Norwegian flight delay and cancellation compensation

Norwegian flight delay and cancellation claims pay €250 to €600 per passenger under EU261, which applies in Norway through the EEA. You qualify if you land three or more hours late at your final destination, if Norwegian cancels with under 14 days' notice, or if it denies you boarding. A cheap seat carries the full entitlement.

Why does EU261 cover a Norwegian flight delay if Norway is not in the EU?

Norwegian is a low-cost carrier based in Oslo. Norway is not in the EU, but it is a member of the European Economic Area, and the EEA applies Regulation 261/2004 in full. Norwegian holds a Norwegian operating licence, so it is an EU/EEA carrier and EU261 reaches both directions:

• Departures from any EU/EEA airport — including Oslo — are covered whoever operates the flight
• Arrivals into the EU/EEA from a third country are covered because Norwegian holds an EEA licence
• UK routes — UK261 applies to departures from the UK and to arrivals into the UK on Norwegian

Where a flight is operated under a Norwegian code by a partner, the claim follows the operating carrier.

How much does a Norwegian delay or cancellation pay?

Compensation is due when you arrive at your final destination three or more hours late, when a flight is cancelled with less than 14 days' notice, or when you are denied boarding on an oversold flight after checking in on time.

• EUR 250 — routes of 1,500 km or less, such as Oslo to Copenhagen
• EUR 400 — intra-EU routes over 1,500 km and other routes of 1,500 to 3,500 km, which covers most flying to Spain, Greece and the Canaries
• EUR 600 — the small number of routes over 3,500 km

UK261 uses GBP 220 / GBP 350 / GBP 520. Low-cost pricing does not thin your rights: EU261 cannot be reduced or waived by an airline's terms, so a cheap seat and an expensive one carry the same entitlement, and each named passenger claims separately.

When Norwegian doesn't have to pay

The airline avoids compensation only by proving extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures — severe weather, air-traffic-control restrictions, airport closures, security alerts or bird strikes.

The burden of proof is the airline's. It must identify the cause and show what it did to limit the consequences, including whether an aircraft or crew could have been repositioned. A strike by Norwegian's own staff would generally not be extraordinary; a third-party or ATC strike usually would be. Routine technical faults found in ordinary maintenance normally remain the airline's responsibility.

How do you claim from Norwegian, and where can you escalate?

Keep the booking reference, boarding passes, the notification message, and receipts for meals or a hotel if none was provided. Note the actual arrival time at your destination.

Response times vary between claims and lengthen after mass disruption. Where a claim is refused without adequate reasoning, it can go to the national enforcement body in the country of departure — the Norwegian civil aviation authority for departures from Norway — to a dispute-resolution scheme, or to court within the applicable limitation period.

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.

How to claim Norwegian compensation

Start with the flight itself. Our free flight check reads the recorded times for your Norwegian flight and tells you which band it falls in, in about two minutes.

For the law behind the figure, the flight delay compensation guide covers arrival delays and the cancellation compensation guide covers a flight that never operated. If Norwegian has already refused you, the case law summary sets out what the courts have said about the usual excuses.