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Explainers

Operating vs marketing carrier: who you claim from

EU 261 puts every duty on the airline that flew the plane. Here is how to identify it on your booking.

Legal referenceEU 261, Art. 2(b); Van der Lans C-257/14

EU 261 places every obligation — compensation, re-routing and care — on the "operating air carrier", the airline whose aircraft and crew performed the flight. The marketing carrier that sold the ticket is not the one you claim from.

How to tell them apart

Check your booking confirmation and boarding pass for the words "operated by …". The operating carrier’s code appears on the flight number used on the day of travel. When in doubt, the airport’s departure record names the operator.

This matters for escalation too: you address your claim, and any complaint, to the operating carrier’s national enforcement body — usually in the country the flight departed from. In Van der Lans the Court also confirmed an operating carrier cannot dodge liability for an ordinary technical fault.

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