Flight delay compensation calculator

Everything the calculator uses, written out: the amounts, the rules, the excuses that work and the ones that do not, where to claim for each airline, and who helps in each country if the airline says no.

• How much
• When you are owed
• Excuses
• How to claim
• Airlines
• If the airline says no
• Time limits
• Switzerland
• UK
• New rules 2027

How much compensation for a delayed or cancelled flight?

Under the EU rules, Regulation 261/2004, the airline pays a fixed amount to each passenger when you reach your final destination 3 hours or more late, when it cancels at short notice, or when it refuses you boarding against your will. The amount depends only on the distance in a straight line from your first airport to your last one. What you paid for the ticket does not matter, and a ticket bought with miles counts too.

Every passenger with a paid ticket gets the full amount, children included. Babies who fly free on a lap do not. On a long flight over 3,500 km that arrives between 3 and 4 hours late, the airline may pay half. You can ask for the amount in your own currency (EU court, C-356/19 Delfly); the rules do not fix the exchange rate. At the European Central Bank rate of 12 October 2026, €250 is about CHF 233 or £211, €400 about CHF 372 or £338, and €600 about CHF 559 or £507.

When the airline has to pay

Which flights are covered

• Every flight that leaves from the EU, Norway, Iceland or Switzerland, on any airline.
• Flights from outside into the EU, Norway, Iceland or Switzerland, when the airline is based there. A flight from New York to Zurich on SWISS is covered; the same flight on a US airline is not.
• You need a confirmed booking and must check in on time: at the time the airline set, or 45 minutes before departure if it set none.
• You claim from the airline that flew the plane, even if you booked the ticket with another airline or a travel agent.

Delays

• 3 hours or more late at your final destination gives the same money as a cancellation (EU court, Sturgeon, C-402/07, and Nelson, C-581/10).
• Arrival is the moment the first door opens and you may get off, not when the wheels touch down (C-452/13 Germanwings). A few minutes can decide it, so note the time.
• From 5 hours late at departure you can also give up the trip and get your money back within 7 days.

Cancellations

• You get compensation unless the airline told you 14 days or more before departure, or offered you another flight close to your times: told 7 to 13 days before, a flight leaving at most 2 hours earlier and arriving less than 4 hours later; told less than 7 days before, at most 1 hour earlier and less than 2 hours later.
• The airline has to prove when it told you.
• A flight moved more than one hour earlier counts as cancelled (C-146/20 and others).
• You always choose: a full refund within 7 days, or another flight to your destination.

Denied boarding

• If you had a confirmed booking, were at check-in and the gate on time and were refused boarding against your will, usually because of overbooking, the airline pays at once, and gives you a refund or another flight.
• Not if you gave up your seat for a deal you agreed, or if the reason was health, safety, security or missing travel documents.

Missed connections

• On one booking, only the delay at your final destination counts, wherever it started (C-11/11 Folkerts), even when the late flight was outside Europe (C-537/17 Wegener).
• If you missed the next flight because of long queues at security or because you came to the gate late, the airline does not owe compensation.
• Separate tickets are judged flight by flight: missing the next one is your risk.

Food, drinks and a hotel

While you wait, the airline must give you food and drinks, two calls or emails, and a hotel with transport if you need to stay overnight. It starts at a delay of 2 hours on flights up to 1,500 km, 3 hours up to 3,500 km and 4 hours on longer flights. This applies even when the cause is extraordinary, like the volcanic ash of 2010 (C-12/11 McDonagh). If the airline gave you nothing, buy what is reasonable, keep the receipts and claim the money back.

Money, not vouchers

Compensation and refunds are paid in money: by bank transfer, in cash or by cheque. Vouchers only if you agree in writing. If the airline offers a voucher, you can say no.

Extraordinary circumstances: which excuses work

The airline does not have to pay if the cause was an extraordinary circumstance: something outside its normal business and its control, which it could not have avoided even with all reasonable measures (C-549/07 Wallentin-Hermann). The airline has to prove it. Food, drinks and a hotel are still due. This is how the most common reasons are treated:

Sources: the European Commission’s interpretative guidelines of 2024 and its summary of EU court rulings. On the NATS air traffic control failure of 8 September 2026 the UK Civil Aviation Authority said the failure was likely extraordinary, while food, drinks and hotels were still due.

How to claim, step by step, for free

1. Check your case with the calculator above. Note the flight number, the booking reference and the times.
2. Keep proof: booking confirmation, boarding pass, the airline’s messages, a photo of the departure board, receipts.
3. Write to the airline that flew the plane, through its claim form (list below) or by email. Paste the letter from the calculator and ask for money, not vouchers.
4. Wait for the answer. Most airlines answer within 6 to 8 weeks. Put a reminder in your calendar.
5. If the answer is no, or there is none, go to the free dispute body or the national enforcement body of the country the flight left from (table below). For a cross-border case, the European Consumer Centre in your country helps for free.
6. Last step, the court. Small claims are cheap and need no lawyer. Mind the time limits.

Where to claim, airline by airline

Links to the claim forms of 48 airlines, checked on 12 October 2026. Claim from the airline that operated the flight: it says “operated by” on your booking.

If the airline says no: free help in each country

Go to the bodies of the country the flight left from. For a flight into Europe from outside, use those of the country where you landed. Dispute bodies can propose or decide a payment; most national enforcement bodies only fine airlines and do not decide single claims.

The European Consumer Centres (one in each EU country, Iceland and Norway) help with cases against an airline from another country, for free. In the UK the International Consumer Centre does the same. Switzerland is not part of the network.

Going to court

• European Small Claims Procedure: for a claim against an airline in another EU country, up to €5,000. One standard form, no lawyer needed, and the judgment can be enforced across the EU. e-justice.europa.eu
• Where: the courts at the airport you left from or landed at can decide your case.
• Germany: a federal online court service for flight claims, with your eID: service.justiz.de/fluggastrechte. The court costs you pay in advance are refunded if you win.
• England and Wales: money claim online, court fee £35 up to £300, £50 up to £500 and £70 up to £1,000 (gov.uk, fees as of October 2026).
• Switzerland: a conciliation request first. Up to CHF 2,000 the conciliation authority can decide the case itself if you ask for it, and every single claim fits under that.

How long you have to claim

The EU rules set no deadline of their own, so each country’s law decides how long you can go to court (C-139/11 Cuadrench More). The two-year limit of the Montreal Convention does not apply. Where our sources disagree, the calculator uses the shorter period. Claim early anyway: the evidence is fresher and the money arrives sooner.

Some bodies have their own deadlines: the Swiss BAZL normally takes no cases older than one year, the Spanish AESA wants your case within one year of your claim to the airline, the Polish Ombudsman within one year of the flight, and the Italian ConciliaWeb within one year of your complaint.

Switzerland: what is different

Switzerland applies the EU rules through its air transport agreement with the EU. Flights from Zurich, Geneva, Bern or Lugano are covered on any airline, and flights into Switzerland when the airline is Swiss or from the EU. Cancellations and overbooking are paid like in the EU.

Delays are the open question. The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (BAZL) says the regulation does not provide compensation for delays: the EU court’s Sturgeon ruling of 2009 came after the agreement, and Swiss courts are not bound by it. The district court at Zurich airport refused delay compensation in 2016, and Swiss consumer groups still called it unlikely in 2026. Two ways round it: if the delayed flight landed in or left from an EU country, claim there, where courts apply the 3-hour rule. And flights from EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg leave from French soil.

BAZL takes complaints for free through its online form, after you have written to the airline and waited six weeks, but it cannot order the airline to pay you. For the money, go to the civil court: a conciliation request first, which costs from about CHF 65 to 100. Up to CHF 2,000 the conciliation authority can decide the case itself if you ask for it.

The UK rules after Brexit

Since 2021 the UK has its own copy of the rules, often called UK261, with fixed amounts of £220, £350 and £520. It covers flights leaving the UK on any airline, flights into the UK on UK or EU airlines, and flights into the EU on UK airlines. A flight from the EU to the UK on a UK or EU airline is covered by both sets of rules, but you are paid once.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland you have 6 years to go to court, in Scotland 5. If the airline says no, or has not answered after 8 weeks, go to its dispute body: free, and binding on the airline if you accept the decision. British Airways, BA CityFlyer, Cathay Pacific and SAS use CEDR; easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Virgin Atlantic, TUI Airways, Air France, KLM, TAP, Turkish Airlines and others use AviationADR (Civil Aviation Authority list, October 2026). CEDR takes any flight of its member airlines to or from the UK, so a British Airways flight from Zurich to London can go there too. Airlines that belong to neither are handled by the Civil Aviation Authority’s complaints team.

The new EU rules from 23 October 2027

The EU has changed the rules. Regulation (EU) 2026/2202 was published on 2 October 2026, enters into force on 22 October 2026 and applies from 23 October 2027. Until then the current rules apply, and the calculator switches to the new ones for flights from that date.

• What stays: money from 3 hours late at the final destination, and €250, €400 and €600.
• A deadline: you must claim from the airline within 9 months of the flight.
• Faster answers: the airline must confirm your claim straight away and pay or explain within 30 days, naming any extraordinary circumstance. Within 96 hours after your trip it must tell you how to claim.
• Bank transfer unless you agree to something else. Vouchers only with your clear agreement.
• A list of excuses: extraordinary circumstances are defined for the first time, with a list in an annex that is not complete. The airline still has to prove the link to your flight.
• Cuts: on long flights, the €600 band, the airline may pay half if you arrive at most 4 hours late. A new flight that leaves much earlier can mean a cut of 50 or 25 %.
• Missed connections: the airline of the first flight must rebook you and look after you.
• No new flight within 3 hours? You may book your own and get back up to 400 % of the ticket price.

Nothing is decided yet on when Switzerland, Norway and Iceland will take over the new rules. They keep the current rules until their agreements with the EU change.

Claims companies or do it yourself?

Claims companies chase the airline for you and keep part of the money. AirHelp keeps 35 % including VAT, plus 15 % if it goes to court, so 50 % in all (price list of August 2026). Skycop keeps 44 to 50 %, Compensair 35 % plus 10 % for court. On €600 that is €210 to €300. Some people find that worth it. But every step they take is open to you for free: the letter above, the airline’s form, the dispute bodies and the small claims courts.

Quick answers

Do I get money for a 2-hour delay?

No. Compensation starts at 3 hours late at the final destination. After 2 hours on a short flight you get food and drinks.

Does the ticket price matter?

No. A €30 ticket gets the same €250, €400 or €600 as a business class seat on the same route.

The airline offered me a voucher. Must I take it?

No. You can ask for money. Vouchers only if you agree in writing.

Do I claim from the travel agent or the airline?

From the airline that flew the plane, the one shown as “operated by”.

My flight was years ago. Can I still claim?

Often yes. It depends on the country: from 1 year in Belgium, Bulgaria, Latvia and Poland to 10 years in Luxembourg and Sweden. See the time limits above.

Is my data stored?

No. The calculator works in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us or anyone else. Saved claims stay in your browser, without names or bank details.

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Sources

• Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and Regulation (EU) 2026/2202, EUR-Lex
• Interpretative guidelines of the European Commission, 2024 and its summary of EU court rulings
• Your Europe: air passenger rights and the Commission’s list of national enforcement bodies (27 August 2026)
• UK261 on legislation.gov.uk and the Civil Aviation Authority
• BAZL questions and answers on passenger rights in Switzerland
• The airlines’ own claim pages, the dispute bodies and courts linked above, and the European Central Bank rates of 12 October 2026
• Airports: OurAirports (public domain) and city names from OpenFlights under the Open Database License; our airport list is available under the same licence

General information about passenger rights, not legal advice. We are not a law firm and do not handle claims. Rules, bodies and airline links checked on 12 October 2026.

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