When the journey breaks: your EU passenger rights
Four separate regulations cover the four ways a European journey can fail. They are not equally strong, and almost nobody knows which one applies to them at the moment it matters.
Here is all four in one place, as they stand in mid-2026.
Air: Regulation 261/2004
The strongest passenger rights regime in the world, and the one airlines work hardest to make you forget.
Cash compensation
If you arrive at your final destination three or more hours late, you are owed a fixed sum, regardless of what you paid for the ticket:
| Flight distance | Compensation |
|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | €250 |
| Intra-EU over 1,500 km, and other flights 1,500–3,500 km | €400 |
| Other flights over 3,500 km | €600 |
Two things about that table. It is arrival delay, not departure — a flight that leaves four hours late and makes some of it up in the air may owe you nothing. And it is a fixed amount, so on a €39 fare the compensation can be many times the ticket price. That is deliberate.
If the airline re-routes you and you land less than two, three or four hours late depending on the distance band, the compensation halves.
The right to care is separate, and unconditional
This is the part people give away for free.
While you are waiting, the airline owes you meals and refreshments in reasonable proportion to the delay, two phone calls or emails, and — if the delay runs overnight — a hotel room and transport to and from it. The duty starts at two hours for short flights and three or four hours for longer ones.
The right to care is owed regardless of the cause. Fog, a volcano, an air traffic control strike: none of it matters. If the airline tells you to find your own hotel, book something reasonable, keep the receipts, and claim it back.
Extraordinary circumstances, and what actually counts
Cash compensation, unlike care, can be avoided if the airline shows the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances outside its control.
What genuinely qualifies: severe weather, air traffic control strikes and airspace closures, security risks, bird strikes, political instability.
What does not: technical faults on the aircraft, routine maintenance issues, and strikes by the airline’s own staff. Courts have consistently treated the airline’s own operational and industrial problems as part of the job.
That single distinction settles most disputes. An airline that says “operational reasons” or “a technical issue” has, in effect, told you it owes you the money.
Who is covered
Any flight departing from an EU airport, on any airline in the world. And any flight arriving in the EU, if the operating carrier is an EU airline.
A Lisbon to Toronto flight on a European carrier is covered. Toronto to Lisbon on a non-EU carrier is not. Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the UK apply equivalent regimes.
Claim it yourself first
Write to the airline. Give the booking reference, the flight number, the scheduled and actual arrival times, and the amount you are claiming under Regulation 261/2004. Most large carriers have a form; use it, and keep a copy.
Claims agencies take 25–35% of the award, and their pitch is that the process is hard. For a straightforward delay on a well-behaved airline it is one letter. Try it yourself before you sign away a third of €600. Agencies earn their fee on the awkward cases — a disputed cause, a carrier that ignores you, a case heading to court.
The reform does not change your position this summer
On 7 July 2026 the European Parliament approved the first substantial revision of the regulation in more than twenty years. It keeps the three-hour threshold and the €250 / €400 / €600 amounts, and adds a guaranteed free cabin bag to the ticket price.
It is expected to apply from 2027. Until then the regime described above is the one you claim under.
Rail: Regulation 2021/782
Rail has had its own passenger rights regulation since it began to apply on 7 June 2023, and the shape is different from air.
Compensation is a percentage of the ticket price, not a fixed sum: 25% for a delay of 60 to 119 minutes, and 50% for a delay of 120 minutes or more. On a cheap regional fare that is small money, which is the honest summary of rail compensation.
Operators may set a minimum payment threshold below which they will not pay at all, capped at €4 per ticket.
Alongside the money you have the right to assistance — meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, and accommodation where an overnight stay becomes necessary — plus re-routing or a refund on a long delay.
Two carve-outs matter. Since 2023, operators do not owe delay compensation in extraordinary circumstances such as extreme weather or a major public health crisis, which is a real weakening compared with the air regime. And member states were allowed to exempt urban, suburban, regional and some domestic long-distance services from parts of the regulation, which many did. Your commuter line may be covered by nothing but the operator’s own goodwill scheme.
Ferry: Regulation 1177/2010
Compensation is again a percentage of the fare, and the thresholds scale with the length of the crossing.
You are owed at least 25% of the ticket price for a delay in arrival of one hour on a scheduled journey up to four hours, two hours on a journey of four to eight hours, three hours on a journey of eight to twenty-four hours, or six hours on anything longer. If the delay is more than double those figures, it rises to 50%.
Separately, if departure is delayed by more than 90 minutes or the sailing is cancelled, you are entitled to snacks, meals and refreshments, and to accommodation — on board or ashore — where an overnight wait is required, plus transport to it.
Coach: Regulation 181/2011
The weakest of the four, and the most heavily conditioned.
The full set of rights applies to scheduled services of 250 km or more. On those, a departure delay of more than two hours or a cancellation gives you the choice between re-routing at the earliest opportunity and a refund. If the operator fails to offer you that choice, it owes you 50% of the ticket price on top.
You are also owed information within 30 minutes of the scheduled departure, and refreshments in proportion to the wait.
Be realistic about ferry and coach rights. The law exists, the enforcement is thin, and the operators are often small. You will need to be more persistent for less money than on a flight.
What to do in the moment, whatever the mode
Keep the boarding pass or ticket and the booking reference. A digital pass that vanishes from your wallet app when the flight is cancelled is a problem; screenshot it.
Photograph the departure board showing the delay or cancellation, with the time visible.
Write down the actual arrival time — when the aircraft doors opened, when the train reached the platform. Compensation is calculated on arrival, and this is the number that decides your claim.
Ask the carrier, in front of a witness if you can, for the reason for the delay, and note the answer. “Technical” is worth more to you than “weather”.
Keep every receipt for food, transport and accommodation, separately from the compensation claim. They are two different entitlements and are usually paid through different processes.
Claim in writing, then escalate
Claim to the carrier first, in writing, always. If it refuses or ignores you, escalate to the national enforcement body of the country of departure — every member state has one, and their decisions carry weight even where they are not binding.
The deadline for bringing a claim is set by national law and varies widely, from about one year in some member states to six in others. A delay from two years ago may well still be claimable. If you have an old boarding pass and a bad memory of an airport, it is worth ten minutes.
Insurance is not the first line here
Travel insurance advertises delay cover, and it is genuinely useful for the things the carrier does not owe you — the missed hotel night at the other end, the non-refundable tour.
But for the delay itself, the carrier owes you these things by law, without an excess, without a claims history, and usually for more money. Claiming on your policy for a loss the airline is legally obliged to cover means paying an excess, risking your premium, and receiving less.
Claim from the carrier. Use the policy for what the carrier does not cover.