Europe's air passenger rights rules on delayed and cancelled flights have a quirk that surprises many travellers from outside Europe. What matters is not your nationality, where you bought the ticket or even which airline you flew, but the direction of travel. A flight leaving an airport in the European Union is covered whatever airline operates it. A flight arriving in the European Union from outside is covered only if a European airline operates it. The same holiday can therefore produce a claim on the way home and nothing on the way out, simply because of whose aircraft you were on.
The quickest way to see where a disrupted flight stands is a free calculator for EU flight delay compensation. It asks five things: whether the flight left an EU airport or arrived on an EU airline, the distance band, what happened, how late you reached your final destination and the reason the airline gave. It then shows the flight compensation you may be entitled to per passenger, and links to AirHelp if you want the claim checked by a specialist. The rules also cover Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. The United Kingdom kept its own version after leaving the European Union, with amounts in pounds.
The amounts depend on distance: two hundred fifty euros for flights up to fifteen hundred kilometres, four hundred euros between fifteen hundred and three thousand five hundred, and six hundred euros beyond that. For the longest flights, an arrival between three and four hours late halves the amount to three hundred euros. The threshold is three hours at the final destination, measured when the doors open, not when the aircraft took off. Cancellations with less than fourteen days' notice and denied boarding can qualify too. Airlines do not pay for extraordinary circumstances such as severe weather, air traffic control strikes or security alerts, but technical faults and crew shortages are generally not treated as extraordinary. A revision of the rules has been agreed but is not yet in force; as agreed, it keeps the three-hour threshold and the current amounts, so check the official European Union passenger rights pages if you are reading this after it takes effect. Personally, I would ask the gate staff for the reason for the delay in writing, and keep the boarding passes and receipts, before leaving the airport.
Consider a couple from Chicago flying home from Rome at the end of a week in October. Their flight is operated by an American airline and lands five hours late because of a technical fault. In the calculator they choose that the flight left an EU airport, select a distance over three thousand five hundred kilometres, choose delayed, pick an arrival more than four hours late and give technical or crew as the reason. The result reads that they may be entitled to six hundred euros per passenger, or twelve hundred euros for the two of them. Had the same delay happened on their outbound flight from Chicago on the same American airline, the calculator would show no entitlement, because that flight neither left an EU airport nor was operated by an EU airline.
Claims, connections and cover belong together. Knowing which direction is protected is worth a thought when you compare prices on flights, since a European airline on the inbound leg brings the rules with it. Flight delay claims can be made directly with the airline for free or through a claims service that takes a share of the payout, and the calculator's AirHelp button is there for those who prefer the second route. Travel insurance is the other half: many policies include some cover for delays, missed connections or extra nights, including when the cause is weather and the airline owes no compensation, so check the terms before booking. For the rest of the trip, from exchange rates to baggage fees, the other free planning tools work in the same plain way.
A few details decide many claims. The delay is counted at the final destination on a single booking, so a missed connection that makes you three hours late at the end can qualify even if the first flight was only slightly late. Separate tickets are treated as separate journeys. Whatever the cause, the airline must still provide meals and, when an overnight stay is needed, a hotel and transport to it once the wait passes a set length that depends on distance. Deadlines for claims are set by national law and vary widely between countries, so it is safest to claim soon after the flight. Of all the travel tips about disruption, writing everything down at the airport is the one that makes the rest possible.
Q: Is a flight into Europe on a non-European airline covered?
A: Not under the EU rules. A flight arriving from outside the European Union is covered only if a European airline operates it. The country you depart from may have its own passenger rules.
Q: Does bad weather count?
A: Severe weather is usually an extraordinary circumstance, so the airline does not owe compensation. It still has to provide meals and, if needed, a hotel while you wait, and travel insurance may cover some of the costs.
Q: Do the amounts depend on the ticket price?
A: No. They depend on the flight distance and how late you arrived at the final destination. A cheap fare and an expensive one on the same route are treated the same way.
Q: Are the rules the same for flights from the United Kingdom?
A: The United Kingdom kept a similar system after leaving the European Union, with amounts of two hundred twenty, three hundred fifty and five hundred twenty pounds by distance. Check the UK Civil Aviation Authority for the current details.
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