Bulgaria Air flight delay and cancellation compensation

Your rights on a Bulgaria Air flight

Bulgaria Air is Bulgaria's flag carrier, hubbed at Sofia and connecting Bulgaria with European cities and destinations around the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. It holds a Bulgarian 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 Bulgaria Air holds an EU licence
• Departures from the UK, and arrivals into the UK on Bulgaria Air fall under UK261, in sterling

Because the network extends beyond the EU into the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean, the direction rule matters: an outbound flight from Sofia 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 price of the ticket.

• EUR 250 — flights of 1,500 km or less, such as Sofia to Vienna or Athens
• 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 GBP 220 / GBP 350 / GBP 520. Each passenger with a confirmed reservation is paid separately, and the fare and cabin make no difference. Under Article 7(2) the top figure may be halved where a long-haul re-routing arrives less than four hours late.

When Bulgaria Air 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 citing "operational reasons" is an assertion, not evidence, and an unsupported claim of bad weather can be tested against the recorded conditions.
• A strike by Bulgaria Air'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. The right to care — meals, communications and a hotel overnight — survives even where compensation does not.

How to claim from Bulgaria Air

Keep the booking reference, 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, and keep receipts for anything you paid for yourself.

Response times vary between airlines and between individual claims, and tend to lengthen after mass-disruption events. If a claim is refused without a proper explanation, it can be escalated to the national enforcement body in the country of departure — the Bulgarian Civil Aviation Administration for Sofia 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.