Passenger rights

Being specialists in the European Air Traffic Laws and Passenger rights, we enforce your claims for compensation for flight delays, flight cancellations and flight changes!

Passenger rights

The most important legal act for claims to passenger rights in European air traffic is the EU Passenger Rights Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004. The European Passenger Rights Regulation initiated on February 17, 2005 and has since then been directly bound legally for every airline in each European member state.

As part of our legal advice as Flight Delay Lawyers, we check your claims and valid ate the airline’s details with our real – time flight data and reference data from the Air Traffic Management System.

  • Remuneration
  • Compensation payment
  • Compensation
  • Damages
  • Compensation for lost vacation time
  • Compensation for useless vacation time
  • Compensation for loss of earnings
  • Reimbursement of expenses
  • Right to reimbursement
  • Claim for compensation
  • Claim for repayment
  • Legal claim
  • Travel price reduction
  • Claim for reduction
  • Right to exemption from legal fees

You are requested to ask the airline in writing with proof, setting a deadline (usually a 14-day period is sufficient). In case of rejection by the airline or after the payment period has expired, the airline must bear the costs of legal proceedings if the claims are justified.

The amount of the compensation results from Article 7 of the Passenger Rights Regulation and depending on the distance between the departure airport and the destination airport, is per person:

Flights within the EU:

  • 250 EUR for a flight distance up to 1500 km
  • 400 EUR for a flight distance of more than 1500 km

Flights between the EU and a non-EU country:

  • 250 EUR for a flight distance up to 1500 km
  • 400 EUR for a flight over 1500 km up to 3500 km
  • 600 EUR for a flight distance of more than 3500 km

You can easily determine the distance between your departure airport and your destination airport using the calculator by the large circle method on websites e.g. flightmapper.net or gcmap.com.


Since every passenger is entitled to compensation, a family of four can quickly get compensation of EUR 2,400 for a flight of more than 3,500 km.

If the airline has offered you an alternative flight for other transportation, the amount of your compensation claim may decrease by 50%. The decisive factor here is the extent to which the original arrival time differs from that of the alternative flight. A reduction of 50% is only possible up to a deviation of two hours for No. 1, up to three hours for No. 2/3 and up to four hours for No. 4.

As stated by the Federal Court of Justice (ref. no. BGH X ZR 165/18): According to the principles of equalization of benefits, compensation claims for damage or due to a long delay must be taken into account in accordance with the Passenger Rights Regulation e.g. Impairments caused by flight irregularities at the destination (for example, rental car or hotel bookings that cannot be canceled free of charge), these unnecessary expenses or additional costs may be offset against the compensation payments in accordance with Article 12 (1) of the Passenger Rights Regulation. It therefore only makes sense to make claims under Article 12 of the Ordinance if they exceed the compensation payments.

However, according to Article 9 of the regulation, the passenger is entitled to childcare services free of charge. These must also not be taken into account.