Eurowings flight delay and cancellation compensation

Your rights on a Eurowings flight

Eurowings is the Lufthansa Group's low-cost carrier, licensed in Germany and built around bases at Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn. Because it holds a German operating licence it is an EU carrier, and EU261 reaches both directions of travel:

• Departures from any EU/EEA airport, whoever operates the flight
• Arrivals into the EU/EEA from outside it, because the operating carrier is an EU airline
• Departures from the UK, and arrivals into the UK on Eurowings fall under UK261, the retained British version of the same rules

Compensation is triggered by three things: arriving at your final destination three or more hours late, a cancellation announced with less than 14 days' notice, or being denied boarding on an oversold flight when you checked in on time. The amount is fixed by the route distance, not the price of the ticket.

How much you could receive

• EUR 250 — flights of 1,500 km or less, such as Düsseldorf to Vienna
• EUR 400 — intra-EU flights over 1,500 km, and any other flight between 1,500 and 3,500 km, such as Cologne to the Canaries or Hurghada
• EUR 600 — remaining flights over 3,500 km, which Eurowings reaches on its longer leisure routes

UK261 claims use the sterling bands of GBP 220 / GBP 350 / GBP 520. Everyone on the booking with a confirmed reservation is paid separately, and business or economy makes no difference. Under Article 7(2), the airline may halve the top figure where a long-haul re-routing lands under four hours late.

When Eurowings 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.

Two points are widely misunderstood. The airline carries the burden of proof: a one-line message blaming "operational reasons" is an assertion, not evidence. And a strike by the airline's own crew is generally not extraordinary, whereas strikes by third parties such as air-traffic controllers or airport handlers usually are. Routine technical faults found during ordinary maintenance normally remain the airline's responsibility.

How to claim from Eurowings

Keep the booking reference, your boarding pass, and any message announcing the delay or cancellation, and note the actual arrival time at your final destination. Like most carriers, Eurowings wants claims through its own process and may ask for identity or payment verification before releasing money.

If a claim stalls or is refused without a proper explanation, it can be escalated to Germany's conciliation body for public transport (söp), to the national enforcement body of the departure state, 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.