Your rights when flying to Europe

Yair Halberstadt
Tue, 05 May 2026 19:17:21 GMT

Europe (and the UK) have strong protections for flyers in the case of delayed or cancelled flights. However very few people are aware of these, and airlines will almost always try to wriggle out of paying up.

Even travel agents are often unaware of these laws, or unwilling to fight the airline for you.

Given the rollercoaster that flying to/from Israel has been in the last 3 years, I've had my share of experience forcing airlines to pay up what they owe, so I thought it might be valuable turning that into a post.

These regulations are enshrined in EU 261. You can see the full text here, and equally importantly the interpretive guidelines here that cover many edge cases.

TLDR

When flying into or out of the EU or UK, consider booking a flight with an EU or UK based airline.

Don't book a car/hotel with the airline, as that turns it into a package deal which has weaker rights.

Preserve records of all interactions with the airline. Prefer text based chat to phone as this is easier to records. If you do phone, and get a negative answer, follow up with a text based chat to preserve a record.

Airlines are required to find you an alternative flight Under Comparable Conditions if they cancel your flight. If they don't, you can book one yourself and claim a refund.

If you book an alternative flight, keep all receipts and boarding passes to prove you actually took the flight.

Then ask the airline for a refund, quoting EU 261.

If they refuse, or offer a partial refund, go to arbitration. You will win.

Airlines are required to pay you compensation if they cancel or delay your flight at short notice (2 weeks) without sufficient justification. If they refuse to pay up, go to arbitration.

Which flights do these laws apply to?

Any flights departing an EU, EEA, or UK airport, regardless of airline.

Flights with an EU, EEA, or UK based airline arriving into an EU, EEA, or UK airport.

So they apply to a Delta flight from Paris to New York, and to a Lufthansa flight from Dubai to London, but not a Delta flight from New York to Paris.

What are my rights?

You actually have quite a lot - go read EU 261 if you're interested. However I will focus on three main rights, because these are the most important ones:

1. Right to compensation, in case of delay, cancellation, or denied boarding. The exact details are finicky, so if that happens to you, go read the relevant laws and see if they apply (or just ask your favourite LLM). But in many cases, you may be owed between 250 - 600 Euro per passenger, depending on the length of the flight.

2. In case of cancellation, alternative rerouting to the final destination under comparable conditions. Comparable conditions means the same class, and similar length flights/number of stops. If you booked a non-stop flight, they can't force you to accept one with a layover.

3. Right of care, including meals, accommodation, and transport, when the cancellation/delay is significant enough to warrant it.

In my experience airlines are fairly good about the right of care, so/so about compensation, and absolutely atrocious on rerouting.

How will airlines try to screw you over?

When airlines cancel a flight, they will offer you a refund, or to book an alternative flight with them or their partners. If they cancelled all flights to your destination, and only other carriers still fly, then they will simply shrug and offer you a refund.

If you mention EU-261, they will likely claim that it doesn't apply because they informed you about the cancellation more than 2 weeks ahead. This is an attempt to muddy the waters because that only applies to compensation, and you're requesting rerouting.

If you push they may say that you can book flights yourself, but only up to a maximum of X dollars per person. This is nonsense, there is no such provision in the law (with the exception where the flights are so expensive they threaten the operation of the airline, this is rarely applicable to large airlines).

If you booked via an online travel agent, they may tell you to talk to the travel agent. This is nonsense, the responsibility lies solely on them.

When claiming expenses from the airline, they will likely stonewall you, or deny your request.

When you get to arbitration they may make up spurious reasons it doesn't apply, or attempt to demand lots of proof from you, in the hope you give up the process.

Your playbook for flight cancellation

As soon as the airline cancels your flight, check if they offer you alternative flights in a reasonable timeframe (I don't know the exact limit, but not more than a few days). If so book them.

If they don't, talk to customer support, and ask them to book you an alternative flight. If you are worried that all alternative flights will disappear consider booking alternative flights immediately if your local law allows you to cancel them shortly after booking (Israel gives 48 hours). I have successfully received compensation for flights booked before the airline had yet refused my request.

Whenever you talk to customer support maintain records. The best way to do that is by talking via their chat based interface. If that doesn't take you to a human, repeatedly ask for "speak to agent" until it does. You can usually download the final transcript, but if not you can try saving as PDF, scraping the HTML, or ask an LLM for some script to extract the text via the browser console.

Ask for the customer agent to offer you rerouting in accordance to EU 261, and firmly but politely turn down any offers for refunds, flights under worse conditions, offers of flights in 3 months time, etc. Eventually say that as they refuse to abide by EU 261, you will book flights yourself.

Look for fairly priced flights under the same conditions, from/to the same source and destination. Don't try and be clever here and buy perks you didn't have on the original ticket. You don't necessarily need to find the cheapest possible tickets if they are at an inconvenient time, but the law isn't clear on this so do so at your own risk. Look for flights as close to the time of your original flight as possible, but if none are available then, you can go further out.

Keep your receipts.

Keep your boarding passes after the flights (for all passengers).

Once the flight has completed, ask the airline to pay for your alternative flights, using their claims portal. If they refuse, offer you partial payment, or do not reply within about 2 months, go to arbitration.

Most European airlines are a member of an arbitration scheme. For example British Airways is a member of https://www.aviationadr.org.uk/. Delta is apparently also a member when flying from the UK (but not Europe). This is a good reason to prefer European airlines even when flying from Europe, so consider checking before you fly. I don't have any experience dealing with an airline that wasn't part of an arbitration scheme.

The arbitration schemes are all rather similar (awful websites, slow to respond, get you your money eventually), so ask an LLM which one to use for your airline, open a case, do whatever they tell you too, and eventually get your money back.

Your playbook for compensation

If your looking for compensation for a flight cancelled or delayed at short notice, you can skip straight to filing a claim, and going to arbitration. Check first to see whether the law actually applies (you can ask an LLM to help).

Do Nots

Do not book a package holiday, as your rights are far weaker (including no right to re-routing)

A package holiday is defined as a combination of at least two different types of travel services (such as transport, accommodation, or car rental) for the same trip, so don't even book a car or hotel with an airline, book them separately instead.

Do not lose your evidence

Make sure you have all communications with the airline in writing, keep receipts, boarding passes, etc.

Do not give in to the airline

They will likely try to confuse you or offer you worse offers. Know your rights, and stick to them.

What about...?

If you're unsure whether or how the law applies to your case, read the interpretive guidelines. They are pretty readable and well written.

Discuss