Bucharest Otopeni flight delay and cancellation compensation

Bucharest Otopeni flight delay and cancellation: your rights

Bucharest Otopeni is Romania's main gateway, mixing TAROM's network with a heavy low-cost presence.

Romania is in the EU, so EU261 covers every flight out of Bucharest Otopeni. Land three or more hours late at your final destination and the airline owes a fixed sum, set by distance rather than by fare.

Which rules apply at Bucharest Otopeni

Romania is in the EU, so EU261 covers every departure from Bucharest Otopeni, whoever flies it. A non-European airline leaving here is bound on the same terms as a European one.

An arrival into Bucharest Otopeni is narrower. It is covered only when an EU or EEA airline operates the flight. A flight in from outside Europe on a non-European airline falls outside the rules, even though it lands in the EU.

The sums are fixed by distance, never by the fare:

• €250 on routes up to 1,500 km
• €400 between 1,500 and 3,500 km
• €600 beyond 3,500 km

A cancellation inside fourteen days pays the same, and so does denied boarding.

How long do I have to claim?

Less time than you would have in the UK, and that is the trap on these routes.

The limit follows the country whose courts would hear the claim. Poland's is one year, the shortest in Europe. The UK's is six. A claim still alive in London can be dead in Warsaw.

The reform of EU261 approved in July 2026 replaces the national limits with a single nine-month deadline across the EU, and is expected to apply from the second half of 2027. Until then the national limits stand, so write early rather than late.

What goes wrong at Bucharest Otopeni

Low-cost flying runs on fast rotations, so a delay early in an aircraft's day often lasts to its last. A late inbound aircraft is the most common cause of a late departure.

Winter de-icing, summer storms and European flow limits all feature. Technical faults and crew shortages are the airline's own doing, so the money still stands.

How to claim Bucharest Otopeni flight delay compensation

Start with the flight itself. Our free flight check reads the recorded departure and arrival times for your flight from Bucharest Otopeni and tells you which band it falls in.

Your Bucharest Otopeni 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 Bucharest Otopeni cancellation compensation too. Has the airline said no? The case law summary sets out what the courts make of the usual excuses.