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Flight compensation in France: delays, cancellations and how to claim

By passengers on routes within Europe in Eurostat’s 2024 data, France’s busiest airports were Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly and Nice, followed by the EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg (on French soil) and Marseille. Air France has its hubs at Charles de Gaulle and Orly, and Transavia also flies from Orly. EU261 covers every departure from France, whatever the airline, and flights to France from outside the EU, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland when an airline licensed in one of those countries operates them.

By the EU261 Flight Delay editorial team Last reviewed: How we write our guides

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In short: Every flight departing from France is covered by EU261, whatever the airline: €250–€600 per passenger for a delay of 3 hours or more at arrival, a cancellation with less than 14 days’ notice or denied boarding – unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances. Flights into France from outside the EU are covered only on EU airlines. Complain to the airline first, then to Direction générale de l’aviation civile (DGAC), Bureau des passagers aériens or an ADR body, and if needed go to court.

Which flights are covered

Your flightRulesWhich airlines
From France to anywhereEU261Any airline
From another EU/EEA country or Switzerland to FranceEU261Any airline
From the UK to FranceUK261 (EU261 too on an EU airline)Any airline
From outside Europe to FranceEU261EU airlines only

Whatever the cause, from 2 hours’ delay the airline must also provide meals and drinks, and a hotel if you are stuck overnight; after a cancellation or a 5-hour delay you can choose a refund. Care and refunds.

Check your flight from France

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What happened?Step 1 of 4

What happened to your flight?
Where did you fly from and to?

With a connection, enter your first departure and your final destination – compensation is based on the total distance.

How late did you arrive at your final destination?

What counts is when the aircraft doors opened at your destination – not the departure delay.

When were you told about the cancellation?
When did you arrive on the replacement flight?
Which airline operated the flight?
When was the flight?

How many passengers were on the booking?

1 passenger

Every passenger gets their own compensation, children too. Infants under 2 without their own seat do not count.

  • Free, no sign-up
  • Fee only if successful (35%)
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How much: example routes from France

Compensation per passenger for a 3-hour-plus delay or a late cancellation on the busiest international routes (Eurostat 2024):

RouteDistanceOutboundReturn
Paris Orly – Madrid Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas1,028 km€250€250
Paris Orly – Lisbon1,438 km€250€250
Paris Charles de Gaulle – Barcelona El Prat858 km€250€250
Paris Orly – Rome Fiumicino1,090 km€250€250
Paris Orly – Porto1,200 km€250€250
Paris Orly – Barcelona El Prat827 km€250€250
Paris Charles de Gaulle – Amsterdam Schiphol399 km€250€250
Paris Charles de Gaulle – Madrid Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas1,062 km€250€250
Paris Charles de Gaulle – Istanbul2,212 km€400€400 (an EU airline)
Paris Charles de Gaulle – Rome Fiumicino1,101 km€250€250

How to claim in France

  1. Claim from the airline in writing – its online form or a letter (complaint letter generator). Keep your booking, boarding pass and receipts.
  2. National enforcement body: Direction générale de l’aviation civile (DGAC), Bureau des passagers aériens – Complaints go through the DGAC’s online form (droits-passagers-aeriens.aviation-civile.gouv.fr). It deals with flights departing from France, and flights arriving there from outside the EU.
  3. Alternative dispute resolution: Médiation Tourisme et Voyage (MTV): free, non-binding opinions, only for airlines that have signed its charter. You must first complain in writing to the airline and wait 60 days (or receive a refusal), then apply within 12 months of that complaint. Since Decree 2025-772 (5 August 2025) took effect six months after publication, an EU261 compensation claim in a French court is inadmissible unless you first tried consumer mediation, with limited exceptions.
  4. Court: the local court for the departure or arrival airport, or – for cross-border cases – the European Small Claims Procedure.
  5. Time limit: 5 years from when the passenger knew or ought to have known the facts allowing the claim (Code civil, art. 2224); confirmed for EU261 claims by the Cour de cassation, 1st civil chamber, 10 October 2019 (nos 18-20.490 and 18-20.491).

Prefer not to do it yourself? A claims company does the work for a share of the compensation – see claim companies compared.

Airlines from France

Customer service: Air France.

Airports in France

Delay causes, busiest routes and seasonal patterns: flights to France · European delay statistics.

Strikes in France

No strikes affecting flights in France are announced in our strike calendar at the moment.

Unions in French public services must file notice (préavis) at least five days before a strike. Since the law of 28 December 2023, air traffic controllers must declare individually at least 48 hours ahead whether they will strike. Usually one or two days before, the DGAC asks airlines to cut a set share of flights at named airports, and airlines choose which to cancel. There is no official national strike calendar for aviation.

Strike days at France’s airports since 2024

EUROCONTROL attributes every arrival flow restriction to a cause. These are the days on which restrictions at France’s airports were put down to industrial action, from January 2024 to 30 September 2026 – 19 in 2024, 11 in 2025, 2 in 2026.

DateATC strike delay (min)Other strike delay (min)Airports
29 September 20262,535–CDG, MRS
10 January 2026–210CDG
27 December 2025–159CDG
26 December 2025–337CDG
2 October 20252,451–BVA, LIG
18 September 20252,314–CDG, BVA, BOD, FNI, TUF
10 September 20251,059–CDG, MRS, LYS
4 July 20251,084–NCE, MRS, BOD, AVN
3 July 20253,729–NCE, MRS, BOD
5 June 20251,139–MRS, LDE, AVN
19 May 2025–21MRS
14 May 2025662–MRS
13 May 20252,6091,344ORY, MRS, AVN
5 December 20242,631–ORY, NCE, MRS, BOD, AVN
4 October 2024–27BIA
3 October 2024–65FSC
5 July 2024121–LDE
12 June 2024494–MRS
11 June 20242,069–ORY, MRS
5 June 2024376–MRS
4 June 2024797–MRS
1 June 202489–LDE
30 May 202420–LIG
29 May 20242,440–MRS, BVA
26 May 20246,188–ORY
25 May 20248,631–ORY
23 May 202423–LIG
26 April 2024255–MRS
25 April 20241,777–CDG, ORY, MRS, BVA, AJA, BZR, LIG
17 January 202464–BOD
15 January 2024125–BOD
14 January 20242,205–BOD

Only restrictions on arriving flights at the airports themselves are counted; strikes by air traffic controllers elsewhere (for example in France, affecting overflights) and by airline staff do not appear here. A strike by air traffic controllers or airport staff is usually an extraordinary circumstance; a strike by the airline’s own staff is not. Source: EUROCONTROL. Check a specific day: delay cause checker.

Good to know

  • A French air traffic control strike also hits flights that only fly over France – between the UK or Ireland and Spain, Portugal, Italy or Greece. It is treated like a strike at your departure airport: usually no compensation, but care and a refund or re-routing are owed.
  • DGAC flight-reduction requests usually come only one or two days before a strike, so check your booking the day before you fly.
  • If you plan to sue an airline in France for EU261 compensation, try mediation first (for example MTV): without it, the court must declare the claim inadmissible.
  • In EUROCONTROL’s 2025 data Nice had the highest average arrival flow-control delay of France’s large airports, mostly attributed to air traffic control capacity.
  • French overseas regions such as Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion and French Guiana are part of the EU, so flights from them are covered by EU261; overseas territories such as French Polynesia and New Caledonia are not.

Frequently asked questions

How much compensation can I get for a delayed flight in France?

Under EU261, €250 for flights up to 1,500 km, €400 for 1,500–3,500 km (and for every flight within the EU over 1,500 km) and €600 for longer flights (€300 if a long-haul flight arrives 3–4 hours late), per passenger, if you arrive 3 hours or more late and the airline cannot prove extraordinary circumstances. It does not matter where you live – only where you flew from, where to, and with which airline.

Where do I complain in France if the airline refuses to pay?

To Direction générale de l’aviation civile (DGAC), Bureau des passagers aériens, the national enforcement body for France (Complaints go through the DGAC’s online form (droits-passagers-aeriens.aviation-civile.gouv.fr)). It handles complaints about flights departing from France and flights arriving there from outside the EU. Alternative dispute resolution: Médiation Tourisme et Voyage (MTV): free, non-binding opinions, only for airlines that have signed its charter. You must first complain in writing to the airline and wait 60 days (or receive a refusal), then apply within 12 months of that complaint. Since Decree 2025-772 (5 August 2025) took effect six months after publication, an EU261 compensation claim in a French court is inadmissible unless you first tried consumer mediation, with limited exceptions.

How long do I have to claim in France?

5 years from when the passenger knew or ought to have known the facts allowing the claim (Code civil, art. 2224); confirmed for EU261 claims by the Cour de cassation, 1st civil chamber, 10 October 2019 (nos 18-20.490 and 18-20.491).

I live in France but my flight left from another country. Where can I claim?

Your rights depend on the flight, not on where you live. For a flight between two EU countries you can sue in the courts for the place of departure or the place of arrival (CJEU C-204/08 Rehder); for cross-border cases the European Small Claims Procedure works by post and online. The enforcement body to complain to is the one in the country where the incident happened.

Information only, not legal advice. Enforcement bodies and dispute schemes as listed by the European Commission, checked November 2026.

Sources

  1. National enforcement bodies under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (updated 13 October 2026) – European Commission
  2. Médiation Tourisme et Voyage – FAQ – MTV
  3. Décret n° 2025-772 du 5 août 2025 relatif à la procédure applicable au contentieux de l’indemnisation des passagers – Légifrance
  4. Code civil, article 2224 – Légifrance
  5. Retard ou annulation de vol : 5 ans pour demander l’indemnisation (Cour de cassation, 10 October 2019) – UFC-Que Choisir
  6. Loi du 28 décembre 2023 – contrôleurs aériens : déclaration individuelle de grève – Vie-publique.fr
  7. Ryanair cancels 170 flights due to French ATC strike (3 July 2025) – Ryanair Holdings (SEC filing)
  8. Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, Article 349 (outermost regions: Canary Islands, Azores, Madeira, French overseas regions) – EUR-Lex
  9. Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, Article 355 (territorial application; Faroe Islands; overseas countries and territories) – EUR-Lex
  10. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 – full text (Article 3: scope; recital 15: air traffic management decisions) – EUR-Lex
  11. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it applies in the UK (UK261) – Article 3, scope – legislation.gov.uk
  12. UK flight punctuality statistics 2025 (flights by destination from UK airports) – UK Civil Aviation Authority
  13. Airport arrival ATFM (flow-control) delay data, 2024–2025 – EUROCONTROL Aviation Intelligence Unit
  14. Air passenger transport by reporting airport (avia_par), 2024 – Eurostat
  15. Eurostat – air passenger transport routes between partner airports and main airports (2024) – Eurostat
  16. EUROCONTROL – airport arrival ATFM delays (open performance data) – EUROCONTROL
  17. C-204/08 Rehder v Air Baltic (jurisdiction: place of departure or arrival) – EUR-Lex

We check every rule against the sources above. Spotted an error? Tell us – see our editorial policy.