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Article 7(1) · great circle
Distance bands
EU261 and UK261 pay by distance, not by fare: €250 / £220 up to 1,500 km, €400 / £350 up to 3,500 km, and €600 / £520 beyond — with a flat €400 for any EU-internal flight over 1,500 km.
- 1Short band to 1,500 km
- 2Medium band to 3,500 km
- 3EU261 €250–€600
- 4UK261 £220–£520
| Band | EU261 | UK261 | Care from | Routes here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | €250 | £220 | 2 hours | 17 |
| 1,500 to 3,500 km | €400 | £350 | 3 hours | 12 |
| Over 3,500 km | €600 | £520 | 4 hours | 18 |
| Within the EU, over 1,500 km | €400 | — | 3 hours | 6 |
Why distance and not price
The regulation fixes compensation as a flat sum so that it does not depend on what you paid: a passenger on a promotional fare and one on a flexible business ticket get the same amount on the same flight. Distance stands in for the inconvenience. Canada's rules took the other route and pay by hours late, and the US pays nothing for delay at all, so these bands matter only for EU261 and UK261.
The same thresholds also set when care starts (a departure delay of 2, 3 or 4 hours) and how close a replacement must land for the airline to halve the payment (2, 3 or 4 hours). The distance guide works through the calculation.
Which band is your flight in?
Measure the great circle between the airport you first departed from and the airport you finally arrived at — the 53 route pages do this for common pairs and the checker does it for any pair of the 36 airports listed. Then check two things: whether both airports are in the EU (if so, and the flight is over 1,500 km, the intra-EU amount applies under EU261), and whether the claim falls under EU261 or UK261 at all, which depends on where the flight left from and who operated it. The band pages below list every route on the site by band, from shortest to longest, with the rules that can apply to each.
Source: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (EUR-Lex); UK Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 7 (legislation.gov.uk). Checked 2026-10-20.