Claim service or do it yourself: which to choose

Comparing the three routes to compensation — on your own, through a service, or in court.

There are three ways to get paid, and each has a price — in money or in time.

Option 1. Do it yourself

Cost: free, you keep 100%.
Timeline: one to six months.
Best when: the case is obvious, the delay is documented, the cause is a technical fault, and the carrier is a reputable European one.

Downsides: form-letter refusals are common and hard to challenge without experience. Correspondence may be in a foreign language. If it escalates to court, complexity multiplies.

Option 2. A claim service

Cost: a commission deducted from the recovery, typically a quarter to a third; it can rise if the case goes to court, since that covers legal costs.
Timeline: weeks to a year in litigation.
Best when: the airline has already refused, the stated cause is disputable, the flight is old, or you simply do not want to spend time on correspondence.

Upsides: the “no win, no fee” model means you risk no money. Services hold access to actual flight databases and meteorological records, which lets them rebut weather defences. The legal work and any court stage are on them.

Option 3. Your own lawyer or court

Worth it for a large family claim — four passengers on a long-haul flight is €2,400, and a fixed legal fee may beat a percentage. For a single €250 claim it makes no economic sense.

The practical sequence

Write the claim yourself first — it is free and takes half an hour. If a refusal arrives or a month passes in silence, hand it to a service. That way you keep the chance of the full amount without giving up the ability to see it through.

The one case for going straight to a service is a flight close to the end of its limitation period: speed matters more there than the commission.

The fee is deducted only from the compensation recovered. No payout — no fee.