EU261 compensation table
How much an airline owes you depends on one thing only: the great-circle distance of your flight. Not the ticket price, not the fare class, not how long you actually waited beyond the three-hour threshold. Here is the full table, plus the one rule that halves the top amount.
Updated 23 September 2026 · FlightFund editorial team
- Three bands: €250 up to 1,500 km, €400 from 1,500 to 3,500 km, €600 over 3,500 km.
- The €600 band drops to €300 if you arrive 3–4 hours late — this is the rule people miss.
- UK flights use UK261 with the same bands but fixed in pounds: £220 / £350 / £520.
- Paid per passenger with their own ticket, children included. A family of four on a long-haul flight means €2,400.
EU261 amounts (Article 7)
| Flight distance | Delay of 4+ hours or cancellation | Delay of 3–4 hours |
|---|---|---|
| up to 1,500 km | €250 | €250 |
| 1,500 – 3,500 km | €400 | €400 |
| over 3,500 km | €600 | €300 |
Distance is measured as the great-circle distance between the departure airport and the final destination — not the route actually flown, and not the sum of individual legs on a connecting itinerary.
UK261 amounts
| Flight distance | Delay of 4+ hours or cancellation | Delay of 3–4 hours |
|---|---|---|
| up to 1,500 km | £220 | £220 |
| 1,500 – 3,500 km | £350 | £350 |
| over 3,500 km | £520 | £260 |
After Brexit, flights departing the UK, and flights into the UK on a UK or EU carrier, fall under UK261. The thresholds are identical to EU261; only the currency and the fixed figures differ.
What the bands look like on real routes
Distances below are calculated from airport coordinates, the same way the regulation does it. Useful for checking which side of a band your flight falls on.
| Route | Distance, km | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| London Stansted → Dublin | 471 | €250 |
| Barcelona → Paris CDG | 858 | €250 |
| London Gatwick → Barcelona | 1,109 | €250 |
| Munich → Athens | 1,517 | €400 |
| Vienna → Antalya | 1,701 | €400 |
| Frankfurt → Istanbul | 1,838 | €400 |
| Amsterdam → Lisbon | 1,847 | €400 |
| Warsaw → Barcelona | 1,870 | €400 |
| Frankfurt → Doha | 4,588 | €600 |
| Amsterdam → Dubai | 5,169 | €600 |
| Paris CDG → Dubai | 5,238 | €600 |
| London Heathrow → Dubai | 5,497 | €600 |
| Paris CDG → New York JFK | 5,834 | €600 |
Routes close to a boundary are worth checking precisely: London Gatwick to Barcelona is 1,109 km and pays €250, while Munich to Athens is 1,517 km and pays €400 — a difference of €150 over 400 km.
Rules that change the amount
- The 50% reduction. On flights over 3,500 km the airline may pay €300 instead of €600 if it re-routes you and you arrive less than four hours late. Below 3,500 km the equivalent reduction applies only where the delay is under two or three hours — in practice it almost never bites, because you would not be owed compensation at all.
- Per passenger, not per booking. Every passenger on their own ticket is owed the full amount, children included. The exception is infants travelling free on a lap.
- The fare is irrelevant. A €25 low-cost ticket on a delayed 1,600 km flight pays the same €400 as a full-fare business ticket on the same route.
- Connecting flights count end to end. On a single booking the distance and the delay are both measured from your first departure to your final destination, not leg by leg.
- Compensation is separate from a refund. If the flight was cancelled, you are owed both: the money back or a re-route, and the compensation on top.
When the table does not apply
The amounts above are owed unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances — weather, air traffic control strikes, airspace closures and similar events outside its control. The burden of proof sits with the carrier, and AirHelp data suggests around 52% of refusals do not hold up.
Extraordinary circumstances explained · How to answer an airline refusal
The fee is deducted only from the compensation recovered. No payout — no fee.