WHILE YOU WAIT
What does the airline owe me during a long delay?
Care under Article 9 starts before compensation does, and the trigger depends on distance.
Two hours on a short flight, three on a medium one, four on a long one
Under 1,500 km the airline owes meals and drinks from two hours’ delay. Up to 3,500 km it’s three hours. Over that, four. Ask at the desk for vouchers; if there’s no desk, buy something reasonable and keep the receipt.
A hotel if the delay runs overnight
The room, and the transport to and from it, are the airline’s cost. Book something ordinary if they won’t, and keep everything.
A refund if it passes five hours
At five hours you can abandon the flight and take a full refund, plus a flight back to where you started if you’re mid-journey. That choice is yours, not theirs.
Write down the times
Scheduled departure, actual departure, and, when you land, the moment the doors open. That last number is the one the whole claim rests on.
THE MEASUREMENT
Is the delay measured at departure or arrival?
Arrival, at your final destination, and the courts have been specific about what arrival means: the moment at least one door opens (Germanwings, C-452/13). Airlines measure from wheels-down or from the aircraft reaching the stand, which can be ten to twenty minutes earlier. On a delay the airline records at 2h 50m, that gap is the entire claim.
So a flight that leaves four hours late and makes up an hour in the air owes nothing. A flight that leaves ninety minutes late and then sits on the tarmac for two hours at the other end owes the full amount. Note your own doors-open time; the airline’s figure is the one you’ll be arguing against.
THE MONEY
How much compensation do I get for a 3-hour delay?
The same fixed bands as a cancellation: €250 under 1,500 km, €400 up to 3,500 km, €600 beyond (£220, £350, £520 under UK261), per person. The three-hour rule comes from the Sturgeon case in 2009, which put long delays on the same footing as cancellations, and airlines have argued against it ever since without winning.
One wrinkle on the longest flights: if the delay is between three and four hours on a route over 3,500 km, the airline can halve the €600. Check the arrival time before you accept a €300 offer on a flight that landed four hours and ten minutes late.
WATCH OUT
The weather refusal that isn’t about your flight
The refusal template says "adverse weather conditions." Ask when and where. Weather excuses the flight it actually grounded, at the hour it was due to leave. A storm in Chicago that morning doesn’t excuse your evening departure from Dublin, and a delay caused by the aircraft arriving late from somewhere else is the airline’s rotation problem, not the sky’s.
See exactly what your flight owes you — free, no signup. The live rights page tells you what applies to your exact flight and prepares the claim when you\u2019re ready.
Check my flight →COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions people ask
My flight was delayed 2 hours 45 minutes. Do I get anything?
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No compensation under three hours, but check your doors-open time carefully; the airline’s figure is often the earlier one. Care (meals, and a hotel if needed) applies regardless.
I made my meeting anyway. Does that matter?
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No. The delay is the trigger. What you did afterwards has nothing to do with Article 7.
Does a technical fault excuse the airline?
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Almost never. The court ruled in 2008 (Wallentin-Hermann) that technical problems arising in normal operation aren’t extraordinary circumstances. Airlines still cite them.
The delay was on the first of two flights and I missed the second.
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Then you measure the delay at your final destination, on a single booking. See the missed-connection guide.
How long do I have to claim?
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Six years in England and Wales, two to three across most of the EU. A delayed flight from last summer is still live.
General information, not legal advice. Compensation depends on the facts of each disruption and the airline’s evidence. MyAirAdvocate prepares claims for a flat fee and never takes a percentage of what you are owed.