A claim against a German airline is time-barred three years after the end of the calendar year in which the flight went wrong: a 2026 flight dies on 31 December 2029. Before court you have two free routes — the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt and the travel conciliation body. The Mahnbescheid is the paid shortcut.
The three-year clock, and why it ends at New Year
BGB § 195 sets the ordinary limitation period at three years. BGB § 199(1) says it does not start on the day of the flight: it starts at the end of the calendar year in which the claim arose and you knew who owed you. So every claim from a given year expires together, at midnight on 31 December three years later.
There is no EU-wide deadline — the Court of Justice held in Cuadrench Moré (C-139/11, 22 November 2012) that each country sets its own. Germany’s is one of the more generous. It is also one of the easiest to misread: people assume “three years from the flight” and file in the spring of the fourth year.
Two free routes to try first
The conciliation body. The Schlichtungsstelle Reise & Verkehr — the body formerly branded söp — handles disputes between travellers and transport companies. Its English pages state that it is free of charge for consumers, with no fees to pay, and that you come to it after a complaint to the company has not produced a satisfactory answer. What it issues is a conciliation recommendation. Its own site does not say the company must accept it, so treat the outcome as a strong proposal rather than an order.
The enforcement body. The Luftfahrt-Bundesamt is Germany’s national enforcement body for Regulation 261/2004 and takes complaints in English. Its form pages ask for the complete file up front — booking, flight details, what the airline wrote back. An enforcement body’s job is to police the airline’s conduct, not to hand you a cheque, so run it in parallel with your own claim rather than instead of it.
Both are worth doing before you spend money. Neither stops the three-year clock, so watch the date.
What a Mahnbescheid actually is
The Mahnverfahren is a paperwork-only court procedure for a money claim. You apply for a Mahnbescheid — an order to pay — and the court issues it without examining whether your claim is any good. If the airline does nothing for two weeks, you can ask for a Vollstreckungsbescheid, which is enforceable.
You file it through online-mahnantrag.de, the interactive application form run under the Baden-Württemberg justice ministry, and mahngerichte.de is the joint portal of the courts that process it. That portal states the automated procedure has been introduced in all federal states and processing follows uniform rules across them; it lists twelve central dunning courts, including Berlin-Wedding, Hünfeld, Stuttgart and Hamburg-Altona. Which one is yours depends on where you live, and the portal has a finder. We have not verified the rule that applies to applicants living outside Germany, so use the finder before you file rather than guessing a court.
The portal and the forms are in German. The application asks for a precise figure in euro, so decide your amount from the amounts table before you start.
A Mahnbescheid is not a judgment, and the airline can stop it with one sentence. If it lodges a Widerspruch within two weeks, nothing has been decided. The file then moves into ordinary proceedings if you ask for that and pay the rest of the court fee — a normal lawsuit, in German, with the airline’s lawyers on the other side.
Is the Mahnverfahren worth it for one flight?
It is fast and cheap while the airline stays silent, and useless the moment it objects. Airlines that fight EU261 claims routinely lodge a Widerspruch. Use it when the airline has gone quiet or has already conceded the facts in writing, not when it has refused you on extraordinary circumstances.
Can I claim in English?
Write to the airline in English and complain to the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt in English. The court procedure is German. If your case is heading to a German court, the language, the fee schedule and the filing rules are all reasons to take advice locally rather than translate a template.
Which airlines does this route cover?
Any airline you would sue in Germany — Lufthansa and its group carriers, Eurowings, Condor, and foreign airlines with a German establishment. Which company operated your flight decides who you name; see which airline actually owes you.
If you are not sure the claim is strong enough to be worth a court file yet, start with what to do when the airline refuses.