Missed connecting flight: who is responsible

A single booking with connecting flights is treated as one journey. The Court of Justice has held that a passenger on directly connecting flights who arrives at the final destination three hours or more after the scheduled arrival time can claim compensation even when the delay on the first flight was below the assistance thresholds.

It has also held that carriage under a single booking with a scheduled stopover outside the EU and a change of aircraft can fall under the EU rules when the journey starts at an EU airport — the journey is looked at as a whole.

Two separate tickets are different: as general guidance, treat each as its own contract, so the second airline may owe you nothing for a connection you missed because the first flight was late. Read both tickets’ terms, and check any travel insurance for missed-connection cover.

• After a cancellation or denied boarding you may choose re-routing to your final destination or a refund (Regulation 261/2004, Article 8). After a long delay the rules can also give a refund option (see the refund guide for the five-hour test); in other cases ask the airline what it will offer and keep its answer in writing — see the refund and rebooking guides.
• Care while you wait — meals, refreshments, communications and, where a night is needed, accommodation with transport.
• A written note of the actual arrival time at the final destination: it decides any compensation.

Compensation follows the same distance bands and defences as any delay (see the delay guide): a three-hour arrival delay at the final destination, and no compensation if the airline proves extraordinary circumstances.

In the United Kingdom, UK261 applies the same three-hour arrival test, with amounts in pounds, to flights departing UK airports and to flights arriving at UK airports on UK or EU airlines, according to the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

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.