easyJet owes the standard fixed amounts — €250, €400 or €600 under EU261, £220, £350 or £520 under UK261 — for a three-hour arrival delay, a cancellation with under 14 days’ notice, or denied boarding. Which figure applies is set by distance in the amounts table, not by your fare.
Which regime applies to your easyJet flight
| Your flight | Regime |
|---|---|
| Departs a UK airport | UK261 — sterling amounts, UK CAA route and ADR |
| Departs an EU airport, or arrives in the EU from outside on an EU carrier | EU261 — euro amounts, enforcement body of the departure country |
A UK departure that lands in the EU on an EU carrier sits under both. You claim once and name the regime. Both regimes fix the amount by distance, so on a short- and medium-haul network the realistic outcomes are £220 or £350, €250 or €400 — and Article 7(1)(b) caps any flight with both ends inside the EU at €400 however far it goes.
Check which easyJet entity operated your flight
Our carrier file records easyJet Airline Company Limited as registered in England, which is why this page treats easyJet as a UK carrier. We did not verify which group entity holds the operating licence for any individual flight. If a non-UK easyJet entity operated yours, the Article 3(1)(b) inbound test can come out differently — read the “operated by” line on your booking, and see which airline actually owes you.
easyJet argued against the three-hour rule and lost
The Court of Justice decided two references together in Nelson and TUI Travel. In the second, C-629/10, the applicants were TUI Travel plc, British Airways plc, easyJet Airline Company Ltd and IATA, asking the English court to declare that the Civil Aviation Authority could not enforce compensation for long delays. On 23 October 2012 the Court held that a loss of three hours or more carries the Article 7 sum. If a reply implies delays are outside Article 7, that is the case to name.
Two forms, not one — this is the easyJet-specific trap
easyJet’s delays and cancellations page links two separate claim routes, and they do different jobs:
- easyjet.com/en/claim/EU261 — the fixed compensation under Article 7.
- easyjet.com/en/claim/welfare — the meals, hotel and transport you paid for during the disruption.
Sending receipts through the compensation form, or asking for the fixed sum through the welfare form, is the most common way an easyJet claim stalls. File both, separately, with the same booking reference.
Expenses are owed even when compensation is not
The two rights come from different articles. Article 7 compensation can be excused by extraordinary circumstances. The right to care in Article 9 cannot: meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the wait, a hotel and transport where you have to stay overnight, and two calls or emails. The care thresholds are in Article 6(1) — 2 hours for flights of 1,500 km or less, 3 hours for intra-EU flights over 1,500 km and other flights of 1,500–3,500 km, 4 hours for everything else.
A “no” on compensation is not a “no” on expenses. If easyJet refuses the Article 7 payment on weather or an air-traffic-control restriction, submit the welfare claim anyway with itemised receipts. Use the expenses letter wording.
If easyJet refuses
- UK flights. easyJet is on the CAA’s list of airlines signed up to AviationADR. Go to ADR after a final response, or after eight weeks with no reply, and within 12 months of that final response. The adjudicator’s decision binds the airline; you can still decline it and go to court.
- EU flights. Use the national enforcement body of the country you departed from — the European Commission publishes the list.
More in if the airline refuses.
Is compensation separate from a refund?
Yes. The fixed sum is on top of your right under Article 8(1)(a) to a refund or re-routing on a cancellation, or on a delay of five hours or more. A refund must come within seven days, in cash or by bank transfer, and a voucher only if you agree in writing. See refund or re-route.
easyJet re-routed me and I still arrived late. Do I get less?
Only if the re-routing landed you within the Article 7(2) window for your band — 2, 3 or 4 hours of your original arrival. Outside that window the full amount stands. Ask which limb of Article 7(2) easyJet is relying on and what arrival time it is using.
easyJet offered a voucher. Do I have to take it?
No. Article 7(3) allows a voucher only with your signed agreement. Ask for payment by bank transfer instead, and keep the exchange in writing.
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.