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I booked a Nairobi – Amsterdam – London flight with a European carrier. This was booked under one booking, made under one transaction, with one reference number.

The first flight (Nairobi – Amsterdam) was fine. However, my Amsterdam – London flight was cancelled, and I was provided with a later flight that got me to my final destination, with a ten hour delay.

Under EC 261/2004, should I be eligible for:

  • compensation accounting for the whole journey (over 3500km) which entitles me to a compensation of 600 EUR, or
  • compensation accounting for only the Amsterdam – London flight (<1500km), which entitles me to compensation of EUR 250?

I would be grateful for any advice, or recent, relevant cases – I have seen some similar questions here but none that are precisely equivalent. The airline has stated that as the disrupted leg was the Amsterdam – London, I am only entitled to the EUR 250, which I would like to challenge.

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    The regulation appears to be poorly worded in this regard. I'm quite certain that the compensation should be €600, but I can't find an unambiguous source for that.
    – phoog
    Aug 28, 2019 at 21:32
  • Possible duplicate of: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/133042/…
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Aug 28, 2019 at 21:46
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    The regulation is unclear about it, but case law says you should consider the whole journey, not individual segments. Can’t find the relevant case right now, but claimcompass.eu/blog/missed-connection-compensation is quite explicit about it.
    – jcaron
    Aug 29, 2019 at 15:37

1 Answer 1

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According to this summary of case law for EC261:

DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF THE COMPENSATION

With regard to the right to compensation, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 makes no distinction as to whether the passengers concerned reach their final destination by means of a direct flight or an air journey with connecting flights. In both cases the passengers must be treated equally when calculating the amount of compensation. Consequently, when determining the amount of compensation in case of a connecting flight, only the radial distance (‘great circle’ distance) that a direct flight would cover between the departure airport and the arrival airport should be taken into consideration. C-559/16 Bossen: http://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?num=C-559/16

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  • I saw that ruling but it does not seem to be directly applicable to the argument that the distance of only the second leg should be taken into account when it is the second leg that is cancelled.
    – phoog
    Aug 29, 2019 at 17:03
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    @phoog It is absolutely applicable, and in part explicitly states "29. Therefore, when determining the amount of compensation, account should be taken of the distance between the first point of departure and the final destination, excluding any connecting flights."
    – Doc
    Aug 29, 2019 at 18:00

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