Claiming for a delayed flight, a cancelled flight or overbooking (AESA)

Regulation (EC) 261/2004 protects passengers in three situations: a significant delay, cancellation of the flight and denied boarding (what is commonly known as overbooking, where the airline sells more seats than it has). It gives you three sets of rights: information, care (food, drink, accommodation and transport where appropriate) and, depending on the case, a refund or alternative transport plus financial compensation.

The Regulation applies to flights leaving an airport located in Spanish territory or in any other European Union country, whatever the airline. It also applies to flights leaving a country outside the EU bound for a Spanish or European airport, provided the airline is a Community carrier (one from the European Union).

In Spain, the body that enforces these rights is AESA (Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea, the Spanish air safety agency). AESA has jurisdiction over flights leaving an airport in Spanish territory and over flights leaving a third country bound for Spain when the airline is a Community carrier.

Article 7 of the Regulation sets the financial compensation according to the distance of the flight: 250 euros for flights of up to 1,500 kilometres, 400 euros for all flights within the European Union of more than 1,500 kilometres and for all other flights of between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres, and 600 euros for the remaining flights (those of more than 3,500 kilometres outside the European Union).

In the case of a delay, you are entitled to this compensation when you reach your final destination 3 hours or more after the scheduled arrival time. In the case of cancellation and of involuntary denied boarding (overbooking) you are also entitled to the compensation, except for the exceptions set out below.

The airline may reduce the compensation by 50% when it offers you alternative transport whose arrival time does not exceed the originally scheduled time by more than 2 hours (flights of up to 1,500 km), 3 hours (EU flights of more than 1,500 km and other flights of between 1,500 and 3,500 km) or 4 hours (all remaining flights).

These amounts are the ones set by law and do not depend on the price you paid for your ticket. The compensation is paid in cash, by bank transfer or by cheque; it can only be paid in vouchers or travel credit if you accept that in writing.

These rules (the 3 hour threshold and the compensation of 250, 400 and 600 euros) are the ones in force as at the date of this guide and the ones that apply to you today. It is worth knowing that in July 2026 the European institutions approved a revision of the Regulation that will raise the delay threshold and adjust the compensation; those new rules are not yet in force and are expected to start applying in 2027, after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and a period of adaptation. Until then, the current text applies.

Regardless of the compensation, the airline must provide you with care (Article 9) while you wait: enough food and drink for the waiting time, two communications (telephone calls or emails), and accommodation and transport between the airport and the hotel when an overnight stay is necessary. This right to care starts from 2 hours of delay on flights of up to 1,500 km, 3 hours on EU flights of more than 1,500 km and other flights of between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and 4 hours on the rest.

If the delay reaches 5 hours, or if your flight is cancelled, you can choose between a full refund of the ticket (which must be paid within 7 days) or having the airline offer you alternative transport to your destination, at the earliest opportunity or on another date that suits you.

Keep every receipt for the costs you incur (meals, hotel, transport, an alternative ticket you buy yourself): they are the basis for claiming those costs back on top of the compensation.

The first step is always to claim directly from the airline, by the means it indicates (its website, its form, its email address or its hoja de reclamaciones, the official complaints form). Explain what happened, state what you are claiming and attach the ticket, the boarding pass and the receipts for your expenses.

The airline has one month to reply. If it does not answer within that period, or if it rejects your claim and you do not agree, you can go to AESA. The claim to AESA must be filed before one year has passed since you filed the prior claim with the airline.

AESA handles the matter as alternative dispute resolution: it gives the airline the opportunity to be heard, examines the documents and issues a decision within 90 calendar days from the moment the file is complete, extendable only for as long as is strictly necessary in particularly complex cases. The decision is binding on the airline, which then has one month to comply with it. It is not binding on you: if you are not satisfied, you always keep the option of the civil courts.

You can file the claim with AESA online (with a digital certificate, the DNI electrónico or Spanish electronic ID card, or Cl@ve, the shared electronic identification system for dealing with the Spanish authorities), in a part online, part in person format, or in person at the authorised registry offices.

In the case of cancellation, the airline is not obliged to pay the compensation if it informed you at least 14 days in advance, or if it gave you less notice but offered you alternative transport within the timing margins set by the Regulation.

Compensation is also not due when the incident is caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided (for example, very adverse weather conditions, security risks or a strike outside the airline). The burden of proving that those circumstances apply lies with the airline, not with you.

Important: an ordinary technical fault in the aircraft is not usually treated as an extraordinary circumstance, and the right to care (food, drink, accommodation) remains even when the incident is due to an extraordinary cause. That is why it is best not to write the claim off as lost without reviewing the case properly.

Managora prepares and files the claim for you, from start to finish. We analyse whether your flight falls under the Regulation, we calculate the compensation you are owed according to the distance, we draft the claim and we address it first to the airline.

If the airline does not reply in time or refuses to pay, we file the claim with AESA on your behalf and follow it up until it is resolved. All you have to do is give us the flight details and the documents (ticket, boarding pass and receipts for your expenses).

You can see the current price of the service on the page for the AESA claim procedure.