Flight delay: how to get up to €600 and keep your right to compensation

Your flight is delayed by four hours. You should already have checked into your hotel, but at the airline counter nobody is explaining anything.

Under EU rules, a passenger in this situation can claim compensation of up to €600 (as of 09/2026, EU Regulation 261/2004). In addition to money, you are entitled to meals, two free phone calls, and if the departure is moved to the next day, also a hotel and transfer. The right does not disappear, but it is lost if you threw away your receipts or missed the claim deadline.

Below, step by step: what to demand right at the airport, when the airline is allowed to refuse, and how to file a claim so it is not rejected on a technicality.

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What you are entitled to when your flight is delayed

💡 In short:

• Arrival delayed by more than three hours: compensation from €250 to €600, the amount depends on the distance.
• Departure moved by 2, 3, or 4 hours depending on the distance: food, drinks, and two free phone calls.
• Departure moved to the next day: you must be given a hotel and transfer to it.
• Compensation, deadlines, and conditions: 09/2026, verified on the official regulation page.

The EU regulation distinguishes three situations: delay, flight cancellation, and denied boarding. The amounts for arrival delay and cancellation are the same, and the set of services at the airport depends on how long you have already been waiting at the gate.

Important: the money is paid for delay at the arrival point, not for departure delay. If the plane departed on time but landed later than scheduled, this also counts as arrival delay, and you keep the right to payment.

What changes in EU rules in 2026

In June 2026, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU agreed on new rules for air passengers (as of 09/2026, European Parliament press release). Regulation 261/2004 is being updated for the first time in twenty years, and some of the changes concern your payments specifically.

The main thing stays the same. Compensation for delay of more than three hours remains, and the amounts of €250, €400, and €600 do not change. Three hours as the threshold also stays.

What is new concerns the procedure. A claim for payment will need to be filed within nine months, and the airline must review it within 30 days and itself inform the passenger of the right to compensation. Parents with children under 14 will be able to sit together at no extra charge, as will passengers with disabilities together with an accompanying person. The airline will no longer charge for printing a boarding pass that you received in the app.

A separate point about the return ticket. Airlines will be prohibited from canceling the return flight just because the passenger did not fly the outbound leg. Correcting one letter in the name on a ticket will be free and allowed once.

The new rules will come into force one year and 20 days after publication in the Official Journal (as of 09/2026, European Commission). In practice, that is autumn 2027, so for now you still file claims under the current version of the regulation.

Arrival delay: compensation from three hours

If the plane landed at the destination airport more than three hours later than scheduled, you have the right to fixed compensation under Regulation 261/2004 (as of 09/2026, full text). The count starts from the moment the doors were opened, not from touching the runway.

© GeoMancer448 · CC BYPhoto: GeoMancer448, CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), Wikimedia Commons

The regulation applies when the flight departs from an EU airport. The second option: you are flying into the EU from a third country, but the carrier is European. The distance is calculated by the great-circle route, that is, the straight line between airports.

One nuance about Europe. If your flight is within the EU and the distance exceeds 3,500 km, the cap is still €400, not €600 (as of 09/2026, EU cap). This happens on long routes such as a flight from Helsinki to the Canary Islands.

What to do at the airport: five first steps

You are standing at the counter, and the flight has been delayed indefinitely. From here, the sequence matters, because later it will be harder to prove your expenses.

• Check the status. Ask the airline representative for the exact departure time and the reason for the delay.

• Ask for confirmation. Have the reason for the delay or cancellation recorded in writing.

• Collect receipts. Keep receipts for food, drinks, and taxi to the hotel.

• Find witnesses. Get the contact details of at least two fellow passengers, they will confirm the waiting time.

• Package tour. If the trip was bought as a package, also call the tour operator.

Written confirmation will help when the airline tries to cite weather or a strike. The wording in the documents matters more than your words at the counter.

Departure delay: food, calls, and hotel

If departure is delayed, the regulation includes care at the airport. The threshold depends on the distance: two hours for flights up to 1,500 km, three hours for 1,500-3,500 km, and four hours for long-haul flights (as of 09/2026, care rules). From that point, you must be given food, drinks, and two free phone calls.

When the airline pays for a hotel

If the plane flies only tomorrow, you must be provided with a hotel room and transfer. Sometimes the help desk is empty and you are told to sort it out yourself. In that case, book the hotel yourself, keep the receipt, and the airline will reimburse the expenses after you file a claim.

The limit for such reimbursement is reasonable. The room should be at a mid-range price level, not a five-star resort. A modest hotel near the airport will definitely be refunded, while a luxury one may be considered excessive.

When you can refuse to fly

If your flight is delayed by five hours or more, you have the right to refuse the flight and demand a refund for the ticket (as of 09/2026, refund clause). If part of the route has already been completed, you have three options: return to the departure airport, fly to the final destination, or get a refund.

When an airline can refuse to pay

The airline is released from compensation in extraordinary circumstances. Weather, strikes, natural disasters, and political unrest fall into this category.

Simply citing a reason is not enough. The carrier must prove that it did everything possible to reduce inconvenience and confirm the reason with documents. That is why asking for written confirmation from the airport works in your favor.

A strike by the airline's own employees does not always release the carrier from liability. Disputed cases are settled in courts for years, and you have the right to challenge a refusal.

International flights and the Montreal Convention

For international flights, the Montreal Convention also applies. Under it, you can claim not a fixed amount, but compensation for actual damage caused by the arrival delay, supported by receipts.

Compensation caps are tied to special drawing rights and were raised on December 28, 2024 (as of 09/2026, Montreal Convention). For passenger delay, the limit is 6,303 SDR, about €7,700. For baggage delay, the limit is 1,519 SDR, about €1,800 (as of 09/2026, Schlichtungsstelle Reise und Verkehr).

Separately, there are deadlines for reporting baggage issues. Damage or loss must be reported within 7 days, expenses due to baggage delay within 21 days (as of 09/2026, baggage rules). Claims filed later are rejected.

And one more detail that is often confused. The amounts under the convention represent the upper limit of damage, not an automatic payout. You can only receive money for expenses supported by receipts.

How to check your right and get the money

First, try going directly. Write to the airline and attach your boarding pass, itinerary receipt, and receipts. Many carriers accept claims through a form on their website.

If the company drags it out for months or refuses without explanation, you have two options. First: file a complaint with the national passenger rights authority in the country of departure. Second: hand the claim over to a service that handles the case for a percentage of the amount recovered. You can check whether you are entitled to a payout through AirHelp's claim checker.

The airline's decision is not final. A refusal without proof of extraordinary circumstances can often be challenged.

Package tour: a discount on the tour price for lost hours

If you bought a package tour and arrived four hours late, you can claim a discount on the trip price, not just compensation from the airline. The basis is simple: the service you paid for was delivered with a defect.

Courts most often consider a reasonable discount to be a few percent of the daily price for each extra hour. The overall cap is usually limited to one fifth of the tour cost. Minor one-hour delays are not recognized as a reasonable claim.

If the trip was significantly shortened, for example you lost the first days of a week-long tour, this becomes a matter of reimbursement of expenses or termination of the contract with the tour operator. In that case, the claim is written to the tour organizer, not the carrier.

⁉️🤔 Frequently asked questions

When does the arrival delay clock start?

The clock starts when the aircraft reaches the gate and opens its doors. Compensation is due for delays of more than three hours on flights of any distance (as of 09/2026, delay calculation).

Is compensation due if the stated cause was bad weather?

Not always, and here everything depends on the evidence. Bad weather falls under extraordinary circumstances, so airlines often cite it. The carrier is required to confirm the cause with documentation (as of 09/2026, extraordinary circumstances). If there is no supporting evidence, the refusal is worth challenging.

What if they offer a flight voucher instead of money?

You are not obligated to accept. Compensation under the regulation is paid in cash, and a voucher remains an offer, not an obligation for the passenger (as of 09/2026, cash payment). Take a voucher only if you genuinely need it and it covers the amount of your claim. Do not sign a written waiver of cash in favor of a certificate.

How long do I have to file a claim?

The time limit currently depends on the country and can be up to several years (as of 09/2026, limitation periods). The 2026 reform introduces a uniform nine-month limit (as of 09/2026, updated EU rules). So do not put off your claim for a year.

How is compensation different from reimbursement of expenses?

The fixed amount under the regulation does not depend on your costs and is calculated by distance. Separately, you have the right to claim reimbursement of documented expenses: hotel, taxi, food, water at the airport (as of 09/2026, compensation and expenses). The second claim requires receipts; the first only requires a boarding pass and confirmation of the delay.

In short: what is worth booking

Start simple: keep your receipts and ask for written confirmation of the reason for the delay. These two habits bring in more money than a long back-and-forth after your vacation.

If your arrival is delayed by more than three hours, file a claim for compensation of up to €600. If the airline stays silent for weeks, check your right to a payout and hand the case to specialists. If you were not offered food and a hotel at the airport, add the receipts to your claim and list this as a separate item.

Amounts and deadlines verified on 12.09.2026 against the current text of EU Regulation 261/2004.