How the calculator decides
Compensation under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 is a fixed sum, not a refund of your ticket. It depends on three things: whether the regulation covers your flight, how far the flight goes, and what happened. The calculator first applies the scope rules. A flight departing from an airport in the EU, Iceland, Norway or Switzerland is covered whatever airline operates it. A flight arriving there from outside is covered only if the operating airline holds an EU, EEA or Swiss licence. The UK version mirrors this for flights from the UK and for flights into the UK on UK or EU carriers.
Next it measures the great-circle distance between the two airports from their coordinates. The regulation uses this "as the crow flies" method rather than the actual route flown. For connecting flights on one booking, the relevant distance is between the first departure airport and the final destination.
The amounts
| Distance | EU261 | UK261 |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | €250 | £220 |
| 1,500–3,500 km (and all intra-EU flights over 1,500 km) | €400 | £350 |
| Over 3,500 km | €600 | £520 |
For flights over 3,500 km that arrive between three and four hours late, the amount is halved to €300 or £260. When a cancelled flight or denied boarding is followed by a replacement flight that arrives within two, three or four hours of the original time (depending on the distance band), the airline may also cut the amount by half.
Delays
The regulation's text only mentions compensation for cancellations and denied boarding. The Court of Justice decided in Sturgeon (C-402/07) that passengers who reach their destination three hours or more late suffer a similar loss and must be compensated in the same way. A later judgment (Germanwings, C-452/13) fixed the moment of arrival as when at least one door opens and passengers can leave, not when the wheels touch the runway.
Cancellations
If the airline told you at least 14 days before departure, no compensation is owed, although you still choose between a refund and a new flight. With 7 to 13 days' notice, compensation is excluded if the new flight leaves no more than two hours early and arrives less than four hours late. With under 7 days' notice, the window narrows to one hour early and two hours late.
When nothing is owed
Airlines do not pay if they can show the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures. Severe weather, air traffic control restrictions and security risks usually qualify. Routine technical faults and most strikes by the airline's own staff usually do not. Read our extraordinary circumstances guide before accepting a refusal.
Care while you wait
Separate from compensation, the airline must provide meals, refreshments, communication and, where needed, a hotel and transfers during long waits. Those rights apply even when the cause is extraordinary. Keep receipts if you pay yourself.
Once you know the amount, the claim-letter generator drafts a request you can send to the airline for free.