EU261 pays a fixed €250, €400 or €600 whatever your loss. The Montreal Convention pays what you can prove you lost, capped at 1,519 SDR for baggage and 6,303 SDR for delay. They are different systems and both can apply to the same flight; Article 12 stops you being paid twice.
The Court settled this in 2006
Airlines argued that the Regulation could not exist alongside the treaty. In IATA and ELFAA (C-344/04, 10 January 2006) the Grand Chamber disagreed and drew the line the whole field now uses. The Regulation deals with standardised, immediate damage — the inconvenience every passenger on the flight suffers equally. The Montreal Convention deals with individual damage you have to prove. In the Court’s words, the standardised measures “do not themselves prevent passengers concerned, should the same delay also cause them damage conferring entitlement to compensation, from being able to bring in addition actions to redress that damage under the conditions laid down by the Montreal Convention.”
So the answer to “can I claim both?” is yes, subject to the deduction rule below.
What each one covers
| EU261 / UK261 | Montreal Convention | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An EU regulation (retained in UK law) | A treaty in force in over 130 states |
| What triggers it | 3+ hour arrival delay, cancellation under 14 days’ notice, denied boarding, downgrade | Delay, and destruction, loss or damage to baggage, on an international journey |
| What you get | A fixed sum by distance band, plus care and a refund or re-routing | Proven loss, up to a cap |
| Do you prove loss? | No. The fare and your actual costs are irrelevant | Yes. Receipts, valuations, evidence |
| Airline’s escape | Extraordinary circumstances it could not have avoided | All reasonable measures were taken (delay); for baggage the cap applies, and the carrier is liable for damage to checked bags almost regardless of fault |
| Which flights | By departure or arrival airport and the operating carrier — see who is covered | Any international carriage between two states party to it, whichever airline |
The practical difference: EU261 is the one you can claim on one page with no evidence of loss. Montreal is the one that pays when your loss is much bigger than a fixed band — a ruined week of a trip, a replacement wardrobe, a suitcase that never came back.
Article 12: both, but not twice
Article 12(1) decides the whole question in two sentences: “This Regulation shall apply without prejudice to a passenger’s rights to further compensation. The compensation granted under this Regulation may be deducted from such compensation.”
Read it in order. Your right to further compensation survives — the fixed sum is a floor, not a settlement of everything. But a court awarding you that further compensation may set the EU261 payment against it. It is a discretion, not an automatic subtraction, and it bites only where the two payments are for the same damage.
Worked example. A flight from Helsinki to Bangkok, 7,908 km, arrives eleven hours late. EU261 pays €600 for the arrival delay, no receipts needed. Separately you can prove you paid for a hotel night you never used and a missed pre-paid transfer worth €340. Those are individual losses under Article 19 of the Convention, and you claim them with evidence. If a court awards both, it can decide the €600 already covers part of the €340. What it will not do is refuse the €600 because you also had a hotel booking.
The treaty text says 1,000 SDR. The limit today is higher
If you open the Convention as published in the Official Journal, Article 22(2) reads “limited to 1000 Special Drawing Rights for each passenger”. That is the 1999 text, and it is not the number that applies to your bag. Article 24 of the Convention makes the limits reviewable every five years against inflation, and the review that took effect on 28 December 2024 set the current figures:
| Montreal limit | Current | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Baggage | 1,519 SDR | Destruction, loss, damage or delay of baggage (Art. 22(2)) |
| Passenger delay | 6,303 SDR | Damage from delay to passengers (Art. 22(1)) |
| Death or injury | 151,880 SDR | Art. 21 |
An SDR is an IMF unit, not a currency you hold. It was worth about US$1.37 on 4 September 2026, so the baggage cap is roughly US$2,080 — an approximation that moves daily. Quote the SDR figure in your letter and let the airline convert it.
The clocks are the sharpest difference
| Step | EU261 / UK261 | Montreal Convention |
|---|---|---|
| Written complaint | No fixed deadline in the Regulation | 7 days for damaged baggage, 21 days for delayed baggage, from when you got the bag (Art. 31) |
| Bringing a claim | National limitation law — 6 years in England and Wales, 5 in Scotland, 3 in Germany | 2 years from arrival, and it is a hard cut-off (Art. 35) |
The 21-day baggage clock is the one that ends claims. It is not a limitation period you can argue about later: miss the written complaint window under Article 31 and the carrier can refuse the whole baggage claim. Send something in writing the day the bag comes back, even if you do not yet know what it cost you. Use the delayed baggage letter.
Can I claim EU261 and Montreal for the same flight?
Yes. They compensate different things: EU261 the standardised inconvenience, Montreal your provable individual loss. IATA and ELFAA (C-344/04) confirmed they coexist. Article 12(1) lets a court deduct the fixed sum from a further award for the same damage, so you are not paid twice for one loss.
Does the Montreal Convention pay for a delayed flight?
Article 19 makes the carrier liable for “damage occasioned by delay in the carriage by air of passengers, baggage or cargo”, capped at 6,303 SDR per passenger. It pays proven costs, not a fixed sum, and the carrier escapes if it proves it took all reasonable measures. It is worth pursuing when your real losses run well past the EU261 band.
Can I claim punitive damages from an airline?
No. Article 29 states that in any action for damages “punitive, exemplary or any other non-compensatory damages shall not be recoverable”. The Convention channels international-carriage claims into its own conditions and limits, so a claim dressed up as something else does not escape them.
Next: the full baggage rules in the Montreal Convention for baggage, or your fixed sum in the EU261 and UK261 amounts table.