KLM cancels flights this winter: your rights

On 8 October 2026 KLM confirmed that it will cancel a number of flights between 26 October 2026 and early March 2027, the winter schedule. The reason it gives is maintenance: repairs are taking longer than planned and some parts are hard to obtain, so fewer aircraft are available. KLM has not said how many flights are affected or which routes. If your flight is cancelled, KLM must tell you and let you choose between a refund and another flight (below).

Under EU rules, a cancellation carries no compensation if the airline told you:

• at least 14 days before departure;
• between 7 and 14 days before, and offered another flight leaving no more than 2 hours earlier and arriving less than 4 hours later than planned;
• less than 7 days before, and offered another flight leaving no more than 1 hour earlier and arriving less than 2 hours later.

Outside these cases, compensation is owed unless the cause was extraordinary, which a maintenance problem is not (next section). Many of this winter's cancellations will have been announced weeks ahead; the later you were told, the stronger your claim.

A technical problem that arises in the normal running and maintenance of aircraft is not an extraordinary circumstance, the Court of Justice of the European Union has held (Wallentin-Hermann, C-549/07, 2008). In our view, a shortage of aircraft because maintenance takes longer is the same kind of problem, so it does not allow KLM to refuse compensation where the notice rules above leave it owed. The same applies to a flight that arrives 3 hours or more late because of a technical fault.

Whatever the notice, KLM must let you choose between a full refund of your ticket within 7 days and another flight to your destination, at the earliest opportunity or on a later date that suits you. If you wait for the earliest replacement flight, KLM owes you meals and refreshments and, if you have to stay overnight, a hotel and transport to it. A voucher replaces your money only if you agree to it in writing.

Where compensation is owed, it is per passenger and depends on the flight distance:

• €250 up to 1,500 km, such as Amsterdam to Barcelona (about 1,240 km);
• €400 from 1,500 to 3,500 km, such as Amsterdam to Athens (about 2,180 km);
• €600 over 3,500 km, such as Amsterdam to New York JFK (about 5,850 km).

On flights over 3,500 km, the amount can be halved to €300 if the replacement flight gets you to your destination no more than 4 hours late.

KLM is a European airline, so EU rules also cover its flights into Amsterdam from outside the EU, such as from New York or Paramaribo (about 7,520 km, €600). That is not the case for flights into the EU operated by a non-European partner, such as Delta, even on a KLM ticket.

Check your booking in the KLM app or under My Trip on the KLM website, and keep the email or message telling you about the cancellation: its date decides compensation. Choose between the refund and another flight, keep your receipts for meals and the hotel, and check your flight with us: it takes two minutes and costs nothing unless we win.

• KLM
• KLM strike
• Cancelled flight

The texts this page is based on:

• Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 · EUR-Lex
• Judgment in Wallentin-Hermann, C-549/07 (2008), Court of Justice of the European Union · CURIA
• Judgment in Bossen, C-559/16 (2017), Court of Justice of the European Union · CURIA