How to calculate the size of your claim

In most cases, it’s easy to figure out how much compensation you’re entitled to. In other cases, it’s a little more difficult. Two rulings from the European Court of Justice – C-939/19 and C-559/16 – make it easier to navigate the rules.

If you are denied boarding, delayed or canceled, you are entitled to flight compensation under Council Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of 11 February 2004 (the “Air Regulation”).

The amount of compensation is set out in Article 7(1) of the Air Regulation and depends on the duration of the delay and the distance between the airport of departure and the final destination.

For example, if your flight from New York to Copenhagen is canceled, you are entitled to €600, provided that you have not received notification of the cancellation at least 2 weeks before departure.

Until recently, some airlines claimed that passengers with stopovers were only entitled to compensation according to the distance of the delayed flight: if you had a stopover in Amsterdam on your return flight from New York and it was the route between Amsterdam and Copenhagen that was delayed, the airline claimed that you were only entitled to €250.

However, such a view contradicts a ruling from the European Court of Justice in case C-939/19, where it was established that the amount of compensation must be calculated based on the distance between the original point of departure and the final destination – regardless of any stopovers and flight changes – provided that it is a single booking.

According to Article 7(1), last sentence of the Air Regulation, the basis for determining the distance is “the last destination where denied boarding or cancellation delays the passenger’s arrival after the scheduled time of arrival”.

Article 2(h) of the Aviation Regulation defines the term “final destination” as “the destination indicated on the ticket presented at the check-in desk or, for direct connecting flights, the destination of the last flight; alternative connecting flights that are available shall not be taken into account if the originally scheduled time of arrival is respected.”

Moreover, the concept of “distance” in the case of connecting flights includes the distance between the first point of departure and the final destination, calculated according to the great circle method (the shortest distance between two points on a surface), regardless of the length of the (delayed) flight actually traveled. This is also stated in the European Court of Justice case C-559/16.
In other words, if you imagined (the unthinkable) that you were returning from a vacation in Amsterdam and you chose to fly via New York, you would still only be entitled to €250 if one of your flights was canceled.

If you’re unsure how much flight compensation you’re entitled to, we’d love to help you.