In short: every rule on this site is checked against a primary or official source, which we list at the end of each guide. Every guide shows when its facts were last reviewed. We correct mistakes promptly and say so. AI tools may help us research and draft, but no fact is published until a member of the team has checked it against a source. AirHelp pays us a commission for successful claims started through our links, but it does not write, review or approve our content.
Who writes our guides
Our guides are written and checked by the EU261 Flight Delay editorial team, the people behind our Hungarian sister site Járatkésés.hu, which has covered air passenger rights since 2021. The site is operated by WeOnline Kft.. We publish under a team byline rather than invented personal names, and we do not present anyone as a lawyer or expert unless they are one. We are not a law firm and our guides are general information, not legal or tax advice.
Our source hierarchy
When sources disagree, we follow this order and say so on the page if the difference matters:
- The law itself: the text of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 on EUR-Lex, the UK version (UK261) on legislation.gov.uk, the Montreal Convention, and national statutes such as the Limitation Act 1980.
- Court judgments: rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU (via EUR-Lex or curia.europa.eu) and of UK courts (via official or recognised law report sources). We only describe a case after reading the judgment or a reliable official summary.
- Regulators and official bodies: the UK Civil Aviation Authority, national enforcement bodies, the European Commission and Your Europe, GOV.UK, HM Courts & Tribunals Service, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, the Courts Service of Ireland, nidirect and HMRC.
- Dispute bodies and official channels: ADR schemes such as AviationADR and CEDR, and airlines’ own published claim forms, conditions of carriage and contact details.
- Reputable secondary sources: consumer organisations such as Citizens Advice, Which? and MoneySavingExpert – used to cross-check, not as the only basis for a legal statement.
- Commercial sources (claim companies, including our partner) only for facts about themselves, such as their own fees – always linked to the page we read and dated.
We do not use forum posts, social media or unsourced articles as evidence for a rule. Where we could not find a reliable source – for example, there is no HMRC statement specifically about flight compensation – we say that, rather than filling the gap.
How a guide is made
- Questions first. We start from what travellers actually ask: search data, readers’ e-mails and the questions official bodies answer.
- Research. We read the primary sources and note every fact with the page it came from and the date we read it.
- Drafting. We write in plain British English. Where both regimes can apply, we give UK261 amounts in pounds and EU261 amounts in euros, and say which rules cover which flights.
- Fact-check. Before publication, every legal statement, amount, deadline and fee is checked against its source. Anything we cannot verify is removed or clearly marked as uncertain.
- Sources and dates. Each guide lists its sources and shows the “Last reviewed” date.
Money, dates and data
- Amounts are those in the law: £220 / £350 / £520 under UK261, €250 / €400 / €600 under EU261, per passenger. They are maximums; whether they are due in a particular case depends on the facts.
- Fees and court costs are quoted from the official fee lists or the provider’s own pricing page, with the date we checked them.
- Statistics come from published data, mainly the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s punctuality statistics, processed as described in our methodology. We do not publish statistics we cannot trace to a data set.
- Tools such as the compensation checker and the flight distance calculator explain how they reach their result.
Review cycle and dates
Every guide shows a Last reviewed date: the date on which we last checked its facts against the sources. We aim to review each guide at least once a year, and we review it sooner when:
- the law changes – for example the 2026 reform of the EU regulation or a change to UK261;
- a significant judgment is published;
- an official fee list, ADR membership list or airline claim channel changes;
- a reader reports a possible error.
We do not change the date without actually reviewing the page.
Corrections
If you think something on this site is wrong or out of date, write to us at contact@eu261flightdelay.com or via our contact page, with the page address and, if possible, a source. We check every report. If we find an error of substance – a wrong amount, deadline, fee or rule – we correct the page, update its review date and, where the correction changes advice readers may have relied on, add a short note on the page saying what changed and when. Typos and broken links are fixed without a note.
Use of AI tools
We may use AI tools to help with research (for example, finding relevant official pages), structuring and drafting text, translation from our Hungarian sister site, and checking pages for inconsistencies. The rules are simple:
- no fact, figure, case or quotation produced by an AI tool is published unless a member of the team has verified it against a source we list;
- AI tools are never used to invent people, reviews, testimonials, case studies or statistics;
- the editorial team is responsible for everything we publish, however it was drafted.
Independence from AirHelp
We earn money from one source: our affiliate partnership with AirHelp. If you start a claim with AirHelp through our links and it succeeds, AirHelp pays us a commission out of its own fee; your compensation is not reduced. The full terms are in our affiliate disclosure.
- AirHelp does not write, review or approve our content, and has no say in what we publish.
- We explain how to claim without any company – every step, free – in how to claim yourself, with free templates.
- We compare AirHelp’s fees with other providers’ honestly, including where others are cheaper: claim companies compared.
- Links to AirHelp are marked as sponsored, and we never present ourselves as AirHelp.
- We do not accept payment from airlines, and we do not publish paid articles.
How we write about uncertainty
Passenger-rights law is not always settled. Courts in different countries sometimes reach different conclusions, official guidance can lag behind new judgments, and figures such as baggage limits are quoted differently by different bodies. When that happens we say which source says what, explain which view we follow and why, and avoid presenting a disputed point as certain. We use words such as “usually” or “may” only where the law itself depends on the facts, not to hide a gap in our research.
Links to other sites
We link to the sources we used so that you can check them yourself. Links to official bodies and to other companies are not endorsements. Links to claim companies other than our partner carry no commission. Where an airline publishes its own claim form, we link to it directly, because claiming from the airline yourself is always free.
What we do not do
- We do not give individual legal, tax or financial advice, and we do not handle claims ourselves.
- We do not promise outcomes: an airline, an ADR body or a court decides each case.
- We do not publish fake reviews, invented experts or made-up success stories.
Contact
Questions about this policy, corrections and feedback: contact@eu261flightdelay.com. More about us: About us.
Sources
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it applies in the UK – legislation.gov.uk
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 – EUR-Lex
- Air passengers – travel problems and rights – UK Civil Aviation Authority
- Air passenger rights – Your Europe (European Union)
We check every rule against the sources above. Spotted an error? Tell us – see our editorial policy.