EU261 extraordinary circumstances and what actually counts

Under EU261 and UK261 an airline escapes paying €250 to €600 (or £220 to £520) only if it proves two things: the cause was an extraordinary circumstance, meaning an event outside its normal operations and outside its control, and it could not have avoided the cancellation or delay even with every reasonable measure. Bad weather, air traffic control strikes, bird strikes and security threats usually qualify. Technical faults, the airline’s own staff striking over pay and a crew member calling in sick do not. Even when the excuse is genuine, meals, drinks and a hotel are still owed.

What counts as extraordinary circumstances under EU261?

An event that, by its nature or origin, is not part of the airline’s normal activity and is beyond its actual control; both conditions must be met, and the airline carries the burden of proof. That two-part test comes from the Court of Justice in Wallentin-Hermann (C-549/07, 2008) and has been applied in every case since. Recital 14 of the 2004 regulation names political instability, weather incompatible with the flight, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings and strikes as examples, but the Commission’s interpretative guidelines (C/2024/5687) stress that even those require a case-by-case look, because the exemption is read strictly. The court sorts causes into internal events, which are the airline’s problem, and external ones, which usually are not.

What is NOT extraordinary, so you are paid

Anything that comes from running the aircraft and the airline: technical faults, the airline’s own staff and its ground equipment.

• Technical faults. A defect found in maintenance, or caused by poor maintenance, never qualifies. Nor does an unexpected failure of a component, because “no component of an aircraft lasts forever” (van der Lans, C-257/14). The exception is a hidden manufacturing defect revealed by the manufacturer or an authority, or sabotage.
• The airline’s own strikes. A strike by the airline’s staff over pay or working conditions is not extraordinary (Airhelp v SAS, C-28/20), and neither is a wildcat strike after a surprise restructuring (Krüsemann, C-195/17) or a solidarity strike with a parent company’s staff (Eurowings, C-613/20). Only a strike over demands that public authorities alone can meet may qualify.
• Crew illness or death. An essential crew member absent shortly before departure, even through sudden death, is not extraordinary (TAP Portugal, C-156/22).
• Boarding stairs and gangways. A collision with mobile stairs is part of normal operations (Siewert, C-394/14).

What IS extraordinary, so cash is not owed

Events that come from outside: nature, other companies and public authorities. The Commission’s guidelines list the court’s examples:

• Bird strikes, whether or not they damage the aircraft (Pešková, C-315/15).
• Collisions caused by others, such as another airline’s aircraft or a third party’s catering truck.
• Debris on the runway that damages the aircraft (Germanwings, C-501/17), and fuel on the runway that closes the airport, if it did not come from the airline’s own aircraft (Moens, C-159/18).
• An airport-run refuelling system that breaks down across the board.
• Unruly passengers who force a diversion, unless the airline caused the behaviour or ignored warning signs (C-74/19), and medical emergencies that require a passenger to be removed.
• Volcanic ash closing airspace (McDonagh, C-12/11).
• Bad weather causing congestion at an airport, including capacity cuts.
• Strikes outside the airline, by air traffic controllers or airport staff, which can qualify because they are beyond its control.
• A shortage of the airport’s own baggage-loading staff (Touristic Aviation Services, C-405/23).

The excuse is real. Does the airline still owe you?

It can, if it did not take every reasonable measure, and it always owes care. The airline must show it deployed the staff, equipment and money at its disposal to avoid the disruption, short of “intolerable sacrifices”, and courts can expect it to plan some buffer time to fly once the problem ends. It may blame an extraordinary event on an earlier flight with the same aircraft, even three rotations back (Austrian Airlines, C-826/19), but only with a direct causal link. And extraordinary circumstances never cancel the duty of care: meals and drinks in proportion to the wait, a hotel and transfers if you are stuck overnight (McDonagh confirmed this held even through the 2010 ash cloud).

The new list in the EU reform

The reformed regulation adds an annex with a non-exhaustive list of extraordinary circumstances, and an airline refusing to pay will have to say which item it relies on. The final text (PE-CONS 39/2/26 REV 2) lists natural and environmental disasters, weather or weather damage incompatible with safe operation, war or insurrection, serious cross-border health threats, unruly passengers and short-notice medical emergencies, sabotage, terrorism and other unlawful acts, hidden manufacturing defects, air traffic management restrictions and airspace or runway closures, unscheduled airport closures and system failures, a generalised refuelling breakdown, strikes at airports, air navigation and ground-handling providers, strikes at the airline only over demands public authorities alone can meet, damage by third parties, animals or foreign objects, contaminated runways, a crew member’s medical emergency after departure, and operational shortcomings of airport service providers the airline cannot control. An event that meets the list still has to be causally linked to your flight, and the airline still has to prove it took all reasonable measures. It must reply to a claim within 30 days with a “clear and substantiated explanation”. The reform applies 12 months after it enters into force; until then the case law above governs.

How UK261 handles it

UK261 keeps the original 2004 wording, so the same test applies, but UK courts decide it and the EU reform does not reach the UK. The leading UK case is Huzar v Jet2.com (Court of Appeal, 2014), which held that an unexpected wiring defect was not extraordinary, the same answer the EU court reached. UK courts are not bound by EU court rulings made after 2020, so later decisions such as the 2021 SAS strike ruling are persuasive in Britain rather than binding. The amounts are £220, £350 and £520 by distance.

How Canada and the US draw the same line

Canada keeps its own list, and it is kinder to airlines on strikes: a labour disruption within the carrier counts as outside its control, the reverse of the EU court’s position. Section 10 of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations names war, sabotage, weather, air traffic control instructions, security threats, airport operation issues, medical emergencies, wildlife strikes, labour disruptions at the airline or an essential service provider, and manufacturer-identified defects. The United States pays no cash for any delay, so there the question only shapes the meals and hotels an airline has promised in its own customer service commitments.

How to challenge an extraordinary circumstances refusal

Ask for the specific cause in writing, ask for the evidence, and test it against the rulings above.

• Get the reason in writing at the airport or in the airline’s reply. “Operational reasons” is not a reason.
• Ask for proof. The Commission’s guidelines say an airline relying on the defence should provide logbook extracts, incident reports or other documents free of charge.
• Check the timeline. Was the storm or strike at your airport at your departure time? Did other airlines fly the same route? Was the problem on an earlier rotation, and how much buffer did the airline leave?
• Name the ruling. If the reply says “technical issue”, cite van der Lans; if it says “industrial action” by its own crew, cite C-28/20.
• Escalate to the national enforcement body or approved dispute resolution scheme in the country you departed from (the CAA or the airline’s ADR body in the UK), then to the small claims court. You do not need a claims company, which takes a share of the payout for the same letter.

Our flight rights guide sets out who pays what by country, and real cases are worked through in what airlines owe when air traffic control fails, easyJet’s Italy crew strike and EU261 on connections to Kathmandu.

Frequently asked questions

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Sources: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 5(3) and recital 14; European Commission, Interpretative Guidelines on Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, C/2024/5687 (OJ C, 25 September 2024), section 5, and the Court of Justice judgments cited there (C-549/07, C-257/14, C-28/20, C-195/17, C-613/20, C-156/22, C-394/14, C-315/15, C-501/17, C-159/18, C-74/19, C-12/11, C-405/23, C-826/19); European Parliament and Council, regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, PE-CONS 39/2/26 REV 2 (16 September 2026), Articles 6c and 7 and Annex I; Huzar v Jet2.com Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 791; Canada, Air Passenger Protection Regulations SOR/2019-150, section 10 (current to 21 September 2026). Read 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

Photos via Pexels: Rodolfo Gaion (cover), Ivan Chumakov, Quang Nguyen Vinh.