Denied boarding: overbooking, volunteers and what you are owed

When an airline expects to deny boarding on a flight, it must first call for volunteers to surrender their reservations in exchange for benefits it agrees with them, in addition to the assistance you are entitled to. If you volunteer, agree the exact terms in writing before you give up your seat.

If not enough people volunteer, the airline may deny boarding against passengers’ will — and then it must immediately compensate them and assist them.

• Compensation at the flat amounts used for delay and cancellation in the EU (EUR 250, 400 or 600). In the UK the CAA’s pages set out the rules and the amounts in pounds.
• A choice between reimbursement within seven days (with a return flight where relevant), re-routing at the earliest opportunity, or re-routing later.
• Care while waiting: meals and refreshments, two communications, and accommodation with transport where an overnight stay is needed.

The right depends on your confirmed reservation and on having checked in at the time the airline told you in writing or, if it gave none, no later than 45 minutes before the published departure time; passengers transferred by the airline from another flight are also covered.

The US has its own rule for involuntary denied boarding (14 CFR 250). Compensation there is a multiple of the one-way fare, capped at dollar amounts set in the rule, and depends on how late the replacement flight arrives; read the current rule on eCFR or the Department of Transportation site rather than relying on a summary.

The EU institutions reached a political agreement in June 2026 on revised air passenger rights; the Parliament and the Council still have to formally endorse it, and the Commission says the revised rules would apply 12 months after adoption and publication. They are not yet applicable: the rules on this page are the ones in force today.