An agency’s fee is a share of what it recovers. On a €250 claim, a quarter to a third leaves you €167 to €188; on €600 it leaves €400 to €450. The free route is one letter to the airline and, if that fails, one form to a regulator. Both take an evening.
What an agency actually does for the money
Strip away the branding and the work is short. It reads your booking, checks the flight against a delay database, sends the airline a claim in your name under a power of attorney, and chases it. Where the airline refuses, it decides whether the case is worth escalating; the good ones will take a case to court in the airline’s own country, at their own cost and their own risk, and that is the part you genuinely cannot replicate at home.
Everything before that is the letter on this site plus a stamp. Article 7 does not pay more because a company sent the letter, and the enforcement bodies and ADR schemes are free to you either way.
The arithmetic
The largest agencies publish fees between roughly a quarter and a third of what they recover. We do not link to them and we have not re-checked any individual price page today, so treat this as an indicative range and read the fee on the agreement you are asked to sign — some are quoted with tax on top, and several charge a higher rate once a case goes to court.
| Your band | Fee at a quarter | Fee at a third | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| €250 | €63 | €83 | €167 – €188 |
| €400 | €100 | €133 | €267 – €300 |
| €600 | €150 | €200 | €400 – €450 |
| £220 | £55 | £73 | £147 – £165 |
| £520 | £130 | £173 | £347 – £390 |
For a family of four on a €600 route the gap is between €1,600 and €1,800 in your pocket versus €2,400. That is the whole argument in one line, and it is why the free route is worth an evening.
A signed agency agreement is not always easy to unwind. Sign one, then send your own letter, and you can end up owing a fee on money you recovered yourself — the assignment is usually of the claim, not just of the chasing. Decide once, before you sign anything, and if you start on your own, finish on your own.
When an agency is genuinely the better call
There are real cases. Being honest about them is the point of this page.
- The claim needs a court in a country you do not live in. If the airline has refused, the enforcement body has not moved it, and the only step left is litigation in Spain, Italy or Germany, an agency that funds and runs that case is offering something you cannot buy for the price of a stamp. Two-thirds of a payment beats none of one.
- The airline is refusing on extraordinary circumstances and holding the evidence. When it comes down to what the maintenance log or the airport’s operational record says, a party that litigates these weekly and can force disclosure has an advantage you do not.
- A deadline is close. Limitation is national law, not EU law (Cuadrench Moré, C-139/11), and the periods vary from a few years to several. If yours is weeks away and the file needs work, handing it over may beat losing it.
- You will not do it. The honest version of this comparison. A claim you never send is worth nothing, and two-thirds of something is more than all of nothing. If the letter has been on your list for four months, that is data.
Outside those four, the arithmetic above is the answer.
The free route, step by step
- Establish the facts. Actual arrival time at your final destination, scheduled arrival, the reason the airline gave. Screenshot the app before it updates.
- Find your amount. The band comes from great-circle distance in the amounts table — never from the fare you paid.
- Send one letter. The delay letter, the cancellation letter or the denied boarding letter, through the airline’s own claim form, with a 14-day deadline and proof of sending.
- Chase once, in writing, and date it. Silence becomes evidence the moment it is documented.
- Escalate free. In the UK, the ADR scheme the airline belongs to, whose decision binds it; in the EU and EEA, the enforcement body of the country you departed from. Both are free to you: how to escalate.
Total cost: nothing. Total time: an evening, plus a few minutes to chase.
What we cannot do for you
We hand you the letter and the law; we are not acting for you and we do not touch your claim. We cannot check your flight against delay data, we cannot tell you whether the airline’s extraordinary-circumstances defence will hold on your facts, we cannot chase the airline, and we cannot take anyone to court. If your case reaches the point where those things are what is needed, the choice between paying someone and dropping it is a real one — make it with the numbers above in front of you.
Is it hard to claim compensation yourself?
The claim is a one-page letter with your flight details, the article you are relying on and the amount. The airline’s own form takes about fifteen minutes. Escalation is a form to a regulator with the airline’s answer attached. Nothing in the process requires a lawyer, and nothing in Article 7 pays differently depending on who sends it.
Do airlines pay individuals less than agencies?
Article 7 sets one sum per distance band for every passenger on the flight. An airline can be slower with an individual, and it may open with a voucher offer — that is what the chaser letter and the free escalation route are for. The amount itself does not change.
What about a no-win-no-fee promise?
It means you pay nothing if nothing is recovered, which is a real transfer of risk on a weak case. On a strong case — a clear three-hour arrival delay with no extraordinary-circumstances argument — the risk being transferred is small and the fee is not. That is the trade to weigh.
More on the industry and how to read an agreement: claim it yourself vs claim agencies.