How does EU flight delay compensation work for multi-leg trips?

Question

I have a question about compensation under EU laws for my flight.

We booked tickets from Venice to Lima with Air Canada. We had two layovers, first in Brussels and second in Montreal. Our first two flights were on time, but the last one (Canada-Peru) was delayed by 4 hours. Are we still eligible for compensation even if the delay happened outside of the EU, since our original ticket is from Italy? All tickets were bought on the same reservation made directly with Air Canada, they were not bought as part of multi city trip or anything like that.

Answer 1

Historically most non-EU airlines have claimed that EU261 did not apply in situations like you've described due to the delay not occurring within the EU, and the legislation itself wasn't clear on whether these type of delays were covered or not.

This changed in May of 2018 when the European Court of Justice ruled in "Wegener v Royal Air Maroc" and stated that if the trip commenced in the EU, then the entirety of the trip was covered by the legislation - including subsequent connections that occur outside of the EU. This ruling creates a precedent that then applies for subsequent claims under EU261.

Of course, the usual rules around EU261 apply - including exceptions for certain delays that are excluded for purposes of compensation - but in general this would be considered a covered delay.

Answer 2

Yes. Multi-leg flights are considered as if they were a single flight, and only the arrival time at the final destination counts.

Note that this is the case only because you were departing from within the EU. It would not have worked the other way around (as it's not an EU carrier).

Answer 3

As in the situation you described, you might be eligible for compensation. Under EU law, it's the final destination which counts to calculate the length of delay, as you described, you reached later than 4 hours, so you may get up to 600€.

When the delay exceeds 3 hours, you can claim money back up to 600 Euros. It's even valid for connecting flights if booked under the same leg.
_{(Source: https://www.claimflights.co.uk/flight-delay-compensation)}

You may contact directly the airlines, if they deny, I would recommend you to contact claim companies (Flight Right, Claim Flights, EU Claim, or Airhelp), who does the Job professionally. And may even know if you are entitled to compensation.