Flight Delayed? The EU Pays You Cash. The US Pays You Nothing.

The short answer

There are two completely different philosophies of passenger protection, and which one you are under is decided by where your flight departs, not by your passport.

If your flight leaves the EU (or the UK), a delay is worth money. Arrive three or more hours late at your final destination and you are owed a fixed cash sum — €250, €400 or €600 in the EU (the top band pays €300 of the €600 if you are 3–4 hours late), £220, £350 or £520 in the UK — regardless of what your ticket cost, provided the delay was the airline’s fault.

If your flight leaves the United States, a delay is worth nothing. There is no US cash compensation for a delayed flight. Not a small amount — none. The Department of Transportation’s own airline dashboard lists a “Cash compensation” row, and for all nine major US carriers it reads No. What the US has instead is a refund rule: if the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight, you get your money back automatically. That is a real and strong right — it is just not the same thing as being paid for your time.

The trap is that travellers assume the US has “the same kind of law but smaller.” It does not have the same kind of law at all.

What the EU actually requires

The governing text is Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 — “EU261” in common use. Article 7 sets the compensation, and it is a flat schedule based on distance, not on ticket price. The European Commission’s own delay-at-arrival table reads:

Distance	Delay at final destination	Compensation
1,500 km or less	3 hours or more	€250
More than 1,500 km within the EU, and all other flights 1,500–3,500 km	3 hours or more	€400
More than 3,500 km	3 to under 4 hours	€300
More than 3,500 km	4 hours or more	€600

The top band is tiered, and this is the single most misreported fact about EU261. A long-haul flight (say London–New York) that arrives three and a half hours late pays €300, not €600; you have to cross four hours to collect the full amount. The €300 is the 50% reduction provided by Article 7(2): where re-routing brings you in within four hours of schedule on a flight over 3,500 km, the carrier may halve the €600.

Distances are measured by the great circle route method (Article 7(4)) — the straight-line distance between the two airports, which is why the UK regulator tells travellers to use a third-party calculator rather than trusting the airline’s figure.

The trigger is arrival, not departure, and it comes from the courts rather than the text. The original Article 6 says nothing about compensation for delay — it only sets the assistance brackets (meals, hotel, calls) at 2/3/4 hours by distance. The three-hour compensation rule was created by the Court of Justice in Sturgeon v Condor (C-402/07, 19 November 2009), which held that delayed passengers may be treated as if their flight had been cancelled, and may claim Article 7 compensation, “where they suffer, on account of a flight delay, a loss of time equal to or in excess of three hours, that is, where they reach their final destination three hours or more after the arrival time originally scheduled by the air carrier.”

That is why the rule is about the final destination: a missed connection that cascades still counts if the end arrival is 3+ hours late, provided the whole journey was a single reservation. The same judgment is also the reason “technical problem” is not an escape hatch (see below).

Scope is decided by departure point. Per the Commission: EU261 applies to flights within the EU on any carrier; flights departing the EU to a non-EU country on any carrier; and flights arriving in the EU from outside only when operated by an EU carrier. That last clause is the one people get wrong — a US carrier flying New York to Paris is not caught by EU261 on that leg, but a US carrier flying Paris to New York is.

Cancellations are covered too, with a twist. Article 5 requires compensation unless you were told at least two weeks before departure — or, if told between two weeks and seven days out, you were offered re-routing that departs no more than 2 hours early and arrives less than 4 hours late; or, if told less than seven days out, re-routing that departs no more than 1 hour early and arrives less than 2 hours late. The airline carries the burden of proof that it told you (Article 5(4)).

Two smaller rights worth knowing. If you accept re-routing and still arrive late, the compensation can be halved — €125 / €200 / €300 depending on the same distance bands. And if you are downgraded to a lower class, you are owed a percentage of your ticket back: 30% for flights of 1,500 km or less, 50% for longer EU flights and 1,500–3,500 km flights, 75% above 3,500 km. Checked baggage is a separate liability, capped at roughly €1,300.

What the UK requires — the same rules, in pounds

Post-Brexit the UK retained the regulation as “UK261,” and the amounts were redenominated into pounds. The structure is the same — including the tiered top band:

Flight distance	UK compensation
Under 1,500 km	£220
1,500–3,500 km	£350
Over 3,500 km, arriving 3–4 hours late	£260
Over 3,500 km, arriving more than 4 hours late	£520

The £260 figure is the same 50% reduction the EU applies at €300 — the UK did not invent a new structure, it converted one. Because the pound figure is set separately, the two regimes drift apart as the exchange rate moves: on a London–New York flight a four-hour delay pays £520 in the UK against €600 in the EU, and at a rate near 1.12 USD/EUR the pound amount currently lands a little lower. The choice of regime is not yours to make, though — it follows the departure point. A flight leaving Heathrow is a UK261 flight; the same aircraft leaving Dublin is an EU261 flight.

The UK also differs in how you escalate. If the airline does not resolve your claim, or takes more than eight weeks to respond, you escalate to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider if the airline is signed up to one, or to the CAA’s in-house Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT) if it is not.

What the US actually requires

The US has no delay-compensation scheme, and it is worth stating the negative precisely because it is the fact that changes behaviour.

The DOT dashboard is the cleanest proof. It asks each major carrier whether it offers “Cash compensation when the cancellation results in a wait of 3 hours or more” — the answer is No for Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest and United. Some offer vouchers, miles or a meal; none pay cash for a delay.

What the US does require is a refund, and here the 2024 automatic-refund rule is genuinely strong — arguably stronger than the EU’s, because it does not depend on fault:

• A cancelled flight. If the airline cancels, you are entitled to a refund regardless of the reason, if you choose not to travel or not to accept a credit.
• A “significant change.” The DOT defines this with numbers: a departure 3+ hours early (domestic) or 6+ hours early (international); an arrival 3+ hours late (domestic) or 6+ hours late (international); a different origin or destination airport; more connections than originally booked; an involuntary downgrade; or — for passengers with a disability — a change of connecting airport or to an aircraft lacking a needed accessibility feature.
• Automatic and prompt. Refunds must be issued without the passenger having to ask, within seven business days for credit-card purchases and 20 calendar days for other payment methods, in cash or the original form of payment.

Where the US does pay cash: involuntary bumping, not delay. If you are denied boarding on an oversold flight you did not volunteer to give up — and you checked in and reached the gate on time, departing a US airport — the DOT requires “denied boarding compensation” scaled to the fare:

Delay to your arrival	Domestic	International
0–1 hour	No compensation	No compensation
1–2 hours (domestic) / 1–4 hours (international)	200% of one-way fare, capped at $1,075	200% of one-way fare, capped at $1,075
Over 2 hours (domestic) / over 4 hours (international)	400% of one-way fare, capped at $2,150	400% of one-way fare, capped at $2,150

That is the only US cash figure in this whole article, and it applies to being bumped, not to being delayed. A five-hour mechanical delay on a US domestic flight pays nothing.

The US came close to changing this, and then withdrew it. In December 2024 the DOT opened a rulemaking that would have required airlines to pay cash compensation for airline-caused disruptions, on the EU model. It was withdrawn on 17 November 2025 (Docket DOT-OST-2024-0062), with the DOT stating the withdrawal “is consistent with Executive Order (E.O.) 14192, ‘Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation.’” So the gap between the two regimes is not an oversight — it was considered and declined, and there is no pending US rule that would close it.

One US protection that does exist on the tarmac. Under 14 CFR 259.4, a US carrier must give passengers on a domestic flight the opportunity to deplane before a tarmac delay exceeds three hours (four hours for international flights), with limited security and air-traffic exceptions. That is a right to get off the plane — not a payment — and it is the closest US analogue to the EU’s care obligations.

One genuinely useful US rule that has no EU equivalent: for tickets bought at least seven days before departure, airlines must either allow a 24-hour penalty-free cancellation for a full refund, or hold the reservation at the quoted price for 24 hours. Note the carve-out — this does not apply to tickets bought through an online travel agency or third-party agent.

The side-by-side

	EU (EC 261)	UK (UK261)	US (DOT)
Cash for a 3h delay	Yes — €250/€400; €300 at 3–4h then €600 at 4h+ above 3,500 km	Yes — £220/£350; £260 at 3–4h then £520 at 4h+ above 3,500 km	No
Trigger	3h late at final destination	3h late at final destination	—
Depends on airline fault?	Yes (extraordinary-circumstances defence)	Yes	—
Refund on cancellation	Yes (choice of refund, re-routing or later re-booking)	Yes	Yes — automatic, 7 business days (card) / 20 calendar days
Refund for a significant delay	Re-routing/refund rights	Re-routing/refund rights	Yes — 3h domestic / 6h international
Cash for involuntary bumping	€250/€400/€600	£220/£350/£520	200%/400% of fare, capped $1,075/$2,150
Set by	Regulation (EC) 261/2004	UK Reg (EU) 261/2004, as amended	DOT rules + airline commitments

The escape hatch: “extraordinary circumstances”

The EU’s compensation is not automatic — the airline can refuse if it proves the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided “even if all reasonable measures had been taken” (Article 5(3) for cancellations; the same defence applies to delay per the Sturgeon judgment). The regulation itself never defines the term, so the meaning has been built by the courts and by the regulators.

The UK CAA publishes the list it works from, and it is the most readable version available:

• Weather incompatible with the safe operation of the flight
• Strikes unrelated to the airline — airport staff, ground handlers, air traffic control, border force. (A strike by the airline’s own staff is not extraordinary.)
• Acts of terrorism or sabotage
• Security risks
• Political or civil unrest
• Hidden manufacturing defects — a manufacturer recall that grounds a fleet

The decisive rulings are worth knowing because they cut against the airlines. Sturgeon v Condor itself ruled (operative part 3) that “a technical problem in an aircraft which leads to the cancellation or delay of a flight is not covered by the concept of ‘extraordinary circumstances’.” In Jet2 v Huzar (English Court of Appeal, June 2014) the court held that technical problems are not an extraordinary circumstance. In KLM v van der Lans (European Court, September 2015) the court agreed — technical faults and the early failure of a component are not extraordinary. Only a hidden manufacturing defect or sabotage/terrorism damage crosses the line.

That means the most common excuse you will hear at a gate — “a technical issue with the aircraft” — is, on the law, the one that most reliably entitles you to the money rather than excusing the airline from it.

The 2026 reform: amounts kept, process tightened

On 15 June 2026 the European Parliament and the Council reached a political agreement to revise EU261 — the first overhaul in more than two decades. The headline for travellers is what did not change: the Commission states the current protection “is maintained,” with compensation after a 3-hour delay still at €250 / €400 / €600.

What changes:

• Airlines must proactively inform passengers within 96 hours of a disruption, telling them their rights and the procedure for claiming — and must send a pre-filled compensation form within 48 hours.
• A new right to self-rerouting. If an airline fails to provide re-routing within three hours, you can book alternative travel yourself and claim reimbursement — the airline must repay expenses up to 400% of the full ticket price within 14 calendar days.
• Extraordinary circumstances are set out in a list, with refined application rules, to end the country-by-country inconsistency in how the defence is read.
• Clear deadlines: a nine-month deadline for passengers to request compensation and a 12-month deadline for complaints.
• No-show policies for return flights are banned — if you skip the outbound, you can no longer be denied boarding on the return, and no fee may be charged for it.
• Fare transparency improves, including for hand-baggage charges, and airlines must accept a printed boarding pass without extra charge and without forcing an app download.
• Hotel rooms may be capped at three nights when the disruption is caused by extraordinary circumstances.
• Better protection for passengers with reduced mobility, including for essential mobility equipment during disruptions.

The revised rules apply 12 months after formal adoption and publication in the Official Journal — so they are not in force for 2026 travel. The agreement still needs formal endorsement by both institutions.

How to claim — and why the airline will not offer

Two structural facts decide whether you actually get paid.

First, compensation is not automatic in either the EU or the UK. The UK CAA states it plainly: “Compensation is not paid automatically and you will need to claim this directly from your airline in the first instance.” The EU requires the airline to give you a written notice of your rights when you are denied boarding, delayed more than 2 hours at departure, or arrive long-delayed at your final destination — but the notice is not the payment. You file.

Second, the burden of proof favours you on the facts you control. For a cancellation, the airline must prove if and when it told you (Article 5(4)). For the extraordinary-circumstances defence, the airline must prove it — the Commission’s guidance says it should do so with “extracts from logbooks or incident reports,” and that evidence should be available to the national enforcement body as well as to you.

If the airline refuses, the escalation path is the national enforcement body for the country of departure — the EU publishes a PDF list of them. The UK route runs through the CAA. Where claim agencies come in is the tradeoff worth understanding: they take a commission (commonly a quarter to a third of the award) in exchange for handling the filing and the appeals. For a straightforward €250 claim that commission is real money; for a disputed one it may be the difference between collecting and giving up.

Bottom line

The protection you get is set by the departure airport, not your nationality, and the two regimes are not scaled versions of each other:

• Leaving the EU or UK: a delay of 3+ hours at your final destination is worth €250–€600 (EU) or £220–£520 (UK) — with the top band halved (€300 / £260) if you are 3–4 hours late on a long-haul flight — if it was the airline’s fault. “Technical problem” is not an excuse.
• Leaving the US: a delay is worth nothing in cash. But a cancellation or a significant change — 3h domestic / 6h international — gets you an automatic refund in 7 or 20 days, and being bumped on an oversold flight gets you up to $2,150.
• Either way, you have to know the rule. The EU pays only if you claim; the US refunds only if you decline the credit. The airline’s default is the cheaper option for the airline.

If the disruption turns into something worse than a delay — a missed connection that strands you, a medical problem abroad, a lost bag — our emergency travel guide covers what to do when things actually go wrong, and the travel insurance breakdown covers what a policy will and will not pay for once the airline’s obligation ends. Neither replaces the rights above, and the rights above are free — claim them first.