Swiss owes €250, €400 or €600 when you arrive three or more hours late, when it cancels with under 14 days’ notice, or when it denies you boarding. Switzerland is in neither the EU nor the EEA, but Regulation 261/2004 applies there anyway: the EU–Switzerland air transport agreement writes it into Swiss law, and the Federal Office of Civil Aviation enforces it.
Article 7 names cancellation and denied boarding. The identical sum after a three-hour arrival delay comes from Sturgeon (C-402/07 and C-432/07, 2009), upheld in Nelson (C-581/10 and C-629/10, 2012). The bands are in the amounts table.
How an EU regulation reaches a non-EU country
Decision No 1/2006 of the Community/Switzerland Air Transport Committee, of 18 October 2006, amended the Annex to the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on Air Transport. Its Article 4(1) adds to point 6 of that Annex: “No 261/2004 Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 … establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights … (Articles 1-18)”.
That is the whole mechanism. There is no separate Swiss compensation scheme with its own amounts, and nobody needs to argue about whether Switzerland “counts”. FOCA’s own page puts it flatly: the office monitors compliance with Regulation (EC) 261/2004, and the term “EU Member State” within the meaning of Article 3 of the Air Passenger Rights Regulation includes Switzerland (based on the bilateral air transport agreement) as well as Norway and Iceland (EEA states).
Which regime applies to your Swiss flight
| Your flight | Regime |
|---|---|
| Departs an airport in Switzerland, the EU or the EEA | EU261 amounts — €250, €400 or €600; the body is the state you left, FOCA for a Swiss departure |
| Arrives from a third country | Into Switzerland: FOCA’s page says covered, because the operating airline’s principal place of business is in Switzerland. Into an EU airport: outside the Regulation as the EU applies it — Article 3(1)(b) needs a Community carrier, and Swiss holds a Swiss licence, not an EU one |
Two consequences follow. Zurich to New York, delayed five hours: claim. New York to Zurich, delayed five hours: FOCA’s published reading of Article 3 covers it, because Swiss has its principal place of business in Switzerland. A departure from a UK airport is UK261 — £220, £350 or £520 — and goes down the CAA route instead. The general grid for carriers outside the EU is in does EU261 cover non-EU airlines.
Where the bands land from Zurich and Geneva
Great-circle distance to your final destination sets the amount. From the airport coordinates this site ships:
| Route | Great-circle | Band |
|---|---|---|
| Zurich – Frankfurt | 286 km | €250 |
| Zurich – Paris CDG | 476 km | €250 |
| Geneva – London Heathrow | 754 km | €250 |
| Zurich – Barcelona | 856 km | €250 |
| Zurich – Lisbon | 1,723 km | €400 |
| Zurich – Tel Aviv | 2,809 km | €400 |
| Zurich – New York JFK | 6,310 km | €600 |
| Zurich – Bangkok | 9,054 km | €600 |
| Zurich – Singapore | 10,306 km | €600 |
Swiss runs a dense short-haul network from a central hub, so most of its European flying is the €250 band and the long-haul programme is the €600 one, with comparatively little in between. The measuring rule is in how flight distance is measured.
FOCA will not make Swiss pay you. Its own page says: “Although FOCA is unable to enforce compensation payments, our administrative penal proceedings could motivate airlines to make payments to the passengers.” It adds that a passenger can lodge a civil claim with the relevant court if the airline does not pay voluntarily. So file with FOCA to put the breach on the record and apply pressure — but plan the claim on the basis that the money is collected in a court, not by the regulator.
Where to send a Swiss claim
We could not open Swiss’s own passenger-rights page: swiss.com returned HTTP 403 to every automated request we made on 6 September 2026, including its own site root, so we do not publish a claim URL here. Find the current form from the airline’s own help pages, keep the reference, and send the same text by email. Give the booking reference, all flight numbers, and the actual arrival time at your final destination.
After a refusal, a Swiss departure goes to FOCA through its online form, which asks for a signature, the booking and identification. A departure from an EU state goes to that state’s body instead. For a UK departure, neither CAA-approved scheme listed Swiss on 6 September 2026, which leaves CAA PACT, and the CAA says PACT cannot make a binding decision: see escalate to the regulator.
Check the “operated by” line before you name anyone. Swiss belongs to a group that sells several brands, and Article 2(b) puts the obligation on the airline that operated the flight, not on the one whose code is printed on the ticket.
Is a Swiss flight from a non-EU country to Zurich covered?
FOCA’s page says yes: departures from third countries to Switzerland are covered where the flight is operated by an airline with its principal place of business in the EU, Switzerland, Norway or Iceland, and Swiss qualifies. The same flight arriving at an EU airport instead is a different question, because the EU’s own Article 3(1)(b) requires an EU or EEA operating licence.
Does Swiss have to pay in francs or euros?
The Regulation states the sums in euro, and it is the currency to claim in. Article 7(3) also decides the method: cash, electronic bank transfer, bank order or cheque, and a travel voucher only with your signed agreement. Work out your figure in the compensation calculator before you reply to any offer.
Rules in force today
This is the law that applies to a flight you take today. A revision of Regulation 261/2004 was adopted in July 2026 — the Parliament approved the conciliation text on 7 July 2026 and the Council gave final approval on 13 July 2026 — and it is not yet in force: it applies 12 months after it enters into force following publication in the Official Journal, and the final text sets the details. See what the 2026 EU261 reform changes.