Frequently Asked Questions about Passenger Rights

EU Regulation 261/2004 is a European law that grants passengers rights in cases of flight delays, cancellations, and denied boarding. It applies to all flights departing from the EU, as well as flights to the EU with an EU airline.

You are entitled to compensation if your flight arrives at the destination more than 3 hours late and the cause is within the airline's responsibility. This was established by the European Court of Justice in the Sturgeon/Condor ruling (C-402/07).

Compensation depends on the flight distance: 250 EUR for distances up to 1,500 km, 400 EUR for distances between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and 600 EUR for distances over 3,500 km.

In case of cancellation, you are entitled to compensation unless the airline informed you more than 14 days in advance or offered an equivalent alternative flight. In extraordinary circumstances (e.g., severe weather), the claim is void.

If you are denied boarding despite having a valid ticket and arriving on time at the gate (e.g., due to overbooking), you always have a right to compensation — no exceptions.

EU261 applies to all flights departing from the EU (regardless of airline) and to flights to the EU if the airline is based in the EU. For example, a Lufthansa flight from New York to Frankfurt is covered, but a United Airlines flight on the same route is not.

Extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control exempt them from paying compensation. These include: severe weather, volcanic eruptions, air traffic control strikes, political instability, or security risks. Technical defects and airline staff strikes do not qualify.

In Germany, EU261 claims expire after 3 years, calculated from the end of the year in which the flight took place. Other EU countries may have different deadlines. Act as soon as possible.

We use artificial intelligence to generate a personalized, legally sound complaint letter based on your flight data and EU Regulation 261/2004. You receive the letter as a downloadable PDF and can send it directly to the airline.

The letter is a professional draft, not binding legal advice. It is based on EU261 regulation and current case law. You should review it before sending. Most airlines respond positively to well-formulated complaint letters.

AirHelp and Flightright handle the enforcement and take 35-50% of your compensation as commission. With ClaimEU261, you pay a one-time fee of 9.99 EUR for the complaint letter and keep 100% of your compensation. You send the letter to the airline yourself.

If the airline doesn't respond within 4 weeks, you can contact the dispute resolution body (soep.de) free of charge. Alternatively, you can engage a lawyer or a passenger rights enforcement service.

The complaint letter costs a one-time fee of 9.99 EUR. There are no hidden costs, no commission, and no recurring fees. You keep 100% of your compensation.

We currently accept credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) through our secure payment provider. Additional payment methods will be added soon.

Since the complaint letter is generated immediately after payment, the right of withdrawal is excluded per consumer protection law, which you are informed of before purchase. If you experience technical issues, please contact us.

Your data is used exclusively to create the complaint letter and is automatically deleted after 6 months. We do not sell data to third parties. Details can be found in our privacy policy.

Yes, the complaint letter is based on fixed templates. Only the individual incident description may be formulated with Mistral AI (France/EU). Since Mistral is based in the EU, no third-country data transfer takes place. In accordance with EU AI Act Art. 50, we transparently label AI-assisted content.