Helsinki HEL delay compensation

Rules on a departure

EU261

Destinations here

5

Longest route

JFK · 6,607 km

Which rules cover a flight at HEL

Leaving HEL. EU261 applies to every departure on this site's routes from here, whichever airline is operating. UK261 reaches some of them as well, depending on where the flight is going or who operates it.

Arriving at HEL. Coming the other way the rules do not line up with the airport, so this is by route: EU261 covers 3 of the 5, whatever the airline, and 2 more only on an EU airline; UK261 covers 1 of the 5, whatever the airline, and 4 more only on a UK airline; US DOT covers 1 of the 5, whatever the airline; nothing else reaches an arrival here.

The trap on an inbound flight is that EU261 and UK261 follow the airline when the flight is arriving from outside, while they follow the airport on the way out — so a return leg can be uncovered when the outbound one was covered, or covered for a reason that has nothing to do with HEL. A claim is judged on the flight you were actually on. Each route page below sets out both directions.

What that pays, by distance from HEL

Under the EU and UK rules the amount is set by the great-circle distance to the final destination, not by the fare. From HEL the routes here fall into 4 bands: 1 over 3,500 km, 2 within the EU, over 1,500 km, 1 1,500 to 3,500 km, 1 up to 1,500 km. Compensation starts once you arrive 3 hours late at the final destination. On a flight over 3,500 km that leaves the EU for somewhere outside it, the first hour band is reduced: €300 under EU261 and £260 under UK261 for 3 to 4 hours late, the full amount from 4 hours. A flight that stays within the EU pays the flat €400 from 3 hours however far it goes, with no reduction — which is the band HEL–TFS falls in here.

Amounts are per passenger for a delay the airline is responsible for, read off the rule's own table at this distance. Where two are shown, the first is for arriving 3 to 4 hours late and the second from 4 hours — the reduction the EU and UK rules apply over 3,500 km. This column is the flight out of HEL; the return can be covered by something else, and each route page sets out both directions.

If the airline says no

A flight out of HEL that the airline refuses to pay goes to Consumer Disputes Board, which the European Commission lists for Finland for individual complaints from private consumers — the Commission lists 3 for Finland in all, because EU261 complaints follow the country of departure. The Finland page has its contacts and the routes it covers. Whichever body it is, it is the second step: write to the operating airline first, keep the reply, and claim for free — the fee comparison shows what a claim company would take out of the same payment.

Sources: coordinates from OurAirports country file (FI), checked 2026-10-20; amounts and thresholds from Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, its UK version, SOR/2019-150 and 14 CFR Part 260, checked 2026-10-20. General information, not legal advice.