Care starts at two hours’ delay on flights up to 1,500 km, three hours up to 3,500 km and four hours on longer ones: meals, a hotel if you have to stay a night, and transport to it. Article 6(1) of Regulation 261/2004 sets those thresholds. Weather and strikes excuse the compensation, never the care.
[Your full name]
[Your address]
[Email]
[Phone]
[Today's date]
[Airline name] — Customer Relations / Claims
[Airline claims address or online claim form]
Re: Duty of care expenses, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Articles 6 and 9
Flight [Flight number]
Route [Departure airport] to [Final destination airport]
Date of flight [Flight date]
Booking reference [Booking reference]
Dear Sir or Madam,
Flight [Flight number] on [Flight date] was [delayed / cancelled], and I
waited [Hours and minutes late] before I was carried to my destination.
The airline did not provide adequate
[meals / overnight accommodation / transport to the accommodation],
so I paid for them myself.
Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 sets the point at which care
becomes due — two hours for flights of 1,500 km or less, three hours for
intra-Community flights over 1,500 km and other flights between 1,500 and
3,500 km, four hours for all other flights. Article 9 sets out what is
owed. The obligation applies whatever the cause of the disruption.
I claim reimbursement of the following necessary and reasonable expenses,
receipts enclosed:
Meals and refreshments [Currency] [Amount]
Hotel, [Nights] night(s) [Currency] [Amount]
Transport to and from it [Currency] [Amount]
Total [Currency] [Total]
Please reimburse [Currency] [Total] within 14 days to: [Payment details].
This is separate from any compensation due under Article 7.
Yours faithfully,
[Signature]
[Your full name]
How to use it
- Group the receipts into the three lines in the letter and total them. Attach scans in the same order.
- State the wait honestly and name your distance band, so the airline can see the Article 6(1) threshold was passed.
- Claim what was necessary and reasonable — a modest meal, a standard hotel room, a taxi or train.
- Send it separately from any compensation claim, so one refusal cannot answer both.
- Keep the originals until you are paid.
Care survives an extraordinary-circumstances refusal. In McDonagh v Ryanair (C-12/11, 2013) the Court of Justice held that the duty of care in Articles 5(1)(b) and 9 applies even in extraordinary circumstances, with no time limit and no money cap written into the regulation. If the airline says the weather means it owes you nothing, that answer only covers the fixed compensation.
How much can I claim for a hotel?
What was necessary, appropriate and reasonable in your circumstances — the standard the Court used in McDonagh. That means a normal airport hotel at the price actually available that night, not a suite, and not the cheapest room you could have found with a day’s notice. Airlines routinely challenge alcohol, luxury hotels and expensive restaurant meals. Work out the numbers first with the care and expenses calculator.
Does this apply if I was already paid compensation?
Yes. Article 7 compensation is for the disruption itself; Articles 6 and 9 cover the money you spent because the airline did not look after you. They are separate obligations in the same regulation, and a payment under one is not a settlement of the other. Say so if the airline treats your compensation as covering both. If you also hold travel insurance, read how it interacts with an EU261 claim before you claim the same expenses twice.
What about a US flight?
There is no statutory right to care on a US domestic itinerary. Meals and hotels for delays within the airline’s control come from each carrier’s own published commitments rather than from a regulation — see US passenger rights for how those are enforced. Those commitments are enforceable because the DOT treats a carrier’s own published promise as binding on it, but they vary by airline and they are not a fixed entitlement.
One more thing to keep in mind while you are still in the airport. Ask a member of staff for the vouchers before you pay for anything yourself, and note the time and the name of whoever refused. A refusal on the record turns a reimbursement request into a straightforward claim, because the airline then has to explain why it did not provide what Articles 6 and 9 require. If staff refuse outright rather than just being slow, the airline refused you a hotel letter puts that specific refusal in writing.
If the delay also ran to three hours or more at your destination, send the delay compensation letter as well. If the airline refuses both, escalate to the regulator with the receipts attached.