I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, so feel free to redirect me if necessary. I received the following email from Lufthansa, but I’ve only filed a claim once before with Austrian Airlines for my parents on the same route through Vienna (VIE) and had no issues. Now, they are considering the entire journey, not just the canceled flight. Is this correct? In this case, the flight from the U.S. to Frankfurt (FRA) was technically canceled. Any thoughts on this?

"Kindly note that Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 applies to flights departing from EU member states and flights arriving in EU member states from third countries. As your journey starts in the United States and ends in North Macedonia we cannot accommodate your request for compensation according to Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004."