Your flight
What happened
What you are owed
Your claim letter
Fill these in and the letter below writes itself. Send it to the airline yourself and keep all of the money. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
Worth knowing
- Compensation is separate from a refund. A cancelled flight can owe you both.
- Distance is measured in a straight line from where you started to your final destination, not along the route flown.
- The airline has to prove an extraordinary circumstance. If it will not name a cause, it cannot rely on one.
- Claims companies take a third or more for sending the letter above. You do not need them.
- This tells you what the rules say. It is not legal advice, and a difficult claim is worth taking to a solicitor.
Airport coordinates from the OurAirports public domain dataset. Distances are great circle and rounded to the nearest kilometre.
How the money is worked out
Compensation depends on the distance you were flying, not on what you paid. A 40 euro fare and a 400 euro fare on the same route are owed exactly the same.
| Distance | EU | UK |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | 250 euro | 220 pounds |
| 1,500 to 3,500 km | 400 euro | 350 pounds |
| Over 3,500 km | 600 euro | 520 pounds |
Distance is measured in a straight line from where you started to your final destination, not along the route flown. There is one trap: a flight over 1,500 km that stays inside the EU pays the middle rate however long it is.
What usually decides it
Three things, in this order.
Whether the flight is covered. Anything leaving an EU or UK airport is covered whoever operates it. Coming the other way, only flights on an EU or UK airline count.
How late you actually arrived. Three hours at your final destination is the line, and it comes from Sturgeon v Condor, not from the text of the regulation. Airlines still occasionally pretend otherwise.
What the airline blamed. This is where claims are won and lost. A technical fault is the airline’s problem and always has been. So is a strike by its own crew. Weather and air traffic control are not.
Why we give the letter away
Claims companies take a third or more of your money for sending the letter this page writes for you. There is nothing in it that needs a lawyer or an agent, and the airline is required to deal with you directly.
Fill in your details, copy the letter, send it. If the airline refuses without giving reasons in writing, that refusal is itself useful to the regulator.
Your details stay on your device
The checker runs entirely in your browser. Your name, flight number and booking reference go into the letter on this page and are never sent to us, because there is nowhere for them to be sent. Close the tab and they are gone.