Explainers
Distance bands: how €250 / €400 / €600 is decided
Your amount depends on distance, not ticket price — plus the one situation where the airline can halve it.
Legal referenceEU 261, Art. 7
Your compensation depends only on the great-circle distance of your flight — not the ticket price, and not the length of the delay beyond the three-hour threshold that triggers it.
- €250 — flights up to 1,500 km
- €400 — all intra-EU flights over 1,500 km, and any other flight between 1,500 and 3,500 km
- €600 — flights over 3,500 km between an EU and a non-EU airport
The 50% reduction
On the €600 band the airline may halve the amount to €300 if it re-routed you and your arrival delay stayed under four hours (under three hours on the €400 band, under two hours on the €250 band) — Art. 7(2).
Distance is measured to your final destination, which is why a short final leg can still sit in a high band on a connecting itinerary (see the Folkerts ruling).
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