When does EU261 cover an AJet flight delay?
AJet flight delay compensation pays €250 to €600 per passenger when your flight left an EU or EEA airport and reached its final destination three or more hours late. A cancellation with under fourteen days' notice, or denied boarding, also qualifies. Flights out of Turkey fall outside EU261, because AJet holds a Turkish licence, not an EU one.
AJet is the low-cost carrier of the Turkish Airlines group, flying from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen and Ankara across Europe. It is licensed in Turkey, which puts it outside the EU for these purposes and decides how far your rights reach.
- Departing any EU or EEA airport — EU261 applies in full, whoever operates the flight.
- Departing Turkey for Europe — EU261 does not apply, because the flight left a non-EU airport on a non-EU carrier.
- Departing the UK — UK261 applies, in sterling.
The asymmetry surprises people on a return booking: the Berlin–Istanbul leg is covered and the Istanbul–Berlin leg is not, even though it is one reservation and one airline.
What a delayed flight pays
Amounts are per passenger, not per booking. A delay of 3–4 hours over 3,500 km may be reduced by half under Article 7(2).
How much is a delayed or cancelled AJet flight worth?
The amount comes from the distance, never from the fare — a promotional seat and a flexible one on the same route are worth exactly the same:
| Route distance | Compensation per passenger |
|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | €250 |
| 1,500 to 3,500 km, which covers most of AJet's European network | €400 |
| Beyond 3,500 km | €600 |
It is owed per passenger. The trigger is arriving three or more hours late at your final destination, a cancellation with less than fourteen days' notice, or denied boarding on an oversold flight.
Does a cheap AJet ticket mean lower compensation?
A cheap ticket attracts the same statutory sum as an expensive one, and the airline cannot scale the payment to the fare. Nor does booking through a third-party site change who owes you: the claim runs against the operating carrier.
Where a delayed AJet sector causes you to miss an onward flight on the same booking, the delay is measured at your final destination rather than at Istanbul. Our missed connection guide covers how that works, and the delay compensation guide sets out the bands in full.
What evidence should you keep after an AJet delay?
Ask the desk for the cause in writing, keep the boarding pass, and note when the doors actually opened rather than when the aircraft landed. That last detail can decide a borderline claim.
How do you claim AJet flight delay compensation?
Start with the flight itself. Our free flight check reads the recorded departure and arrival times for your AJet flight and tells you which band it falls in, in about two minutes.
A AJet compensation claim turns on the arrival time and on the reason the airline gives, so read both before you write. The flight delay compensation guide sets out the bands, and the cancellation compensation guide covers AJet cancellation compensation for a flight that never operated. If the airline refuses, the case law summary sets out what the courts have accepted as an excuse and what they have thrown out.
Check what you're owed
What you need to claim
- Your flight number and date
- The airports you flew between
- Roughly how late you arrived
- Your booking reference, if you still have it
No boarding pass? We can usually work from the flight number and date alone.