No US rule pays American Airlines passengers cash for a delay. US law gives an automatic refund after a cancellation or a significant change, 200 % of your fare up to $1,075 or 400 % up to $2,150 for involuntary bumping, and a $4,700 floor on domestic baggage liability. On an itinerary starting at an EU or UK airport, EU261 or UK261 applies instead and pays a fixed €250–€600.
Which rules apply to your American Airlines flight
| The disrupted itinerary | What applies |
|---|---|
| Begins at an EU or EEA airport, or a UK airport | EU261 on an EU/EEA departure, UK261 on a UK departure — a fixed sum by distance band whoever operates the flight (Article 3(1)(a)). US refund and bumping rules still cover the ticket. |
| Begins at a US airport, or any airport outside the EU, EEA and UK | No EU261 or UK261. Article 3(1)(b) reaches an arriving flight only where a Community carrier (or, for the UK, a UK or Community carrier) operates it; American is licensed in the United States. US DOT rules, plus the Montreal Convention on an international trip. |
Amounts and band boundaries are in the EU261 and UK261 amounts table.
The American Airlines case on one-ticket connections
American is the named party in flightright GmbH v American Airlines Inc. (C-436/21, 6 October 2022). The passenger flew Stuttgart–Zurich–Philadelphia–Kansas City on a single electronic ticket issued by a travel agency, with Swiss operating the first leg and American the rest; the last leg landed more than four hours late. The Court held that Article 2(h) covers directly connecting flights even where the legs are operated by carriers with no legal relationship to each other, provided they were booked as a single unit with one ticket and one overall price. A passenger departing an EU airport who arrives three or more hours late at the final destination can therefore claim under Article 7.
That answers the standard refusal — “the delay was on a separate American flight, nothing to do with your European departure”. It is one booking, so it is one journey. Two separate tickets are a different case entirely: see separate tickets and a missed connection.
Where a European American departure lands
Great-circle distance to your final destination on that booking sets the band, and every transatlantic route clears 3,500 km:
| Route | Great-circle | Band |
|---|---|---|
| London Heathrow – Philadelphia | 5,690 km | £520 under UK261 |
| Barcelona – New York JFK | 6,150 km | €600 |
| Madrid – Miami | 7,106 km | €600 |
| London Heathrow – Dallas/Fort Worth | 7,627 km | £520 under UK261 |
| Athens – New York JFK | 7,933 km | €600 |
| Madrid – Dallas/Fort Worth | 7,972 km | €600 |
| London Heathrow – Los Angeles | 8,760 km | £520 under UK261 |
A European departure on American is a €600 or £520 claim; on a through booking the band follows the distance to the last airport on the ticket, not to the US gateway.
One ticket, one journey — whoever flew which leg. C-436/21 was decided on exactly that point, and it was decided against American. If your booking was sold as a single unit at a single price, a connection missed on a partner’s leg does not break the claim.
The US rights, in one screen
The full detail is in US passenger rights; for an American ticket:
- Refunds (14 CFR part 260). A cancellation, or a change of 3 hours or more domestic and 6 hours or more international, entitles you to the fare, taxes and ancillary fees back if you decline the alternative. 14 CFR 260.2 defines “prompt” as 7 business days for a credit-card purchase and 20 calendar days otherwise; 14 CFR 260.10 requires the original form of payment and forbids a processing fee. Use the US DOT refund letter.
- Bumping (14 CFR 250.5). Involuntary denied boarding pays 200 % of the one-way fare capped at $1,075 for a 1–2 hour domestic or 1–4 hour international arrival delay, and 400 % capped at $2,150 beyond that. A volunteer gets the offer accepted at the gate and nothing more.
- Bags. 14 CFR 254.4 bars a carrier from limiting domestic liability below $4,700 per passenger; international bags fall under the Montreal Convention.
- Tarmac delays (14 CFR 259.4). You must be given the chance to leave the aircraft before three hours domestic or four international, with food and water by two hours. No payment attaches to a breach.
What has American itself committed to?
We could not open American’s customer service plan on 6 September 2026 — three candidate pages on aa.com returned 403 or 404 — so this page states none of its contents and publishes no claim URL. DOT maintains an airline customer service dashboard recording which carriers have promised meals, hotels and rebooking for delays and cancellations within their control; we could not open that page either, so read American’s row there yourself. American is on neither CAA-approved UK ADR scheme’s member list (AviationADR and CEDR, read on 6 September 2026), which for a UK departure leaves CAA PACT, and PACT cannot make a binding decision.
What if American refuses the claim?
For a US departure, file with DOT’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection at transportation.gov/airconsumer/file-consumer-complaint. DOT does not order compensation for a delay; it enforces the refund, bumping and baggage rules, and its complaint record is what moves a carrier. For an EU or UK departure, use the enforcement body of the country you left — see where to complain.
The one enforcement pause you should know about
DOT is not enforcing the refund requirements in 14 CFR 260.6, 260.9 and 399.80(l) where a flight is simply renumbered and you are rebooked on the new number with no significant change or delay. The pause began on 5 December 2025 and was extended on 7 July 2026 for one further year while DOT reconsiders what counts as a cancelled flight. The core rule — cancellations, significant changes, delayed bags, services you paid for and did not get — is unaffected.
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.