Tunisair flight delay and cancellation compensation

Tunisair flight delay and cancellation: your rights

Tunisair flies from Tunis, Djerba and Monastir to France, Italy, Germany and beyond. It is a Tunisian airline and it does not hold an EU operating licence.

That splits your rights by direction, and the direction is what most passengers get wrong.

Which leg is covered

• Leaving Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Rome or any EU airport — EU261 applies in full, because the flight departed the EU.
• Leaving Tunis for Europe — EU261 does not apply, because Tunisair is not an EU airline and the flight left a non-EU airport.

So the outbound and the return leg of one trip can sit under different rules. The same three-hour delay is worth €400 in one direction and nothing under EU261 in the other.

Where the regulation does apply, the sums are €250 up to 1,500 km and €400 between 1,500 and 3,500 km. Most routes between Tunisia and Europe fall in those two bands.

Why is my Tunis departure not covered?

Because EU261 reaches an arrival into Europe only when an EU airline operates it. Tunisair is licensed in Tunisia, so the inbound leg falls outside.

It is still worth writing. The airline's own conditions of carriage, and the Montreal Convention for proven costs, can carry a claim the regulation cannot. Keep the boarding pass and every receipt.

How to claim Tunisair flight delay compensation

Start with the flight itself. Our free flight check reads the recorded departure and arrival times and tells you which band your Tunisair flight falls in.

A Tunisair compensation claim turns on two things: the arrival time, and the reason the airline gives.

For a late arrival, read the flight delay compensation guide. For a flight that never flew, read the cancellation compensation guide. It covers Tunisair cancellation compensation too. Has the airline said no? The case law summary sets out what the courts make of the usual excuses.