How to claim flight compensation in the EU

Your flight had a heavy delay of three or more hours? Did you know that you could be entitled to get up to 600€ from the airline?✈️🇪🇺🤑
You have a chance to be qualified if you were travelling to or from an EU airport (+ UK, Iceland, Switzerland & Liechtenstein)!

Two and a half years of long distance (2016-2018) have taught us a lot of lessons, but also put us here and there in unforeseen situations. For us, it was usually a fun factor, because we were able to prolong our farewell for a couple of hours or days – every second counts in a long distance relationship!
As flight delays are a great inconvenience for many other travellers, court rulings in the EU have declared that carriers should pay them out.

Indeed, we were faced multiple times with short-term flight cancellations, major delays or even a total blackout at an airport.
We have gained a lot of knowledge about how to deal with “your opponent” from contact point one: Commercial carriers like the Polish LOT or even the Irish budget airline Ryanair.

If you are actually in the situation that you experienced a major delay, the following steps might be a great help for you. They show how to claim your money without losing a big amount to a service company (passenger rights portal). It is actually not really complicated, you just need a bit of patience.

You also have the chance to first “test” to claim your money through a passenger rights portal without taking their offer. This way you get the approval that you have a great chance to win your case even without the help of professional lawyers.

Four things to be said first:
1. Some airlines will and want to make the way to your compensation as rocky as possible.
2. Not everyone is entitled to claim money.
3. We will help you how to claim 100% of your compensation without “selling the case” to a passenger rights portal (such as flightright.com or euflight.de).
4. Once you have initiated the compensation process directly through the airline, you cannot “sell your case” to a passenger rights portal anymore.

What are your rights?

You don’t need EU citizenship or (temporary, permanent) residence to claim money from airlines – everyone can do it in case of a heavy delay.

The airline has to offer you refreshments, meals, two free phone calls and accommodation (as appropriate) whilst you wait for a rearranged flight. In case of a delay, Ryanair, usually hands out 5€ vouchers at their service counters. This counts already for a delay of 2 hours or more!

If your carrier does not provide assistance, keep your spending low, and collect receipts. So that you can claim reimbursement when you get home. No receipts, no money!

Link: EU Regulation 261/2004.

Who is entitled to receive a compensation?

You are entitled for a compensation under EU Regulation 261/2004 if you have experienced one of the following cases for flights from or to an EU airport (also includes the UK, Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein & Norway):

• at least 3 hour late arrival caused by a flight delay due to a technical failure

No pay out if one of these circumstances is the cause of the inconvenience: crew strike, bad weather condition or any other natural disaster (e.g. earthquake or COVID-19).

Our tip: Take photos that show the weather conditions and a screenshot of the weather at the arrival/departure airport.

How much money will I get from the airline?

The amount of your compensation is fixed by the EU rule. No matter how much you paid for your initial flight tickets (e.g. 30 € roundtrip), your compensation will be at least 250 €/passenger.

Within the EU

250 €/passenger for all intra-EU flights of 1500 km or less & delay at least 3 hours
400 €/passenger for all intra-EU flights of more than 1500 km & delay at least 3 hours

Between EU and non-EU airport

300 €/passenger for all flights of more than 3500 km & delay 3 to 4 hours
400 €/passenger for all flights between 1500 and 3500 km & delay at least 3 hours
600 €/passenger for all flights of more than 3500 km & delay at least 4 hours

How do I claim compensation for a delay?

Whilst airlines like LOT, Lufthansa etc. might compensate you quick and easy – they are usually quite easy to handle as they could lose their good reputation – there are also some others.
Reading this might make it seem as if we are a bit paranoid, but I can guarantee you that we are both just fine. We had quite a lot of experience in dealing with budget airlines and would like to share how we successfully claimed back our money from Ryanair.

Please be aware that this process can take up to 3 months to get the full amount of the compensation (airlines also have rights when it comes to due dates) and that we cannot guarantee that you will be refunded.

At the airport: Ryanair will offer free rescheduling or a full compensation of the flight price via email. Do not accept these offers as you might lose your right to be compensated!
Ask a responsible person at the Ryanair counter about the reason of the delay.

1. Collect.
– Flight tickets of all passengers
– All e-mails that are proof for correspondence regarding the affected flight(s) (e.g. booking confirmation, info about a delay)
– Handouts that you received at the airport
– All receipts for spendings caused by the delay (e.g. food, drinks, accommodation, transportation)
– Weather report of arrival/destination airport (e.g. photos, screenshots)

2. Add the hard facts.
– Use the free websites flightstats.com or flightaware.com to check the exact length of your delay.
– Add information about the distance between the airports using the Great Circle Route Method using the free website Great Circle Mapper.

3. Make your claim.
Use the Ryanair Claim Form on their official website. Add all information that you have. Everything that is missing in the beginning, will be used as a reason to delay the compensation. If you can, always add a detailed written statement.
Here an example text from us:

“Dear Sir or Madam,

I am making a claim for monetary compensation under EU Regulation 261/2004 due to the delay from XXX to XXX on dd/mm/yyyy.

As per the official Ryanair confirmation attached the delay was X h XX mins and the distance using Great Circle Route Method is XXXX km.
My booking reference is: “XXXXXX”.
The passengers in the party: Passanger 1, Passanger 2…
Therefore, I am seeking XXX € for each passenger. The total compensation sought is: XXX €.

You’ll find all details of flight information as well as the bank account information for the compensation transfer attached. You’ll also find the Booking confirmation (attached) and the two flight tickets attached.

Thank you for your assistance with this.
I await your response.“

4. Wait for eight weeks.
Keep the case number that you got from an automated email. Now, the airline has exactly eight weeks to respond to your claim.

Ryanair might accept your claim within the given period of eight weeks. If that happens, you are lucky! If it does not happen, please follow the next steps.

5. Contact Customer Service.
Now, you have to contact the customer service to remind them about the case. The only way of direct, fast contact to Ryanair is the Live Chat on their website. Unfortunately, the waiting time is usually 1-2 hours until you can talk to an agent. When the agent asks how they can help, you should be direct:
“Hi, I am contacting you regarding my claim for compensation under EU regulation 261/2004. I made the claim exactly eight weeks ago (TID XXXXXXX, dd/mm/yyyy) and I am still waiting for the response for the further process. When can I expect a response? I have only made one claim for this case.
Thank you for your assistance with this.
I await your response.”

Depending on the agent, they should set your case on a priority list to get back to you within seven working days. You should confirm the exact date and reassure them that you are determined about this case:
“Thank you. Can you please confirm that I will receive further information within seven working days until dd/mm/yyyy? If this does not happen, I will have to make a complaint to the National Enforcement Body.”

6. Wait for seven working days.
Give them the time that that they said they would take. They will wait until the last day.

7. Receive Feedback.
After seven days, you should (hopefully) receive positive “confidential and private” feedback. In this case Ryanair sends you a statement that confirms the amount of money they will pay. It also includes a link to a website where you have to add your bank details.
Do so and you will receive a notification that you will receive an update about your case within the next seven working days.

8. Wait again for up to seven working days.
As soon as you are in the system, your case should be handled faster. But even here, you might have to be patient again and wait another seven working days.

9. Receive confirmation and compensation.
Last, but not least you will receive an e-mail with a confirmation for the transfer of the compensation. The transfer will take another 10 to 15 working days.

10. In case your claim was denied or classed as “extraordinary circumstances”:
Threatening an airline a bit, might cause them changing their mind.
If your airline turns down your claim under “extraordinary circumstances” you can challenge this if you have proof that it is due to a technical failure. Write back to them explaining why this is not the case.
Please copy and adjust the text below:

“Dear Sir or Madam ,

I am writing regarding flight XXX on dd/mm/yyyy from XXX to XXX with the scheduled departure time of XX:XX am/pm. 

This is my booking reference: XXXXXX.
The flight arrived XX hours and XX minutes late at XXX.

Unfortunately, your airline failed to meet its obligations under EU Regulation 261/2004. They did not provide me with the assistance it should have according rerouting home, meals, accommodation and transportation.

I am therefore asking you to please compensate me for XXXX €.
I enclose receipts. 

The EU rules that state that I should have been assisted by yourselves are in Regulation (EC) 261/2004. In this Article 5 states that in the case of cancellation or delay of more than one day I am entitled to be reimbursed or re-routed under Article 8 and also offered assistance, including accommodation, meals and transport under Article 9. 

Article 9 states: 
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered free of charge: 
(a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time; 
(b) hotel accommodation in cases 
— where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, 
or — where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary; (c) transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other). 
2. In addition, passengers shall be offered free of charge two telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails. 
3. In applying this Article, the operating air carrier shall pay particular attention to the needs of persons with reduced mobility and any persons accompanying them, as well as to the needs of unaccompanied children. 
Under Article 5 part 3, airlines are able to avoid paying compensation in accordance with Article 7 in the case of ‘extraordinary circumstances’, but this extraordinary circumstances clause does not apply to the entitlement to assistance under Article 9.

A 2014 decision ratified by the Supreme Court says that European airlines can no longer claim technical faults as extraordinary circumstances, so must pay out compensation for flight delays of longer than three hours such cases. 

Thanks for your assistance.
I await your response.”

(Source: thisismoney.co.uk)

11. Further denial: Address the National Enforcement Body.
Tell the airline that you will take the matter up with the Civil Aviation Authority if it is not settled properly.

Every Member State of the EU is required to have a body to receive complaints that fall under the Regulation. These bodies deal with complaints about flights from airports within their country and within their jurisdiction. You should therefore address your complaint directly to the relevant National Enforcement Body (NEB) in your country of departure.

Usually, it helps to threaten an airline with this step, but sometimes you actually have to go through this instance.

Let’s get ready to rumble & good luck!