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 (opens in a new tab) (www.britishairways.com)
• Lufthansa compensation claim form (opens in a new tab) (www.lufthansa.com)
• Air France compensation claim form (opens in a new tab) (wwws.airfrance.fr)
• KLM compensation claim form (opens in a new tab) (www.klm.com)
• Iberia compensation claim form (opens in a new tab) (www.iberia.com)
• Ryanair compensation claim form (opens in a new tab) (www.ryanair.com)
• easyJet compensation claim form (opens in a new tab) (www.easyjet.com)
• Air Canada compensation claim form (opens in a new tab) (sset.aircanada.com)
• WestJet compensation claim form (opens in a new tab) (www.westjet.com)

All sources

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

Last updated: 2026-10-16