Volotea flight delay and cancellation compensation

Your rights on a Volotea flight

Volotea is a Spanish airline that specialises in point-to-point routes between small and medium-sized cities across southern Europe, with bases spread across France, Italy, Spain and Greece. It holds a Spanish operating licence, which makes it an EU carrier, and EU261 reaches both directions:

• 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 Volotea fall under UK261

Because Volotea connects regional cities directly rather than through a hub, many of its routes are ones no other airline flies, which can make re-routing after a cancellation slower — a right the airline still owes you. Compensation is triggered by a three-hour-plus arrival delay, a cancellation with less than 14 days' notice, or denied boarding after checking in on time.

How much you could receive

• EUR 250 — routes of 1,500 km or less, which covers the bulk of Volotea's short regional flying
• EUR 400 — intra-EU routes over 1,500 km and other routes of 1,500 to 3,500 km
• EUR 600 — the rare route beyond 3,500 km, which its short-haul network seldom reaches

The amount is set by distance, not by the fare, so a cheap promotional seat and a flexible one carry the same entitlement. UK261 uses GBP 220 / GBP 350 / GBP 520, and every passenger with a confirmed booking claims separately.

When Volotea doesn't have to pay

There is no compensation where Volotea proves extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures — severe weather, ATC flow restrictions, airport closures, security incidents or a bird strike.

The burden of proof is the airline's, not yours: it must identify the cause and show what it did to limit the delay, including whether an aircraft or crew could have been repositioned. A strike by Volotea's own staff is generally not extraordinary, while a third-party or ATC strike usually is. Routine technical faults found during ordinary maintenance normally remain the airline's responsibility, and a reactionary delay from an earlier rotation is not automatically excused.

How to claim from Volotea

Keep the booking reference, boarding passes, the notification message, and receipts for anything you paid for yourself, and note the actual arrival time at your destination. Volotea wants claims through its own process and may ask for verification before releasing money.

If a claim is refused without adequate reasoning, it can be escalated to the enforcement body of the departure state — Spain's AESA for Spanish departures, France's DGAC for French ones — or pursued in 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.