Flight cancelled? Refund + up to €600.
When an airline cancels your flight, it must refund you or find you another flight. And if it told you less than 14 days before departure, it also owes you compensation of €250 to €600 per passenger, unless there is an extraordinary circumstance.
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Cancelled flight: your rights in 30 seconds
01 In all cases, you choose between a refund of your ticket within 7 days and another flight to your destination.
02 Told less than 14 days before? Compensation of €250, €400 or €600 per passenger may be added.
03 A credit note cannot be forced on you: you can insist on a refund in money.
04 While you wait, meals, drinks and a hotel are due, even if the cancellation is caused by the weather.
Refund or another flight: your choice
The airline must offer you three options:
- a refund of the ticket price, within 7 days, for the parts of the journey not made (and, if the journey no longer serves any purpose, for the parts already made, with a return flight);
- re-routing to your final destination at the earliest opportunity, under comparable conditions;
- re-routing at a later date of your choice, subject to seat availability.
Accepting the refund does not make you lose the compensation: the two are separate.
When is compensation added?
It all depends on when you were told and on the times of the replacement flight offered:
| You were told… | No compensation if the replacement flight… |
|---|---|
| 14 days or more before departure | No fixed compensation (but a refund or another flight) |
| Between 7 and 13 days before | departs no more than 2 hours before the scheduled time and arrives no more than 4 hours after |
| Less than 7 days before | departs no more than 1 hour before the scheduled time and arrives no more than 2 hours after |
In all other cases, compensation is due according to the flight distance:
| Flight distance | Example | Compensation per passenger |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | Paris–Rome, Lyon–Porto, Marseille–Algiers | €250 |
| EU flight of more than 1,500 km, or 1,500 to 3,500 km | Paris–Athens, Orly–Marrakech, Paris–Pointe-à-Pitre | €400 |
| More than 3,500 km outside the EU | Paris–New York, Lyon–Montreal | €600 (€300 if the delay is 3 to 4 hours) |
If the replacement flight gets you there with a limited delay (less than 2, 3 or 4 hours depending on the distance), the airline may reduce the compensation by half.
Reasons that may exempt the airline
The airline does not owe compensation if it proves an extraordinary circumstance (in French): dangerous weather, a strike by air traffic control or airport staff, closure of the airspace. On the other hand, a strike by its own staff, a technical problem or “operational reasons” are normally not enough. See also our guide to flights cancelled because of strikes (in French).
What to do if your flight is cancelled?
- Keep the cancellation message: its date is decisive for compensation.
- Note the times of the replacement flight offered, or of the one you took.
- Refuse the credit note if you prefer money: the refund must be made within 7 days.
- Keep the receipts for your expenses (meals, hotel, transport).
- Check your situation for free with Flyora.
Your airline or your airport
By airline (pages in French): Air France · Transavia · easyJet · Ryanair · Volotea · Vueling · Wizz Air · Air Algérie · Royal Air Maroc · Tunisair · Corsair · Air Caraïbes · French bee · Air Austral · Lufthansa · KLM · Iberia · British Airways · Turkish Airlines · Pegasus · Emirates
By airport (pages in French): Roissy-CDG · Orly · Beauvais · Lille · Basel-Mulhouse · Nice · Marseille · Lyon · Toulouse · Bordeaux · Nantes · Algiers · Casablanca · Tunis · Pointe-à-Pitre · Fort-de-France · Réunion · Cayenne
Frequently asked questions
My flight was cancelled 3 days before: how much can I receive?
A refund or another flight, and normally compensation of €250, €400 or €600 per passenger depending on the distance, unless the replacement flight departed no more than 1 hour earlier and arrived no more than 2 hours after the scheduled time, or the airline proves an extraordinary circumstance.
The airline offered me a credit note: do I have to accept it?
No. You can insist on a refund in money within 7 days. The credit note is only an option.
I accepted the refund: can I still claim compensation?
Yes. The ticket refund and the fixed compensation are two separate rights.
My flight was brought forward by several hours: is that a cancellation?
Under European case law, a flight brought forward significantly may be treated as a cancellation. Have your situation checked.
How long do I have to make a claim?
In France, 5 years after the date of the flight, for flights disrupted before the 2026 European reform comes into force.
Sources: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 ↗European Union: passenger rights ↗Service-Public (in French) ↗
Information guide updated on 24 October 2026. It does not replace a review of your case.
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