Sources and method

How the checker decides

1. Scope. From your airports and the airline that operated the flight, it decides which of EU261, UK261, APPR and US rules apply.
2. Distance. Great-circle distance between your first departure and final destination airports, using coordinates from OurAirports (public domain). Distances within 15 km of a band edge are flagged.
3. Delay. Your scheduled and actual arrival times at the final destination, as you enter them in local time. We convert them using the airport's time zone, so delays that cross a clock change are counted in real time.
4. Rules. Thresholds and amounts come from one configuration file, dated and reviewed monthly. EU flights from 23 October 2027 use Regulation 2026/2202.
5. Reason. If you tell us the airline's reason, we apply the case law on extraordinary circumstances (EU/UK) or APPR's control categories (Canada).

The rules engine is checked against a test suite of more than 80 cases taken from the regulations, regulator guidance and CJEU rulings, re-run every quarter.

Known limits

• We rely on the times you enter. We do not use flight-tracking data.
• Connecting journeys are judged from origin to final destination and only if on one booking. Mixed cases (for example a non-EU first leg into an EU connection) can be more complex.
• EU limitation periods vary by country and have no official table. Several are disputed; we show the range.
• Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, the Faroe Islands and Greenland are shown as unclear.
• For a cancellation, we assume the 14-day, 7-day and 1-hour/2-hour windows as you describe them; the airline's records may differ.
• For a cancellation after which you took a refund, EU/UK rules still look at the replacement flight you were offered.
• Canada's proposed APPR amendments were not in force when checked. If they are adopted, the logic must be updated.
• Reg 2026/2202 brought-forward departure reductions (amended Art 7(3)) are not modelled.

Airline claim links

Links to airline claim pages were found through public search results on 15 October 2026, not by crawling airline websites. Airlines change their pages; tell us if a link breaks.

• British Airways compensation claim form (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) (www.britishairways.com)
• Lufthansa compensation claim form (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) (www.lufthansa.com)
• Air France compensation claim form (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) (wwws.airfrance.fr)
• KLM compensation claim form (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) (www.klm.com)
• Iberia compensation claim form (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) (www.iberia.com)
• Ryanair compensation claim form (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) (www.ryanair.com)
• easyJet compensation claim form (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) (www.easyjet.com)
• Air Canada compensation claim form (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) (sset.aircanada.com)
• WestJet compensation claim form (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) (www.westjet.com)

All sources

1. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (EUR-Lex) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
2. Regulation (EU) 2026/2202 amending Regulation 261/2004, OJ L 2.10.2026 (EUR-Lex), applies from 23 Oct 2027 (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
3. European Commission: Questions and answers on revised EU air passenger rights (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
4. European Commission: Air passenger rights, European case law (summary of CJEU judgments) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
5. European Commission: National enforcement bodies under Regulation 261/2004 (list updated 13 Oct 2026) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
6. CJEU joined cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 Sturgeon (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
7. CJEU joined cases C-581/10 and C-629/10 Nelson (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
8. CJEU C-11/11 Folkerts (delay at final destination) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
9. CJEU C-559/16 Bossen (great-circle distance for connections) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
10. CJEU C-452/13 Germanwings (arrival = doors open) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
11. CJEU C-549/07 Wallentin-Hermann (technical problems) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
12. CJEU C-257/14 van der Lans (premature component failure) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
13. CJEU C-394/14 Siewert (boarding stairs collision) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
14. CJEU C-315/15 Pešková (bird strike) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
15. CJEU C-195/17 Krüsemann and Others (wildcat strike), 17 April 2018 (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
16. CJEU C-28/20 Airhelp v SAS (pilots' strike), Grand Chamber, 23 March 2021 (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
17. CJEU C-12/11 McDonagh (care during extraordinary circumstances) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
18. CJEU C-294/10 Eglītis and Ratnieks (reasonable measures, reserve time) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
19. CJEU C-22/11 Finnair (denied boarding) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
20. CJEU C-321/11 Rodríguez Cachafeiro (denied boarding) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
21. CJEU C-139/11 Cuadrench Moré (time limits set by national law) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
22. CJEU C-145/15 and C-146/15 Ruijssenaars (enforcement bodies and individual claims) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
23. CJEU C-204/08 Rehder (court of departure or arrival) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
24. UK CAA: Delays (UK261 amounts, care, connecting flights) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
25. UK CAA: Cancellations (UK261 scope and cancellation tables) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
26. UK CAA: Does UK law apply to your flight incident? (UK261 Annex 1) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
27. UK CAA: Alternative Dispute Resolution (approved schemes and airline list) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
28. UK CAA: Financial compensation, technical faults and time limitations (CAP 1275; Dawson v Thomson Airways) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
29. Air Passenger Protection Regulations, SOR/2019-150 (Justice Laws) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
30. Canadian Transportation Agency: Flight delays and cancellations (modified 2026-02-26) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
31. Canada Gazette Part I, 21 Dec 2024: proposed Regulations Amending the APPR (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
32. CTA: Consultation on proposed APPR amendments (milestones) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
33. US DOT: Refunds (significant change thresholds, timing) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
34. 14 CFR 250.5: Denied boarding compensation amounts (eCFR) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
35. Federal Register 89 FR 84815 (24 Oct 2024): limits raised to $1,075 / $2,150, effective 22 Jan 2025 (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
36. Federal Register (17 Nov 2025): Airline Passenger Rights ANPRM withdrawn (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
37. US DOT: Airline Customer Service Dashboard (flightrights.gov) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
38. OurAirports open data (public domain) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
39. Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights, Art. 16(m) (EUR-Lex) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
40. Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, reg. 37 (legislation.gov.uk) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
41. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) (EUR-Lex) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
42. Regulation (EC) No 861/2007 European Small Claims Procedure, consolidated (EUR-Lex), claims up to €5,000 (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
43. European e-Justice Portal: Small claims (forms) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
44. GOV.UK: Make a court claim for money (England and Wales) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
45. Scottish Courts: Simple procedure (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
46. Stripe Docs: Managed Payments (merchant of record; calculates, collects and remits VAT, GST and sales tax; sold through Link) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
47. Stripe Docs: How Managed Payments works (receipts, refunds and support through Link) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
48. US DOT: File a consumer complaint (Office of Aviation Consumer Protection) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
49. 14 CFR 250.6: Exceptions to eligibility for denied boarding compensation (eCFR) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
50. 14 CFR 250.2b: Carriers to request volunteers (oversold flights) (eCFR) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
51. UK Regulation 261/2004 Art 6 as amended by SI 2023/1370 (legislation.gov.uk): "three hours or more" (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
52. UK Regulation 261/2004 Art 2 (legislation.gov.uk): "Community carrier" means a carrier licensed by a Member State (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
53. UK Regulation 261/2004 Art 3 (legislation.gov.uk): scope (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
54. UK Regulation 261/2004 Art 7 (legislation.gov.uk): amounts and 50% reduction (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
55. The Air Passenger Rights (Amendment) Regulations 2023, SI 2023/1370 (legislation.gov.uk) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
56. Civil Aviation Authority v Ryanair DAC [2022] EWCA Civ 76 (Court of Appeal, 2 Feb 2022): own-staff strike not extraordinary (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
57. European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, s.6 (post-exit CJEU judgments not binding on UK courts) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
58. Carriage by Air Act 1961, Sch 1B: Montreal Convention, Art 35 (2-year limit for damages actions) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
59. Högsta domstolen NJA 2018 s. 127 (T 2659-17, 15 Mar 2018): notice to the airline within a reasonable time; 2 months always in time (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
60. Corte di Cassazione, Sez. III civ., ord. 20 Feb 2024 n. 4427: Montreal 2-year limit not automatically applicable to Reg 261 compensation (headnote, ilcaso.it) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
61. Hof van Cassatie 11 June 2021, C.20.0185.N (ECLI:BE:CASS:2021:ARR.20210611.1N.5, Juportal): 1-year limit under the Transport Act; 5 years if a timely request is wrongly refused (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
62. UK GDPR Art 27 (legislation.gov.uk): representatives of controllers not established in the UK; exemption for occasional, low-risk processing (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
63. Commission Decision 2002/2/EC: adequate protection by PIPEDA (Canada) (EUR-Lex) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
64. Data Protection Act 2018, Sch 21 para 5 (legislation.gov.uk): EU adequacy decisions, including Canada, recognised in the UK (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
65. Cloudflare Docs: Web Analytics, information collected (no cookies or localStorage, no fingerprinting) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
66. Cloudflare Docs: RUM beacon, data processing and privacy (IP address discarded, nothing stored in the browser) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
67. Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5 (Justice Laws) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
68. Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: file a complaint (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
69. Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 (Rome I), Art 6(2) (legislation.gov.uk; EU text identical): consumer keeps mandatory protections of home law (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
70. Canadian Transportation Agency: Air travel complaints (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
71. Canadian Transportation Agency: Denied Boarding: A Guide (section 5, call for volunteers) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
72. Canadian Transportation Agency: FAQs, Air Passenger Protection Regulations (volunteers in writing; adjusting denied boarding compensation) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
73. Canada Transportation Act, s.86.11(3) (Justice Laws): no APPR compensation if already compensated for the same event under another regime (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
74. 14 CFR 250.9: Written explanation of denied boarding compensation (eCFR) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
75. AirHelp: Our Fees (price list, updated 11 August 2026, version PL2.26) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
76. Flightright: Costs (success fee and legal surcharge) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)
77. Skycop: Price List (updated 1 May 2024) (öffnet in einem neuen Tab)