flight, so re-routing help stops with it; choosing re-routing keeps the airline responsible for getting you there, on the earliest available service or on a date you name. Either way, the €250-€600 question is decided separately by the notice test in the section above, not by which of the three you pick.

State your choice in writing before you book a replacement yourself, and keep the reply that confirms it.

## What a 'schedule change' in the airline's terms cannot override

Article 15(1) is short: none of the obligations in this regulation may be limited or waived, including by a clause in the contract of carriage. A clause reserving 'the right to change schedules' is exactly the kind of term this article targets, and it cannot remove your article 5, 7, 8 or 9 rights.

Source: EU261 art. 15(1) (no waiver) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

An airline's conditions of carriage can describe how it handles a schedule change operationally, offering rebooking tools or a fee-free date swap, without that description touching your regulation rights at all. What article 15(1) blocks is a clause using those same words to argue you accepted terms that remove compensation, a refund or care. If an airline cites its own terms as the reason it owes nothing, ask it to name the specific EU261 article the term is supposed to satisfy.

Quote article 15(1) back if a rejection leans on the contract of carriage rather than on one of the two notice exceptions above.

## Proving what you were told, and when

Article 5(4) puts the burden of proof on the operating carrier: it must show whether, and when, it informed you of the change. A passenger who kept the original message showing the date it arrived has already won this part of the argument, because the airline then has to beat that date, not merely assert an earlier one.

Source: EU261 art. 5(4) (burden of proof) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

This matters at the boundary: 15 days' notice sits outside compensation entirely, 13 days puts you inside the 14-to-7-day test. Run your own dates through the [compensation calculator](https://airtravelrights.com/compensation-calculator/) rather than counting by hand. An airline that replies with only the new timetable, and no dated notice, has not discharged article 5(4); ask it to produce the date and channel of the original message.

> Rather not chase the proof and the claim yourself? [AirHelp (third-party claim service)](https://airtravelrights.com/partner/airhelp?ref=atr-gd-eu261-schedule-m) takes on EU261 schedule-change claims, no win no fee, and keeps a fee from any payout; writing to the airline yourself stays open either way.

Whether the airline changed your flight time by an hour or by a day, the proof point is the same: the date it can show, not the date it claims.

Screenshot the first alert about the change, with its date and time visible, before replying to the airline.

No answer from the airline? The [airline-refused escalation map](https://airtravelrights.com/airline-refused-compensation/) sets out what comes next. Departing the UK instead? See [UK261](https://airtravelrights.com/uk261/); to or within Canada, the [Air Passenger Protection Regulations](https://airtravelrights.com/canada-appr/); US federal rules differ, see [US DOT](https://airtravelrights.com/us-dot/). Unsure which law fits? [Work it out here](https://airtravelrights.com/which-law-covers-my-flight/) ([Downgraded flight compensation eu](https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/flight-downgrade-refund/)).

General information on EU261 schedule changes, 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, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15 - [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261), checked 2026-09-15.