How to claim flight compensation yourself, for free
Updated
General information, not legal advice. The outcome depends on the facts of your case.
Your flight was late, cancelled or overbooked, and you have not claimed yet. Good news: you do not need anyone to do it for you. A first claim to the airline costs nothing, takes about ten minutes, and the money is paid straight to you. Claim companies typically keep 25 to 35 % of it. This guide shows how to do it yourself.
Do you qualify?
Under EU Regulation 261/2004 you can claim fixed compensation when one of these happened:
- Delay: you reached your final destination 3 hours or more late. What counts is the arrival time when the doors opened, not the departure (Sturgeon C-402/07; Germanwings C-452/13).
- Cancellation: the airline told you less than 14 days before departure. If it told you 7 to 13 days before, or later, and offered a new flight close to your original times, it may not have to pay.
- Denied boarding: you were refused a seat against your will, usually because the flight was overbooked, even though you checked in on time with valid documents.
The flight must be covered:
- Every flight leaving the EU, Norway, Iceland or Switzerland, whatever the airline.
- Flights into the EU or those countries on an EU or EEA airline, such as SAS, Finnair or Norwegian flying home from Bangkok.
Missed a connection? If both flights were on one booking, the delay at your final destination is what counts. See missed connection.
The airline does not have to pay if the cause was an extraordinary circumstance, such as weather that made flying unsafe or an air traffic control restriction, and it took all reasonable measures. It has to prove that. Ordinary technical faults and the airline's own staff problems usually do not count. More in extraordinary circumstances. Claim anyway: you do not have to know the cause.
How much?
The amount is per passenger and depends on the distance from your first departure airport to your final destination, measured in a straight line. Stops along the way do not add distance.
- €250: up to 1,500 km (for example Copenhagen to Stockholm).
- €400: 1,500 to 3,500 km (Oslo to Rome), and all longer flights inside the EU (Helsinki to Gran Canaria).
- €600: over 3,500 km (Stockholm to New York).
The 50 % rule. The airline may halve the amount if it rerouted you and you arrived no more than 2 hours late (up to 1,500 km), 3 hours late (1,500 to 3,500 km) or 4 hours late (longer flights) (Article 7(2)). On a flight over 3,500 km that arrived 3 to 4 hours late, that means €300.
The ticket price does not matter. A €29 ticket gives the same compensation as a business class seat. Use our compensation calculator to check the distance band.
Meals, hotel and transport you paid during the wait are a separate claim. Add them with receipts; they are not deducted from the compensation.
Which airline to claim from
Claim from the operating carrier: the airline that actually flew the plane (Article 3(5)). It is named on your boarding pass, often as "operated by".
- Codeshare: you booked with one airline, but another flew you. Claim from the one that flew.
- Package holiday or charter: claim the compensation from the airline, not the tour operator, even if you never booked with the airline directly. See charter flights.
- Booked through a travel website: still claim from the airline. You do not need the website.
The airlines' official claim forms
Use the airline's own form. It is free, and the airline cannot complain that it never received your claim. We opened each link on 15 October 2026.
- SAS: claim form
- Norwegian: claims page, choose "Delay or cancellation"
- Finnair: feedback and compensation
- Widerøe: claim form
- Ryanair: EU261 form (you log in to myRyanair first)
- Lufthansa: compensation form
- KLM: make a request
- easyJet: EU261 claim form
- Wizz Air: compliments and complaints
- airBaltic: submit a claim
- Eurowings: compensation form
- Sunclass: forms for Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland
- TUI fly Nordic: forms for Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland
- Air France: claim form
- British Airways: claim form
- Turkish Airlines: feedback form
- Vueling: compensation
- Brussels Airlines: delays and cancellation form
Airline not on the list, or the form does not fit your case? Write to the airline's customer service by email. An email is a written claim too.
A claim you can copy
Paste this into the form's free-text field or an email, and fill in the brackets. Keep only the article that fits: Article 4 for denied boarding, Article 5 for a cancellation, Article 6 for a delay.
Subject: Compensation claim, booking [ABC123], flight [XX1234] on [date]
Booking reference [ABC123]. Passengers: [full names].
Flight [XX1234] from [departure airport] to [final destination] on [date].
What happened: [the flight reached my final destination 4 hours 10 minutes late / was cancelled on the day of departure / I was denied boarding].
I claim [€400] per passenger, [€800] in total, under Article 7 and Article [4 / 5 / 6] of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004.
I will send my bank details when you confirm the claim.
Please reply within 14 days. [Name, address, phone]
If the airline offers a voucher instead of money, you can say no. See voucher instead of compensation.
What to keep
- your booking confirmation and boarding passes (screenshots are fine)
- every message from the airline about the delay or cancellation, with the date
- receipts for meals, hotel, taxi or new tickets
- photos of the departure board or arrival screen showing the times
- a note of the time the doors opened at your destination
- a copy of your claim with the date you sent it, and any case number
Deadlines
Claim as soon as you can. Within two months is safe everywhere. After that, the limits differ. Denmark and Norway allow 3 years from the flight. In Finland the complaint board treats a claim within 5 months of the flight as on time, while Finnair applies 2 months. In Sweden a claim more than a year after the flight is normally too late. Details per country in EU261 time limits in the Nordics.
The new EU rules
The EU has agreed a reform of these rules (Regulation (EU) 2026/2202). Nothing changes before 23 October 2027. Until then, everything on this page applies. After that date there will be a 9-month deadline for claims. See the new EU261 rules.
If the airline says no
Many first claims get a short rejection that blames "extraordinary circumstances". That is the airline's view, not a final decision, and many such rejections do not hold.
- Paste the rejection into our free rejection checker. It shows what the airline's reason usually means and whether it tends to hold.
- No answer at all? See airline not responding.
- Want help? Appeal My Flight writes your reply to the airline and the complaint to the right national board for €29 per booking, however many passengers. You send it yourself and keep the whole payout.
FAQ
Do I need a lawyer or a claim company?
No. The airline's form or an email is enough for a first claim.
Can I claim for my children and fellow travellers?
Yes. Each passenger has their own claim, including children with their own seat. One claim can usually cover everyone on the booking.
The airline gave me meals and a hotel. Can I still claim?
Yes. Care during the wait does not replace the compensation.
How long does the airline have to answer?
Today the regulation sets no deadline. In Sweden and Norway you can go to the national board after about 4 weeks without an answer, in Denmark after 6 weeks.
Got the airline's reply? Paste it into the rejection checker and see what EU court rulings say about their excuse.