EU261 Compensation: €250, €400 or €600 Explained

EU261 Compensation: €250, 400 or 600 for a Cancelled or Delayed Flight

Has your flight been cancelled or did it arrive more than 3 hours late? Under EU regulation 261/2004 you may be entitled to fixed compensation of €250, €400 or €600 based on the flight distance, regardless of what you paid for the ticket. This guide gives you the distance-band table, worked examples on real routes, and a step-by-step way to estimate the exact amount you can claim.

To see what you’re owed in seconds, use the EU261 compensation calculator: enter your route and what happened.

Even before you fly, you can see whether your flight is exposed to trouble: check your flight’s cancellation risk and turn on free alerts, so you arrive at the airport already ready to document any disruption.

How much you can claim: the distance-band table

EU261 compensation is a flat amount that depends only on the flight distance, not on the fare you paid:

These amounts apply per passenger, regardless of the ticket price. Even on a £30 low-cost fare you are owed €250 if the conditions are met. For a family of four on a cancelled short-haul flight, that is €1,000 in total.

UK flights (UK261): after Brexit, the UK kept a near-identical regime. Flights leaving a UK airport (any airline) or arriving in the UK on a UK/EU carrier are covered by UK261, with the same distance bands. Amounts are set in pounds — typically £220 / £350 / £520 — rather than euros, but the rules mirror EU261.

The 50% reduction: for an arrival delay between 3 and 4 hours, if the airline offered re-routing that limited your delay, the amount can be cut in half (€250 → €125, €400 → €200, €600 → €300), under the Court of Justice’s Sturgeon/Nelson case law.

Worked examples on real routes

To see which band your flight falls into, only the great-circle distance between the departure airport and the final arrival airport matters:

Note that London–Rome (~1,430 km) stays under 1,500 km, so it is worth €250 even though it “feels” like a longer hop. The official distance, not the flight time, is what counts. If you want the on-time history of a route before you fly, check a route hub such as Rome’s airport profile for Rome Fiumicino (FCO).

How to estimate your amount

To work out what you are owed, follow these four steps:

1. Confirm the flight is in EU261 scope. It must depart an EU airport (any airline) or arrive in the EU operated by an EU carrier. For UK departures/arrivals, apply UK261 instead — same bands, paid in pounds.
2. Check the trigger. Cancellation with less than 14 days’ notice, an arrival delay of 3 hours or more, or denied boarding due to overbooking.
3. Measure the great-circle distance between departure and final arrival (for connecting itineraries, use the total distance to the final destination, not each leg). Apply the table: ≤1,500 km → €250; 1,500–3,500 km → €400; >3,500 km → €600.
4. Apply any reduction. If the arrival delay is between 3 and 4 hours and you were re-routed, the amount may drop by 50%.

Worked example: a London–New York flight cancelled with 5 days’ notice, with no extraordinary circumstances, is worth €600 per passenger (distance over 3,500 km, between the EU/UK and a non-EU airport). A Rome–Catania flight that arrives 3 hours 30 minutes late is worth €250 (under 1,500 km).

What regulation EU261/2004 is

Regulation EC No. 261/2004 is the European law that protects air passengers’ rights. It has been in force since 2005 and applies to all flights:

• Departing from an EU airport, with any airline
• Arriving at an EU airport, if operated by an EU-based airline

So if you fly from Rome to New York with any carrier, or from New York to Rome with a European airline, you are covered. You are not covered if you fly to the EU with a non-EU carrier (for example, New York to Rome on a US airline). The regulation covers three main situations: long delay, flight cancellation and denied boarding (overbooking).

When you’re entitled to compensation

Arrival delay over 3 hours

If your flight arrives at its destination 3 hours or more behind the scheduled time, you are entitled to fixed compensation. What counts is the arrival time (when the aircraft doors open), not the departure time.

Flight cancellation

If the flight is cancelled, you are entitled to compensation unless:

• The airline notified you at least 14 days before departure
• You were offered an alternative flight with similar times (the precise rules depend on the notice period)
• The cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances (more on this below)

Denied boarding (overbooking)

If you are denied boarding against your will because the flight is overbooked, you always have the right to compensation, with no exceptions.

Extraordinary circumstances: when you’re NOT entitled

The airline does not have to pay if the delay or cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided by reasonable measures. These include:

• Extreme weather: storms, volcanic eruptions, exceptional snow
• Air traffic control (ATC) strikes: not strikes by the airline’s own staff
• Political instability or security risks: airspace closures, security alerts
• Unforeseen air traffic management restrictions
• Bird strikes: collision with birds

Not considered extraordinary circumstances:

• Technical problems with the aircraft (in most cases)
• Strikes by the airline’s own staff
• Crew shortages
• Delay carried over from a previous flight (aircraft rotation)

This distinction is crucial: airlines often invoke extraordinary circumstances even when they do not apply. If you have doubts, push back — the case law of the EU Court of Justice generally favours passengers.

The right to assistance

Regardless of the cause of the delay (even in extraordinary circumstances), the airline must provide free assistance at the airport: meals and refreshments appropriate to the waiting time, two free communications (calls, emails), and a hotel overnight stay with transport if the flight is rescheduled to the next day.

For cancellations, you also have the right to choose between a full refund of the ticket (within 7 days) or an alternative flight to your destination, as soon as possible or on a date of your choice.

How to cut the risk of ending up here

Knowing your rights matters, but prevention beats cure. FlightGuard does not predict whether your flight will be cancelled — it is a risk indicator built from real factors: ATC congestion, weather, route history, carrier punctuality and strikes. It helps you see when conditions are more critical, so you can prepare.

Some of the data we work with: across our sample of 10,970 real flights tracked, the overall cancellation rate is 0.57% and 16.6% of flights arrive more than 15 minutes late. Among the most ATC-constrained hubs right now are Rome FCO and Lisbon (LIS) — useful to know if your route passes through them. Carrier reliability also varies more than reputation suggests: in our sample of 3,109 Ryanair flights, the cancellation rate was just 0.35%, lower than several legacy carriers.

Want to know in advance whether your flight is exposed? Use the flight cancellation risk checker before you travel. And if you are comparing carriers, we publish real punctuality numbers airline by airline — see the profile for Ryanair.

How to file a complaint with the airline

1. Gather evidence

Boarding pass and booking confirmation, the actual arrival time (a screenshot from the airline app or FlightAware), airline communications (emails, SMS, announcements) and receipts for any expenses (meals, hotel, transport).

2. Contact the airline

Write a formal complaint explicitly citing regulation EU261/2004 (or UK261 for UK flights). Include the flight number, date, scheduled and actual arrival time, and the amount claimed under the distance band.

3. Wait for the response

The airline should respond within 6 weeks. If it does not respond, refuses, or invokes extraordinary circumstances you do not believe are valid, you have other options.

4. Escalate to the national enforcement body

In the UK, that is the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). For other countries, find the relevant authority via the European Commission’s air passenger rights page. Mind the limitation periods: 6 years in the UK (5 in Scotland), 2 years in Italy, 5 years in Spain, 3 years in Germany.

5. Consider a claims service

Some companies specialise in recovering EU261/UK261 compensation. They work on a no-win-no-fee basis (typically keeping 25–35%) and handle the legal process — useful if the airline refuses to pay.

Read next

• Why Ryanair cancels flights

Conclusion

Regulation EU261/2004 is a powerful passenger-protection tool: €250, €400 or €600 depending on distance, per passenger, regardless of the ticket price. But it only works if you know your rights and act. Do not let the airline tell you “you’re not entitled to anything” without checking.

And to avoid surprises, check your flight’s cancellation risk before you travel and turn on free alerts.

Sources

• Regulation EC 261/2004
• European Commission - Air Passenger Rights
• UK Civil Aviation Authority