Cancelled flight: refund, compensation and your rights

Whatever caused the cancellation, the airline must offer you the choice (Articles 5 and 8): a refund of your ticket within 7 days, for the parts not flown, and for the parts already flown if the trip no longer serves its purpose, with a flight back to your starting point; or another flight to your destination at the earliest opportunity; or another flight at a later date that suits you.

The refund is owed in money, to your original means of payment. A voucher is only an option if you agree to it in writing.

On top of the refund or new flight, compensation is due unless the airline told you of the cancellation in time (Article 5(1)(c)): at least 14 days before departure; or 7 to 14 days before, with a new flight leaving no more than 2 hours earlier and arriving less than 4 hours later than planned; or less than 7 days before, with a new flight leaving no more than 1 hour earlier and arriving less than 2 hours later.

The airline must prove when it told you (Article 5(4)). If you booked through a travel agent and the airline told only the agent, who did not pass it on, the airline still owes the compensation (Court of Justice, Krijgsman, C-302/16, 2017).

The amount depends on the distance, not on the ticket price: €250 up to 1,500 km; €400 for 1,500 to 3,500 km and for every flight over 1,500 km within the EU; €600 for longer flights between the EU and the rest of the world, measured in a straight line between the airports.

If the airline re-routed you and you arrived no more than 2 hours late (flights up to 1,500 km), 3 hours late (up to 3,500 km and longer flights within the EU) or 4 hours late (longer flights), it may halve the amount (Article 7(2)).

While you wait for a replacement flight, whatever caused the cancellation, the airline must offer meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, two phone calls or emails and, if you have to stay overnight, a hotel and transport to it (Article 9). If it does not, pay for what is reasonable, keep the receipts and claim them back: these costs come on top of any compensation.

No compensation is owed if the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken (Article 5(3)): severe weather, air traffic control restrictions or strikes, a security risk. A technical fault or a strike by the airline's own staff is usually not one (Wallentin-Hermann, C-549/07, 2008; Airhelp v SAS, C-28/20, 2021).

Even then, the airline must have done everything it reasonably could to get you to your destination, including on another airline's flight if that was the faster option (Court of Justice, TAP, C-74/19, 2020). Your right to a refund or another flight, and to care while you wait, remains in every case.

If the airline moved your departure forward by more than 1 hour, the Court of Justice treats it as a cancellation, with the same rights to a refund or another flight and, under the same notice rules, compensation (Azurair and Others, C-146/20, 2021). An early departure can cost you as much as a late one: a missed day of work, a lost hotel night or a connection you can no longer reach.

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;

• Delayed flight
• Denied boarding and overbooking
• Strikes
• Refund or compensation
• EU261, the regulation
• Airlines