Vueling cancelled or delayed flight: your compensation

EU261 covers every Vueling flight departing from an airport in the EU, Iceland, Norway or Switzerland. Because Vueling is a European airline, it also covers its flights into those countries from anywhere in the world.

• Vueling holds a Spanish operating licence and has been part of International Airlines Group, with Iberia, British Airways and Aer Lingus, since 2013. EU261 covers its flights departing from the EU, Iceland, Norway or Switzerland, and its flights into those countries.
• Vueling flights are also sold by Iberia and British Airways under their own flight numbers; on Iberia, flight numbers from IB5000 to IB5999 are Vueling flights. Whoever sold you the ticket, compensation is owed by the airline that operated the flight: Vueling.
• Vueling's main base is Barcelona–El Prat, and it also has bases at Paris-Orly, Florence and Rome.
• Most Vueling flights stay within Europe, where the compensation is €250 for flights up to 1,500 km and €400 for longer flights within the EU, including routes such as Barcelona to the Canary Islands. €600 applies only to flights over 3,500 km leaving the EU, which Vueling rarely operates.
• Many Vueling flights between Spain and the rest of Europe cross French airspace, so strikes by French air traffic controllers hit them hard: on 3 and 4 July 2025, a French controllers' strike cancelled around 1,400 flights a day across Europe, according to EUROCONTROL. Such a strike is outside the airline's control and usually gives no compensation, but Vueling must still offer you a refund or another flight, and meals and, if needed, a hotel while you wait.
• If you booked a connecting journey, for example through Barcelona, on a single booking and missed a connection, what counts is how late you reached your final destination (Court of Justice of the EU, Folkerts, C-11/11, 2013), and the amount follows the distance from your first departure airport to your final destination (Bossen, C-559/16, 2017).

Compensation is usually not due when:

• the flight arrived less than 3 hours late;
• you were told about the cancellation at least 14 days before departure;
• the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken — for example severe weather, air traffic control restrictions, a security risk, or a strike by staff who do not work for the airline;
• the flight is not covered by EU261 (see above).

A technical fault, or a strike by Vueling's own staff, is generally not an extraordinary circumstance, so compensation is usually still due.

If Vueling rejects your claim or does not reply, you can complain to the national enforcement body of the country your flight departed from.

Every EU country has one, as do Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

Or let us handle it: we take your claim to Vueling, and to the enforcement body or to court if needed.