Missed connection: how compensation is calculated
The single-booking rule, missed transfers and what happens when tickets are bought separately.
Connections are the most common source of disputes, because the passenger’s intuition and the legal position diverge.
The core rule: one booking
Where every leg sits under one reservation, the journey counts as a single carriage. That means:
- The delay is measured at the final destination, not at the transfer airport
- Distance for the amount is taken across the whole route
- The airline responsible is the one that operated the leg which caused the miss
Example: Berlin–Istanbul runs 90 minutes late, you miss the connection and reach Delhi nine hours behind schedule. Compensation is not based on the 90-minute first leg but on the nine-hour final delay — and on the full route distance, so €600. This is the Folkerts ruling (C-11/11).
Separate tickets: the rule does not apply
If you assembled the trip from separate bookings — a low-cost hop to Barcelona and another ticket onwards — those are two independent carriages. A two-hour delay on the first gives no entitlement, even if it cost you the second ticket entirely. Formally the airline met its obligation on its own leg.
That is the hidden cost of self-connecting on cheap fares: the saving on the ticket is paid for with the loss of protection when things go wrong.
Connections outside the EU
The regulation looks at where the journey started. A single-booking journey beginning at an EU airport is covered end to end — including legs flown by non-European carriers outside the Union. The reverse, starting in Dubai with a Frankfurt connection, is not covered unless the carrier is EU-registered.
What is owed besides money
On a missed connection caused by the airline, the carrier must rebook you at the earliest opportunity and provide meals — plus a hotel and transfers if an overnight stay is needed. These duties apply regardless of whether cash compensation is due: the right to care survives even extraordinary circumstances.
The fee is deducted only from the compensation recovered. No payout — no fee.