The sheet to print
Cancelled flight: the sheet to keep
Six reflexes, in the order in which you need them. Each one carries the text it rests on. Print it and slip it in with your ticket.
File EU 261/2004
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Law as verified onJuly 29, 2026
- 01
Keep the cancellation message, with its timestamp
The date you were told decides your compensation, and it is the airline that has to prove it informed you and when. Screenshot, timestamp, reason given.
Article 5(4) · Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 5 (Cancellation), paragraph 4 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 02
Choose between reimbursement and re-routing, and say so in writing
Three options, only one to take: reimbursement of the ticket within seven days, leaving at the earliest opportunity, or leaving on a date that suits you. Taking one closes the other two, and nothing more.
Article 8(1) · Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 8 (Right to reimbursement or re-routing), paragraph 1 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 03
Ask for the right to care, and keep the receipts
Meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, a hotel if a night becomes necessary, transport to the hotel. If you front the money, expenses that were necessary, reasonable and appropriate get reimbursed against receipts.
Article 9(1) · Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 9 (Right to care), paragraph 1 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 04
Work out your compensation from the DISTANCE, never from the price paid
€250 up to 1,500 km. €400 beyond 1,500 km inside the Union, and for all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km. €600 for the others. The price of the ticket does not enter this calculation.
Article 7(1) · Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 7 (Right to compensation), paragraph 1 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 05
Only accept a voucher if you actually want one
Compensation is paid in money. It only becomes a travel voucher with the signed agreement of the passenger, and no clause in the contract of carriage can waive that right.
Article 7(3) · Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 7 (Right to compensation), paragraph 3 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 06
After the airline, there is an authority
Complain to the airline first, through its own form. With no reply after two months, or with a reply that does not satisfy you, complain to the national body of the country where it happened.
Section on claiming your rights · Air passenger rights: claiming your rights · europa.eu
General information on the European baseline, not legal advice on your case. Independent educational site, unconnected to the institutions of the European Union. The redress links in this file point only to official bodies.
Sources checked on July 29, 2026. · https://depleindroit.odersa.org/en/fiches/le-vol-annule-la-veille · Content licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What the law owes you
Every right with its amount or its deadline, the extract of the official text it rests on, and its address.
Flat-rate compensation, set by distance
€400
€250 up to 1,500 km, €400 beyond 1,500 km inside the Union and for other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km, €600 for the rest. This Article knows one variable, distance: the price of the ticket does not enter it, and the notice condition lives in Article 5(1)(c), not here.
The official text · Article 7(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261“Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall receive compensation amounting to: (a) EUR 250 for all flights of 1500 kilometres or less; (b) EUR 400 for all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres, and for all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometres; (c) EUR 600 for all flights not falling under (a) or (b). In determining the distance, the basis shall be the last destination at which the denial of boarding or cancellation will delay the passenger's arrival after the scheduled time.”
Told less than two weeks ahead, compensation is due
Compensation is due unless the airline informed you at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure. Between two weeks and seven days, it only falls away if you are offered re-routing that leaves no more than two hours before the scheduled time and gets you in less than four hours after the scheduled arrival; at less than seven days, the window tightens to one hour before and two hours after. Told less than two weeks before departure, you have lost nothing.
The official text · Article 5(1)(c)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261“have the right to compensation by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 7, unless: (i) they are informed of the cancellation at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure; or (ii) they are informed of the cancellation between two weeks and seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing them to depart no more than two hours before the scheduled time of departure and to reach their final destination less than four hours after the scheduled time of arrival; or (iii) they are informed of the cancellation less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing them to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and to reach their final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival.”
The choice between getting your money back and travelling
Reimbursement of the ticket within seven days, re-routing at the earliest opportunity, or re-routing on a date that suits you. You choose, and that choice does not wipe out your compensation.
The official text · Article 8(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261“Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between: […] reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought […] (b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or (c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.”
Meals, hotel and transport while you wait
Refreshments and meals in proportion to the wait, a hotel as soon as a night becomes necessary, and the ride to that hotel. Free of charge.
The official text · Article 9(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261“Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered free of charge: (a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time; (b) hotel accommodation in cases […] where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary […] (c) transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).”
It is the airline that has to prove things, not you
Prove that it informed you and when; prove the extraordinary circumstances if it invokes them. As long as it proves nothing, the compensation is still owed.
The official text · Article 5(3)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261“An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.”
No clause can make you waive these rights
Obligations towards passengers may not be limited or waived by a clause in the contract of carriage. A voucher only replaces money with your signed agreement.
The official text · Article 15(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261“Obligations vis-à-vis passengers pursuant to this Regulation may not be limited or waived, notably by a derogation or restrictive clause in the contract of carriage.”
A national body to complain to, in every country
Each Member State designates a body responsible for enforcing this Regulation, and each passenger may complain to it about an infringement at any airport on its territory.
The official text · Article 16(2)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261“Without prejudice to Article 12, each passenger may complain to any body designated under paragraph 1, or to any other competent body designated by a Member State, about an alleged infringement of this Regulation at any airport situated on the territory of a Member State […]”
This site is educational and independent: it is not an official website of the European Union, and this verdict is not legal advice on your case. The amounts and time limits quoted are copied from the official text, whose link appears under each right.
File EU 261/2004
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