Flight Delayed 3 Hours? Here's the Compensation You're Owed

Why three hours is the magic threshold

The EU261 regulation itself does not mention long delays as a reason for compensation. It only lists cancellations and denied boarding. That gap is why airlines spent years paying nothing for delays. The rule changed in 2009 with a landmark case called Sturgeon (cases C-402/07 and C-432/07) at the Court of Justice of the European Union.

In that ruling the court decided that passengers who reach their destination three hours or more behind schedule suffer the same loss of time as passengers whose flight was cancelled. So they should get the same fixed compensation. From that point on, a delay of three hours or more at arrival is legally treated like a cancellation for compensation purposes.

This means there is a hard line. Arrive 2 hours and 59 minutes late and you get nothing. Arrive 3 hours and 1 minute late and you can claim the full amount. There is no partial payout for being a bit late. You are either over the line or under it.

The delay is measured at arrival, not departure

This is the single most misunderstood part of the rule, and it costs people money. The three hours is counted at your ARRIVAL, at your FINAL destination. The clock stops at the moment the aircraft doors open and passengers are allowed to leave, not when the wheels touch the runway. A later case (Germanwings, C-452/13) confirmed that doors-open is the official arrival time.

Departure delay does not decide your claim on its own. What matters is how late you actually got where you were going. Pilots often make up time in the air, so a flight can leave very late and still land roughly on time.

Here is a clear example. Your flight pushes back from the gate 4 hours late. Panic sets in. But the captain flies fast, skips the holding pattern, and the doors open at the destination just 2 hours and 55 minutes behind schedule. Under the law, you are owed nothing, because arrival is what counts. Flip it: a flight that leaves only 90 minutes late but sits on a remote stand and opens its doors 3 hours and 1 minute late means you can claim the full amount.

How much you can claim by distance

The compensation is a fixed amount set by the flight distance, not by your ticket price. It is the same whether you paid 40 euros or 400. The bands are simple.

• 250 euros for flights of 1,500 km or less.
• 400 euros for flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and for all flights within the EU over 1,500 km.
• 600 euros for flights over 3,500 km that are not within the EU (typically long-haul intercontinental flights).

The long-haul catch: 600 euros can be halved to 300

There is one important exception built into the regulation, in Article 7(2). On the longest flights, the ones in the 600-euro band over 3,500 km, the airline is allowed to cut the payout in half if your arrival delay is between 3 and 4 hours. So a 3-to-4-hour late arrival on a long-haul flight pays 300 euros, not 600.

The moment your arrival delay reaches 4 hours or more on that long-haul route, the full 600 euros applies. This halving only exists for the longest distance band. On shorter flights, 3 hours over the line means the full 250 or 400 euros with no reduction. Use our compensation calculator to see your exact figure in a few seconds.

How to prove your real arrival time

Because everything hinges on arrival, you want solid proof of when those doors actually opened. The scheduled arrival time is printed on your booking, and that is your baseline. For the actual arrival time, gather a few sources so the airline cannot quietly round in its own favour.

Note the times yourself in the moment if you can, then back them up with records afterward. Screenshots are your friend, because flight-tracking data is sometimes scrubbed weeks later.

• The airline's own app or website, which usually shows the actual arrival time for a while after the flight.
• Your boarding pass and any rebooking or delay notices the airline sent by email or text.
• Independent trackers like Flightradar24 or FlightAware, which log real landing times and let you screenshot the record.
• Photos of the airport arrivals board or a timestamped photo as you step off the aircraft.

When extraordinary circumstances can defeat your claim

Crossing three hours does not guarantee payment. The airline can refuse if the delay was caused by an extraordinary circumstance, meaning something outside its control that it could not have avoided even with all reasonable measures. Classic examples are severe weather, bird strikes, security alerts, and air-traffic-control restrictions.

What does NOT count are ordinary running problems the airline should manage, such as routine technical faults, crew scheduling errors, or knock-on delays from the airline's own earlier flights. Airlines often stretch the extraordinary label to dodge valid claims, so do not take a rejection at face value. Our extraordinary-circumstances guide breaks down exactly what qualifies and what does not.

Step by step: how to claim

Claiming directly costs nothing, and most delays of three hours or more on covered flights are straightforward. Covered flights are any flight departing an EU airport, and any flight into the EU on an EU-based airline.

• Confirm the gap: subtract scheduled arrival from actual doors-open arrival. It must be 3 hours or more.
• Gather proof: booking confirmation, boarding pass, and a tracker screenshot of the real arrival time.
• Identify the distance band so you know the amount to demand.
• Write to the airline directly, quoting EU261 and the Sturgeon ruling, and state the figure you are claiming.
• If they reject or ignore you, escalate to the national enforcement body in the country of departure, or take the matter to small-claims court.
• Only if you would rather not handle the fight yourself, hand it to a no-win-no-fee claim service through us.

Deadlines: don't sit on it

You usually have more time than you think, but the limit depends on the country whose law applies, normally where you sued or where the airline is based. Time limits range from about 1 year to 6 years. For example, the UK gives 6 years (5 in Scotland), Germany allows 3, France 5, and some countries far less.

Because the window varies so much, the safe move is to start as soon as you land and have your evidence fresh. Even an old delay from a year or two back may still be claimable in 2026, so it is worth checking rather than assuming you have missed it. See our main delayed-flight guide for the full rules and country-by-country deadlines.