Tools · T 04 · 12 clocks · checked 2026-09-06

Every clock on your claim, from one date

A claim is rarely lost on the law. It is lost on a date nobody wrote down. Put in the day it happened and this page turns every rule that could apply into a real date — the ones you have to meet, and the ones the airline has already missed. Each row names the article it comes from, so you can quote it.

JavaScript is off, so the date box above does nothing and this page shows the rules instead of dates. Every row below says how long the clock runs and what it runs from — count from your own date and the answer is the same one the calculator would give you.

Only two kinds of clock end a claim outright. The Montreal Convention's written-complaint windows — 7 days for a damaged bag, 21 for a late one — and the limitation periods: two years under Montreal, six in England and Wales, five in Scotland, one year to put an APPR claim to a Canadian carrier. Every other date on this page is a “should have paid by”. Missing one costs the airline its excuse, not you your claim — so put it in the letter.

EU261 / UK261 — Regulation (EC) No 261/2004

Clock	Who must act	The rule	Your date	Status	Based on
Airline must refund the ticket	The airline	7 days from the day you chose a refund over a re-route.	—		Reg. (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 8(1)(a) — "reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3)". Art. 7(3) sets the means of payment, and lets a voucher replace money only with your signed agreement. Source

United Kingdom — ADR and the courts

Clock	Who must act	The rule	Your date	Based on
Refer a UK claim to the ADR scheme	You	365 days from the airline's final response (or 8 weeks of silence).	—	UK ADR scheme rules (CAA-approved schemes accept complaints up to 12 months after the final response) Source
Court claim in England & Wales Ends the claim	You	6 years from the day the cause of action accrued — the flight date.	—	Limitation Act 1980, s.9 — "An action to recover any sum recoverable by virtue of any enactment shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued." Source
Court action in Scotland Ends the claim	You	5 years from the day the obligation became enforceable — the flight date.	—	Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, s.6 — an obligation that has subsisted for five years without a relevant claim is extinguished. Sch. 1 para. 1(g)–(h) brings in obligations arising from a contract and obligations to make a payment arising under an enactment. Source

Montreal Convention 1999 — baggage and delay

Clock	Who must act	The rule	Your date	Based on
Written complaint for damaged baggage Ends the claim	You	7 days from the day you received the bag.	—	Montreal Convention 1999, Art. 31(2) Source
Written complaint for delayed baggage Ends the claim	You	21 days from the day the bag was returned to you.	—	Montreal Convention 1999, Art. 31(2) Source
Court action under the Montreal Convention Ends the claim	You	2 years from the day the aircraft arrived (or should have).	—	Montreal Convention 1999, Art. 35 Source

United States — Department of Transportation refund rules

Clock	Who must act	The rule	Your date	Status	Based on
US airline must refund a card payment	The airline	7 business days from the day the refund became due. Business days. 14 CFR Part 260 does not define the term in any text we could open, so the calculator shows both counts — weekends only, and weekends plus US federal holidays. Chase on the earlier one.	—		14 CFR 260.10 (2024 refund rule — prompt refunds) Source
US airline must refund a non-card payment	The airline	20 days from the day the refund became due.	—		14 CFR 260.10 (2024 refund rule — prompt refunds) Source

Package travel

Clock	Who must act	The rule	Your date	Status	Based on
Package organiser must refund	The airline	14 days from the day the package was cancelled.	—		Package Travel Directive (EU) 2015/2302, Art. 12(4); UK PTR 2018 reg. 14 Source

Canada — Air Passenger Protection Regulations

Clock	Who must act	The rule	Your date	Status	Based on
File an APPR claim with the carrier Ends the claim	You	1 year from the day the delay or cancellation happened.	—		Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150), s.19(3) — the request must be filed "before the first anniversary of the day on which the flight delay or flight cancellation occurred", so the last safe day is the day before that anniversary. Source
Carrier must answer an APPR claim	The airline	30 days from the day the carrier received your request.	—		Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150), s.19(4) — "The carrier must, within 30 days after the day on which it receives the request, provide the compensation or an explanation as to why compensation is not payable." Source

What counts as a US federal holiday

The eleven legal public holidays are set by statute, and a holiday that falls on a Saturday is observed the Friday before, one that falls on a Sunday the Monday after. The calculator computes them; it stores no list. For 2026 that gives 11 observed dates: 2026-01-01, 2026-01-19, 2026-02-16, 2026-05-25, 2026-06-19, 2026-07-03, 2026-09-07, 2026-10-12, 2026-11-11, 2026-11-26, 2026-12-25.

New Year's Day — January 1
Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. — third Monday in January
Washington's Birthday — third Monday in February
Memorial Day — last Monday in May
Juneteenth National Independence Day — June 19
Independence Day — July 4
Labor Day — first Monday in September
Columbus Day — second Monday in October
Veterans Day — November 11
Thanksgiving Day — fourth Thursday in November
Christmas Day — December 25

Sources: 5 U.S.C. § 6103 for the holidays and the Saturday rule, and the OPM published schedule for the observed dates. Checked 2026-09-06.

What is deliberately missing

There is no row for the national limitation period of France, Germany, Spain, Italy or the Netherlands. Those periods exist, and they differ — but we have not read the national code for each one, and the figures circulating online come from claim companies and contradict each other. A wrong limitation period is the one mistake on this site that could cost you a claim outright, so the rows are absent until each is checked against the national text. Until then: what we do know about time limits by country, and ask the national enforcement body.

There is also no row for “when the airline must reply”. Outside Canada, no regulation sets one. Fourteen days is the convention our letters use because it is what the England and Wales pre-action rules expect of a defendant — not because a statute says so.

Every rule on this page was read against its own statute on 2026-09-06. Dates are computed in your browser in UTC; nothing is sent anywhere. This is general information, not legal advice.