Originally Posted by
LikeaGVI
Perhaps I've misunderstood, but my understanding of EC261 is that in addition to the €600 compensation for delays to your final destination of more than 4-hours an EU carrier (in this case AF) is also responsible for accommodations and food, so well beyond just the €600.
No; the regulation only imposes a requirement of duty of care on the airlines for customers impacted by a cancellation (such as providing accommodation for pax whose replacement flight does not leave until the next day). In your specific case, this means that - had you taken the flight offered on the day after your booked return - AF would have been responsible for putting you up for the extra night required at CPT. It does not require the airline to compensate passengers for any missed tours, missed events, missed job interviews, unused hotel bookings, or any other disruption due to the cancellation/delay.
The amounts of compensation are fixed in the regulation (the longer the flight and the longer the delay, the greater the compensation); airlines may offer you a higher amount if taken in the form of a nonrefundable travel voucher to be spent with that airline, but no airline will offer you a cash amount greater than what is required under the law, regardless of the extent of additional losses you may have sustained.
This means that the regulation is clearly not a replacement for good travel insurance. The regulation is intended as a means of giving the airlines pause before deciding at short notice to cause disruption to their passengers, thereby making it less likely that they would cancel flights without good reason; it is not intended as a measure by which the airlines are further required to "make good" the losses of each individual affected customer.
Your only recourse for those losses is your travel insurance; airlines have no further financial obligation to you beyond the fixed amounts mentioned in the regulation (which in your case is €600).