Introduction
If you experience a flight delay or are denied boarding, or experience a flight cancellation you may be entitled to compensation or if downgraded a partial refund on the fare when your AA operated flight departs from the European Union, Norway, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom.

Summary
On 17 February 2005, the European Union implemented Regulation 261/2004 (hereafter known as EC/261), designed to give protection to air passengers for delays, cancellations, downgrades and cases of denied boarding throughout the European Union, and also to flights operated by European Union airlines. All flights, from all airlines including American Airlines leaving the European Union, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are covered.

Airlines are obliged to inform passengers about their rights at check-in, and to provide more detailed information upon request. The burden of proof for most of the regulations lies with the airline, so it is up to them to prove they informed you of cancelled services or that the cause of the delay was "extraordinary circumstances".

Scope of EC/261 and the equivalent UK legislation
These regulations cover the following areas

• Denied boarding (you turn up at the airport on time but are not allowed on to your booked service)
• Downgrades (flying at a lower class than booked)
• Delays (when you arrive late at your destination)
• Cancellations (when AA cancels your service altogether)

For the purposes of the regulations, you need to have a confirmed reservation, accepted and registered by the airline, and presented yourself for check-in before the deadline.

Categories of flights
First thing to understand is which category does your flight fall under? This determines the level of compensation payable. For AA operated flights from Europe to the United States, this will be category 3 (3,501 km and higher)

Denied boarding
If the flight is overbooked, AA is supposed to ask for volunteers, i.e. passenger who are prepared to travel on another flight in return for compensation. This level of compensation is open to AA to define.

If involuntary denied boarding is necessary then the compensation is as outlined below. This provision also applies for those wrongly denied boarding for reasons other than overbooking. For example if an airline refuses travel because they had wrongly assumed the passenger did not possess the correct travel document or entry clearance. Note that just because some other website suggests that the flight looks overbooked does not mean that AA will be denying boarding or downgrading.

Downgrades
If AA downgrades your class of travel you are entitled to a refund on your ticket. This is 75% of the affected segments of that ticket.

Delays and cancellations
Cancellations and delays against your final arrival time entitle you to a duty of care, and in many cases compensation. This area has recently been clarified in appeal judgements. To simplify a complex area, delays greater than 4 hours on AA flights from Europe to the United States can result in compensation of �600 per person, or �520 per person on flights from the United Kingdom, if AA was responsible for that delay.

Duty of care
AA should offer a duty of care to passengers facing travel disruption in all situations where you hold a confirmed reservation and the flight departs from Europe. The regulations specifically include food, drink, hotel accommodation if any overnight delay, and communications. If you have access to a lounge then it is unlikely to be reasonable to ask for additional food and drink vouchers, unless the lounge facilities have only a restricted range of refreshments.

Changes to existing bookings
If you are given more than 14 days notice of a change then you are not entitled to compensation for the delay. You are entitled to a refund or a rebooked service, it's your decision.

How much do I get?
This section applies for delays, cancellations and denied boarding. Below gives the standard amount of compensation payable if you are delayed by more than the number of hours shown. Note that an airline is able to invoke "extraordinary circumstances" as a reason for not paying compensation for delays and cancellations, but not for denied boarding or downgrades.

For delays (not cancellations)
To be clear: a flat delay, without rerouting and/or cancellation, needs at least 3 hours late against the advertised arrival time, and doors opened ready for passengers to leave. So probably for most passengers, where they find themselves waiting at an airport, or waiting for take off, for a long period - it's only the arrival time / door open that matters and if must be at least 3 hours for eligibility for any compensation applies. For AA transatlantic (over 3,500 km) then you will get full compensation after a 4 hour delay, and a reduced 50% rate for delays between 3 and 4 hours. This is purely for delays, and it is calculated on arrival time, not all the hanging around at departure.

A Reduced Amount (50% reduction) applies if AA re-routes you on another service that gets you to your destination, see the next section on cancellations. If you are NOT rerouted, just delayed, AND your delay is below three hours, you are not eligible for compensation the regulations.

There is often confusion in this area and part of the reason for this is that there is nothing written in the Regulations about paying compensation for delays. The law has changed as a result of judicial rulings that have related delays to the Regulation's wording on cancellations.

For cancellations
For cancellations and/or when you are rerouted on to another service, some shorter delays attract a half rate payment. If the reroute involves departing less than an hour early, AND arriving less than 2 hours late at the original destination airport, there is no compensation, no matter what (Regulation 5.1.c.iii).

Which delays not entitled to compensation?
Weather delays, strikes, Airport Traffic Control problems. Basically any item outside American Airlines' direct control. Plus all delays 3 or 4 hours, unless AA re-routes you. The appeal rulings certainly gives protection from 3 hours, but since the original Regulations did not clearly specify delay compensation there is a potential gap here.

What about technical failures causing delays?
Broadly speaking airlines cannot use technical failure to avoid their responsibilities in this area, and therefore compensation is payable. However it is possible for some technical failure to be considered �extraordinary circumstances�

What about knock-on effects?
This relates to disruption caused by aircraft being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, leading to you being disrupted. For example if you are due to fly from London to New York but your aircraft is still stuck in Boston due to a blizzard. In that situation you should be entitled to compensation.

My flight was outside Europe, am I still covered?
As far as AA flights are concerned, these regulations apply only to flights departing the EU, the European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland. Liechtenstein). plus Switzerland and the United Kingdom. AA flights departing from the United States to Europe are not covered

Are Award bookings covered?
Yes.

Contacting AA
You need to contact the operating airline as only it is responsible for providing compensation to affected passengers. The AA email address for EC 261 claims is [email protected]

Useful links
The 2024 BA compensation thread: Your guide to Regulation EC261 / UK261

EU clarification on EC261/2004
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes...16)3502_en.pdf