airBaltic flight delay and cancellation compensation

Your rights on an airBaltic flight

airBaltic is Latvia's flag carrier, built around its hub at Riga, with additional bases in Tallinn, Vilnius and beyond. It holds a Latvian operating licence, which makes it an EU carrier and gives EU261 its full reach:

• Departures from any EU/EEA airport are covered, whoever operates the flight
• Arrivals into the EU/EEA from outside it are covered because airBaltic holds an EU licence
• Departures from the UK, and arrivals into the UK on airBaltic fall under UK261, the retained British version of the same rules, in sterling

airBaltic's network reaches east and south into the Caucasus, the Middle East and North Africa, so the direction rule matters: an outbound flight from Riga is protected on departure, while an inbound leg from a non-EU country is protected because the operating carrier is an EU airline.

Compensation is triggered by arriving at your final destination three or more hours late, a cancellation announced with under 14 days' notice, or being denied boarding on an oversold flight when you checked in on time.

How much you could receive

The amount is fixed by route distance, not by the fare you paid.

• EUR 250 — flights of 1,500 km or less, such as Riga to Vilnius or Warsaw
• EUR 400 — intra-EU flights over 1,500 km, and any other flight between 1,500 and 3,500 km
• EUR 600 — remaining flights over 3,500 km, reached only at the edges of the network

UK261 claims use the sterling bands of GBP 220 / GBP 350 / GBP 520. Each passenger with a confirmed reservation is paid separately, so a family multiplies the figure by the number of travellers. Under Article 7(2) the top figure may be halved where a long-haul re-routing arrives less than four hours late.

When airBaltic doesn't have to pay

There is no compensation where the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures — severe weather, air-traffic-control restrictions, airport closures, security alerts or a bird strike.

• The airline carries the burden of proof. A one-line message blaming "operational reasons" is an assertion, not evidence, and an unsupported claim of bad weather can be tested against the conditions recorded that day.
• A strike by airBaltic's own crew is generally not extraordinary, following EU case law that treats staff disputes as part of running an airline. Strikes by third parties — air-traffic controllers, airport handlers — usually are.

Routine technical faults found during ordinary maintenance normally remain the airline's responsibility.

How to claim from airBaltic

Keep the booking reference, your boarding passes, and any message announcing the delay or cancellation. Ask, in writing, for the reason. Note the actual arrival time at your final destination, since that is the figure the regulation uses.

Response times vary between airlines and between individual claims, and tend to lengthen after mass disruption. If a claim stalls or is refused without a proper explanation, it can be escalated to the national enforcement body in the country of departure — the Latvian Civil Aviation Agency for Riga departures — or pursued in court within the local time limit.

What it costs

The eligibility check is free. If we recover your compensation we charge a fixed EUR 39 success fee — the same whether you're owed EUR 250 or EUR 600 — and the airline's payment goes to you. No win, no fee.