HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET PAID FOR A FLIGHT COMPENSATION CLAIM?

You filed a claim months ago. You have had a couple of generic emails telling you it is being processed. The money has not arrived. Meanwhile, the airline has moved on completely.

This is the standard experience when you go through a commission-based claims service. The model works by collecting thousands of cases, negotiating them in bulk, and paying passengers out at the end of a long pipeline. For people with valid EU261 claims, that often means waiting 3 to 12 months — sometimes longer. And when the payout finally comes, the service takes 25 to 35 percent off the top. On a 600 euro claim, that is over 200 euros gone before you see anything.

The alternative is to file directly. Under EU Regulation 261/2004, you have a statutory right to fixed compensation. The airline cannot negotiate the amount down. You can write a demand letter today, submit it yourself, and keep every euro the airline pays.

Am I eligible?

You qualify for EU261 compensation if:

• Your flight departed from an airport in the EU, Norway, Iceland, or Switzerland — any airline qualifies on this basis
• Or your flight was operated by an EU-registered carrier and arrived into an EU airport

You are owed compensation if:

• Your flight arrived at its final destination 3 or more hours late
• Your flight was cancelled with less than 14 days' notice
• You were denied boarding because the flight was overbooked

Your nationality makes no difference. An American passenger on a flight leaving Paris or Barcelona is fully covered under EU261, regardless of which airline operated it.

One deadline worth knowing: you have 3 years from the flight date to file in most EU countries. In the UK, the limitation period is 6 years under the Limitation Act 1980. If you have been waiting for a third party to act on your behalf and time is running short, filing directly now is the safer and faster move.

How much am I owed?

Compensation under EU261 is fixed by Article 7(1) of EU Regulation 261/2004. It is based on route distance, not ticket price.

• Routes under 1,500 km: €250
• Routes between 1,500 and 3,500 km: €400
• Routes over 3,500 km: €600

A 50 percent reduction applies only if the airline re-routed you and delivered you to your destination within 2 hours of your original arrival time on short routes, or within 4 hours on long-haul. That is the only exception.

These amounts are statutory. Filing directly does not change what you are owed — it just means no one takes a cut of it.

Step by step: how to claim

1. Confirm you qualify. Check your departure airport (EU, UK, Norway, Iceland, or Switzerland), your arrival delay at the final destination (3 or more hours), and the cause the airline gave. You can check your eligibility free before you write a word.

2. Gather your documents. You need your booking confirmation, flight number, date, and departure and arrival airports. Any email from the airline about the disruption is useful. A boarding pass helps but is not required.

3. Investigate the cause. This step matters more than most passengers realise. Under Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia (C-549/07), the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that technical faults are not extraordinary circumstances — they are a normal cost of operating an airline. If the airline told you the delay was mechanical, their standard extraordinary circumstances defence will not hold. Ask them to prove it.

4. Write a demand letter. Your letter needs to cite Article 7(1) of EU Regulation 261/2004, state your actual arrival delay at the final destination (not the departure delay), name the flight and date, and give the airline 14 days to respond. Send it to their customer relations department.

5. Submit through the airline's claims portal. Most major carriers have an online EU261 form. If there is no online form, send by tracked email or registered post.

6. Set a 14-day reminder. If the airline does not respond within that window, you have grounds to escalate immediately.

7. Escalate if ignored. File a complaint with the National Enforcement Body (NEB) for your country. In the UK, that is the Civil Aviation Authority at caa.co.uk/passengers. In Germany, the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt. In France, the DGAC. These bodies can compel airlines to pay, and filing costs you nothing.

What if they say no?

Airlines run through a small set of standard rejection arguments. Here is what to expect and how to respond.

"Extraordinary circumstances"

The most common rejection. If the cause was a technical fault, a crew scheduling problem, or a maintenance issue, the airline is applying the law incorrectly. Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia (C-549/07) settles this: mechanical faults are not extraordinary circumstances, and the burden is on the airline to prove otherwise. Write back with the case citation and ask for a revised decision.

"Your delay was under 3 hours"

Confirm your actual arrival time at the final destination. Under Sturgeon v Condor (C-402/07), compensation is calculated on arrival delay, not departure delay. A flight that departs only 90 minutes late but arrives 4 hours late at your destination qualifies. The airline knows this. Cite the ruling.

"You accepted a voucher"

Accepting a travel voucher does not waive your right to cash compensation. Article 7 of EU261 gives you the right to fixed monetary compensation. Ask again, in writing, and request the statutory amount.

No response at all

After 14 days with no reply, file immediately with your NEB. You can also pursue the claim through small claims court in most EU countries, typically without needing a lawyer for claims of this size.

How GetMyFlightCash can help

Writing a regulation-citing demand letter and tracking the follow-up is manageable, but it takes time most people would rather spend elsewhere. getmyflightcash.com generates a complete claim package for 12.99 euros flat. That includes the demand letter with the correct citations for EU261 and Wallentin-Hermann, the airline-specific submission URL, a rejection response script for the standard pushbacks, a pre-drafted NEB complaint ready to copy, and a follow-up email set for day 15. You keep 100 percent of whatever the airline pays — no commission, no percentage off the top.

The bottom line

Months of waiting through a commission service is not the only path. EU261 compensation is a statutory right, the amounts are fixed, and the airline cannot negotiate them down. Filing directly puts you in charge of when the clock starts and what you keep at the end.

Check your eligibility free →

Find out in minutes whether you qualify and exactly how to claim it.