How Long Do You Have to Claim EU261 Compensation?
The Regulation itself sets no deadline. How long your claim stays enforceable is a question of national law — and the differences are stark: one year in Belgium, up to ten in Luxembourg, Switzerland and Sweden.
The short answer
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 contains no limitation period of its own. In Cuadrench Moré (C-139/11) the Court of Justice held that the time limit follows the national law of the court hearing the case — and that the two-year time bar in the Montreal Convention does not apply to these claims. The spread across Europe is therefore wide: Belgium cuts off after one year, Germany allows three years counted from the end of the year of the flight, England and Wales six years, and Luxembourg, Switzerland and Sweden up to ten. Sweden adds a twist: the complaint to the airline must be made within a reasonable time after arrival. Which law governs your case depends on where a claim would be brought. In practice the question loses its bite if you act early — write within a few months, escalate promptly after a rejection, and no deadline here will trouble you.
Why there is no single EU-wide deadline
The air passenger rights regulation governs when compensation is due and how much it is — but not how long you have to ask for it. National law fills that gap. The Court of Justice confirmed this expressly in Cuadrench Moré (C-139/11, ECLI:EU:C:2012:741) and, in the same judgment, made clear that the two-year time bar in the Montreal Convention does not apply to claims under the Regulation. So if an airline tells you everything is time-barred after two years, that position does not follow from this case law. What normally governs is the law of the state whose court would hear the case — for flights, that often means the state of departure or of arrival.
The deadlines in detail
As of July 2026, checked against statutes and the statements of the competent authorities. This is general information, not legal advice on your individual case.
Germany
3 years — counted from the end of the year
Legal basis
Sections 195, 199 German Civil Code (BGB)
The clock only starts at the end of the calendar year in which the flight took place. A flight in March 2026 is therefore time-barred at the end of 2029 — almost four years in practice. Filing with the conciliation body suspends the limitation period (section 204 BGB).
Competent body in this countryAustria
3 years
Legal basis
General civil limitation period under the ABGB
Three years are regularly applied to these claims; which provision of the ABGB governs is treated inconsistently in the literature. The apf, the competent body, states no period of its own. Do not rely on the final year of the period.
Competent body in this countrySwitzerland
10 years
Legal basis
Art. 127 Swiss Code of Obligations (OR)
Switzerland is not an EU member state; passenger rights apply through the Switzerland–EU air transport agreement. The FOCA points out that the Court of Justice case law on delays (Sturgeon) is not automatically binding in Switzerland — enforcement can be harder than the long deadline suggests.
Competent body in this countryBelgium
1 year from the event
Legal basis
Art. X.49 Code of Economic Law
The shortest deadline in the EU. On 11 June 2021 the Belgian Court of Cassation (C.20.0185.N) opened a five-year route via criminal law — but only where the claim was made in time and rejected without justification. The practical advice remains: claim within one year.
Competent body in this countrySpain
5 years from the flight date
Legal basis
Art. 1964.2 Civil Code as amended by Ley 42/2015
Airlines sometimes tell passengers a six-month period from Art. 124 Ley 48/1960 applies. AESA, the Spanish enforcement body, officially states five years. Do not let such a rejection put you off without checking.
Competent body in this countryFrance
5 years
Legal basis
Art. 2224 Civil Code
The period runs from the day you knew, or should have known, the facts giving rise to the claim — for a cancelled or heavily delayed flight that is normally the day of the flight itself.
Competent body in this countryItaly
1 year
Legal basis
Art. 2951 Civil Code
Courts regularly apply the one-year period for rights arising from a contract of carriage. In order no. 4427/2024 the Court of Cassation rejected the Montreal Convention's two-year bar but left the relationship with Art. 949-ter of the Navigation Code open. The position is therefore not settled — claim within one year.
Competent body in this countryLuxembourg
10 years
Legal basis
Art. 189 Commercial Code
What is documented is the general commercial limitation period applied to such claims. We have no statement from the competent body specifically about air passenger rights claims.
Competent body in this countryNetherlands
2 years
Legal basis
Art. 8:1835 Dutch Civil Code (BW)
Not settled: some courts apply the five-year period of Art. 3:307 BW instead, and there is no ruling from the Hoge Raad. Two years is therefore the safe assumption.
Competent body in this countryPoland
1 year before the civil courts
Legal basis
Art. 778 Civil Code; Supreme Court resolution of 17 March 2017, III CZP 111/16
The period runs from performance of the carriage, or for cancelled flights from the scheduled arrival date. In the administrative procedure before the Passengers' Rights Ombudsman, the administrative courts have not applied this civil deadline (NSA I OSK 2714/15; WSA Warsaw of 20 February 2019, VII SA/Wa 1788/18). Do not rely on that — claim within one year.
Competent body in this countryPortugal
3 years to complain to ANAC
Legal basis
Official service description on gov.pt, as of 25 May 2026
This is the deadline for complaining to the enforcement body ANAC, counted from the flight date — not the civil limitation period, which may differ. The complaint is open to you once the airline has failed to reply, or replied unsatisfactorily, for six weeks.
Competent body in this countrySweden
10-year limitation — but complain within a reasonable time
Legal basis
Preskriptionslag 1981:130, section 2; Supreme Court NJA 2018 p. 127 (T 2659-17)
Two separate layers. The limitation period itself is ten years. On top of that, the complaint to the airline must be made "within a reasonable time" after arrival or the right may be lost. Case law treats a complaint within two months as always timely — that is a safe harbour, not a rigid two-month deadline.
Competent body in this countryUnited Kingdom
6 years (England and Wales)
Legal basis
Limitation Act 1980 s. 5/s. 9; Dawson v Thomson Airways [2014] EWCA Civ 845
Scotland applies five years (Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 s. 6). We have no verified figure for Northern Ireland. Since Brexit, departures from the UK fall under UK261, with amounts in pounds.
Competent body in this country
Depending on the case, the law of more than one state may come into play. This overview does not replace an assessment of your specific situation — it shows how much time you realistically have and when speed matters.
Acting early beats calculating deadlines
Deadlines mainly become a problem for people who wait. If you write to the airline promptly, set a reply deadline and escalate quickly to the competent body when a rejection is unfounded, limitation periods will rarely trouble you. In Germany there is an added benefit: filing with the conciliation body suspends the limitation period, so the clock stops while the case is being handled. Many legal systems have comparable suspension or interruption rules; whether and how they apply is a matter of the relevant national law.
Competent bodies and how to escalateWhat the EU261 reform changes about deadlines
The adopted reform introduces a new request deadline: under the new Art. 7(5), a compensation request should be submitted to the airline within nine months of the departure date, and the airline must then pay or give reasons for refusing within 30 days. The important qualification: those nine months are a deadline for asking the airline. There is no evidence that they replace national limitation periods — Recital 38 expressly preserves access to the courts. The new rules are also expected to apply only about twelve months after entry into force, so roughly in the second half of 2027. Until then the deadlines in the table above apply unchanged.
All changes in the reform overviewAlready been rejected?
A rejection does not start a deadline of its own — the national limitation period continues to govern. It does not shorten your time; it is simply the cue to start round two. Which standard justifications regularly fail under the case law of the Court of Justice, and how you can respond, is covered in the rejection guide.
Responses to the most common rejection reasonsCommon questions about deadlines
Doesn't the Montreal Convention's two-year limit apply to EU261?
Which country's deadline applies to my claim?
Does complaining to the airline extend the deadline?
My flight was over a year ago — is it still worth it?
Does the reform's nine-month window replace national deadlines?
Want to know whether it is worth the effort?
Check for free in two minutes what Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 typically provides for your route — before the deadline becomes the issue.
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The information on this page is for general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. No liability is accepted for accuracy or completeness. For complex cases, we recommend consulting a lawyer.