EU Regulation 261/2004

Flight cancelled? You have more rights than you think.

If your flight was cancelled less than 14 days before departure, you are often owed €250 to €600 in compensation on top of a replacement flight or refund. We arrange both.

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€250

Flights up to 1,500 km

e.g. Amsterdam → London

€400

1,500 – 3,500 km

e.g. Brussels → Malaga

€600

Over 3,500 km

e.g. Amsterdam → New York

Per person, for 3+ hours delay at your final destination, cancellation less than 14 days ahead, or denied boarding. Claimable up to 6 years back.

When do you get compensation for a cancellation?

Less than 14 days' notice
Told earlier? Then the compensation lapses, but your right to a refund or rebooking remains.
Alternative arrived much later
Even with a rebooking your right stands if the alternative fell outside the legal time windows.
EU departure or EU airline
Departing from an EU airport, or flying into the EU with a European carrier.
No extraordinary circumstances
A strike by the airline's own staff or a technical fault is, according to the courts, not force majeure.

Which flights are cancelled today?

Our live board shows, per airport, which flights are genuinely cancelled today, straight from live flight data. Is your flight on it? Then you'll know what your claim is worth within two minutes.

View the live board

Your three rights when a flight is cancelled

For any cancellation the airline must offer you the choice: your money back within 7 days, or rebooking to your destination. On top of that you are entitled to care at the airport: food, drinks and a hotel if needed.

If the flight was cancelled within 14 days of departure, the fixed compensation comes on top: €250 to €600 depending on distance. Only if the airline rebooked you within the legal time windows, or in cases of genuine force majeure, does that right lapse.

The time windows, precisely explained

If the airline cancels between 14 and 7 days before departure, it only escapes compensation if your alternative left at most 2 hours earlier and arrived less than 4 hours later. Within 7 days of departure the margins tighten: at most 1 hour earlier out and less than 2 hours later in.

If your rebooking fell outside those margins, you are owed the full compensation amount on top of the replacement ticket. Airlines rarely mention this themselves.

Offered a voucher? You can insist on cash

A voucher is only allowed with your explicit consent. If you did not deliberately choose one, your right to a cash refund remains, plus the compensation on top.

We check your flight, calculate what you are owed and put the airline on notice. Weather excuses go next to the METAR data for that day; if the excuse does not hold, we push on, to court if necessary.

Refund or compensation? Often both

The biggest misconception after a cancellation: that you have to choose between your ticket money and compensation. You don't. A refund of your ticket (Article 8 of the regulation) is a basic right the airline must offer with every cancellation. The €250 to €600 compensation (Article 5 in conjunction with Article 7) is a separate, fixed payment for the inconvenience — completely independent of the refund.

A worked example: your €180 Amsterdam–Barcelona flight is cancelled three days before departure and you decide not to travel. The airline must refund the full €180 within 7 days, and you are also entitled to €250 compensation (distance up to 1,500 km). Total: €430, almost two and a half times your ticket price. If you opt for re-routing instead, that €250 still stands.

What exactly are you entitled to? The complete overview

With every cancellation, whatever the reason, you are entitled to two things: the choice between a refund within 7 days or re-routing to your final destination, plus care while you wait. That care is concrete: meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time, two free phone calls or emails, and if you cannot depart until the next day, a hotel night including transport to it. These rights remain fully intact even in cases of genuine extraordinary circumstances.

Compensation comes on top if the airline informed you less than 14 days before departure and cannot rely on extraordinary circumstances: €250 for flights up to 1,500 km, €400 from 1,500 to 3,500 km (and for all intra-EU flights over 1,500 km), €600 beyond that. One nuance: if the airline offered re-routing that got you there only slightly later — less than 2, 3 or 4 hours, depending on the distance — it may halve the amount. We calculate exactly which amount applies to your flight.

Rebooking or a refund: how to choose

The choice is yours, not the airline's. Still want to reach your destination? Choose re-routing: at the earliest opportunity, or at a later date that suits you. If the airline has no seats of its own, it must also look at flights operated by other carriers. If the trip has lost its purpose, say your conference or cruise is already over, choose the refund: the full ticket price, including parts already flown that became pointless because of the cancellation, plus a return flight to your point of departure where needed.

The refund is bound to a hard legal deadline: 7 days (Article 8). If the money takes longer, send a written demand with a short deadline — and don't be fobbed off with a voucher, which is only allowed with your consent. If the airline fails to rebook you even though you asked for it, you may buy a replacement ticket yourself and recover the cost from the airline. Whatever happens, keep every receipt and every message.

Cancelled 'because of the weather'? We check that against real weather data

"Bad weather" is the most popular excuse for cancellations — and the least scrutinised. But weather is not a matter of opinion: every airport records it officially, several times an hour, in METAR reports. Visibility, wind, snow, thunderstorms: it is all on record, in black and white. And the excuse only counts if the weather made your specific flight impossible; if other aircraft departed at that same moment without trouble, the story falls apart. The burden of proof lies with the airline, not with you.

That is why TomoClaim automatically tests every weather excuse against the METAR records of the departure and arrival airports around your flight time. Your result shows those records themselves: what the weather was really doing when your flight was cancelled. If the excuse doesn't hold up — and that happens more often than you'd think — we simply press on with the claim.

Cancelled because of a strike?

If the airline's own staff went on strike — pilots, cabin crew or its own ground staff — the Court of Justice has ruled that this is not an extraordinary circumstance, so your compensation is usually still claimable. Only external strikes, such as by air traffic controllers or airport security staff, can count as force majeure for the airline. How to tell the difference and what the courts ruled exactly: read our article on strikes.

Frequently asked questions

The airline offered me a voucher. Do I have to accept it?

No. A voucher requires your explicit consent. You always have the right to choose a cash refund, within 7 days.

What if I only heard at the airport that my flight was off?

Then the cancellation counts as not announced in time and your compensation claim is at its strongest. Keep your boarding pass and every message from the airline; we do the rest.

Does a strike count as an extraordinary circumstance?

Usually not. The Court of Justice ruled that a strike by the airline's own staff is not force majeure. Only external causes, such as closed airspace, can be.

I was rebooked and arrived 5 hours late. Claimable?

Almost certainly. If you arrived well outside the legal time windows, the full compensation amount stands, even though you accepted the rebooking.

Am I entitled to compensation if my flight is cancelled?

Yes, if the airline informed you less than 14 days before departure and there were no extraordinary circumstances. The compensation is a fixed amount per person: €250 for flights up to 1,500 km, €400 from 1,500 to 3,500 km and €600 for longer flights outside the EU. This is separate from your right to a refund or re-routing.

Do I get my money back and compensation?

Often, yes. A ticket refund (Article 8) and the fixed compensation (Articles 5 and 7) are two separate rights under the same regulation. If your flight was cancelled less than 14 days before departure and you choose a refund, the €250 to €600 compensation comes on top — unless the airline can prove genuine extraordinary circumstances.

What does TomoClaim cost?

30% of the compensation, including VAT, on a no-win, no-fee basis. No file fees per person and no extra surcharge — not even if we take your claim to court. If we recover nothing, you pay nothing.

Within what time limit must the airline refund me?

Within 7 days; Article 8 of Regulation 261/2004 says so in as many words. The refund must be paid in money — a voucher is only allowed with your explicit consent. If it takes longer, send a written demand, or let us put the airline on notice.