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 (åbner i en ny fane) (www.britishairways.com)
• Lufthansa compensation claim form (åbner i en ny fane) (www.lufthansa.com)
• Air France compensation claim form (åbner i en ny fane) (wwws.airfrance.fr)
• KLM compensation claim form (åbner i en ny fane) (www.klm.com)
• Iberia compensation claim form (åbner i en ny fane) (www.iberia.com)
• Ryanair compensation claim form (åbner i en ny fane) (www.ryanair.com)
• easyJet compensation claim form (åbner i en ny fane) (www.easyjet.com)
• Air Canada compensation claim form (åbner i en ny fane) (sset.aircanada.com)
• WestJet compensation claim form (åbner i en ny fane) (www.westjet.com)

All sources

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