Short answer
EU passenger remedies are cumulative but mode-specific. First identify whether the journey falls within the air, rail, bus or sea regulation. Then separate four rights: the choice between reimbursement and continued travel; rerouting; care such as food and accommodation; and monetary compensation. An exception that removes compensation often does not remove care or rerouting.
Air compensation uses flight distance and arrival delay at the final destination of one booking. Rail compensation uses the delay and fare attributable to the delayed journey or through-ticket. Bus remedies focus mainly on cancellation or delayed departure of long-distance regular services. Sea compensation uses scheduled journey duration and arrival delay.
Receipts and actual arrival time matter. When the operator fails to offer a required alternative or care, reasonable and necessary passenger expenditure may be recoverable, but travellers should document the absence of assistance and avoid disproportionate choices where reasonable alternatives exist.
No single threshold applies across all four modes.
Build the calculation in the right order
For any disruption, record scheduled and actual departure and arrival, notice time, cause, ticket structure, final destination, route distance, alternatives offered and out-of-pocket expenses. Then ask:
- Did the regulation apply to this service and ticket?
- Was there cancellation, denied boarding, delayed departure or delayed arrival?
- Did the passenger choose reimbursement or continuation?
- What care thresholds were crossed?
- Is standardised compensation due, and does an exception remove only that payment?
Choosing reimbursement normally ends the operator's duty to carry the passenger to the destination, although a return to the first departure point may be included where the journey no longer serves its purpose.
Air: final-arrival delay and distance drive compensation
Regulation 261/2004 gives cancelled-flight passengers a choice between ticket reimbursement, including a return flight to the first departure point where relevant; rerouting at the earliest opportunity; or rerouting later at the passenger's convenience subject to seats. Comparable choices apply after denied boarding. For a departure delay of at least five hours, the passenger may choose reimbursement.
Care begins after a delay expected to reach:
- two hours for flights of 1,500 kilometres or less;
- three hours for longer intra-EU flights and other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres; or
- four hours for other longer flights.
Care means reasonable meals and refreshments, two communications and, where an overnight stay becomes necessary, hotel accommodation and transport between airport and hotel. It continues even when extraordinary circumstances remove compensation.
Standard cancellation and denied-boarding compensation is:
The carrier may reduce the amount by 50% where rerouting limits final-arrival delay to two, three or four hours respectively. Timely cancellation notice and an appropriately close alternative can remove the payment: notice at least two weeks before departure, or the Regulation's narrower departure-and-arrival windows for notice one to two weeks or less than one week before.
Although the original text speaks expressly of cancellation, the Court held in Sturgeon, joined cases C-402/07 and C-432/07, and confirmed in Nelson, joined cases C-581/10 and C-629/10, that passengers arriving three hours or more late suffer comparable loss of time and receive the same standard compensation, unless extraordinary circumstances apply.
Delay for compensation is measured “at the final destination”, not merely at an intermediate airport. —
For a single-reservation connection, measure when a door opens and passengers are permitted to leave at the final destination. A short first-leg delay can therefore produce compensation if it causes a missed connection and a three-hour final delay.
Rail: 60 minutes triggers choice and care
Under Regulation 2021/782, an expected delay of 60 minutes or more at the destination gives the passenger a choice between reimbursement and continuation or rerouting to the final destination at the earliest opportunity or later at convenience. The undertaking may use another railway service or comparable transport.
If the undertaking has not communicated available rerouting options within 100 minutes of scheduled departure, missed connection or cancellation, the passenger may arrange alternative public rail, coach or bus transport and claim necessary, appropriate and reasonable cost. Taxis or private transport require the conditions specified by the Regulation or agreement with the undertaking.
Where the passenger continues, compensation is:
- 25% of the relevant ticket price for arrival delay of 60–119 minutes; and
- 50% for delay of 120 minutes or more.
For a return ticket, calculate on the delayed direction; for a through-ticket, use the fare attributable under the Regulation. The passenger cannot receive delay compensation where informed before purchase or where continuation on another service keeps arrival below 60 minutes.
A passenger facing at least 60 minutes' delay may choose reimbursement or continuation/rerouting. —
Reasonable meals and refreshments are due where available or reasonably supplyable, plus accommodation and station transport where an overnight stay becomes necessary. The Regulation can limit hotel accommodation to three nights where the disruption results from specified extraordinary circumstances, but does not erase the basic journey choice.
Bus and coach: departure disruption is central
The full remedy in Regulation 181/2011 applies principally to regular services whose scheduled distance is 250 kilometres or more. If such a service is cancelled or departure from a terminal is delayed by more than 120 minutes, or the service is overbooked, the carrier must offer:
- continuation or rerouting to the destination at the earliest opportunity without extra cost; or
- reimbursement, normally within 14 days, and where relevant a free return to the initial departure point.
If the carrier fails to offer that choice, the passenger may claim 50% of the ticket price in addition to reimbursement. This additional amount responds to the failure to offer the statutory options, not simply every two-hour delay.
For a journey scheduled to last more than three hours, cancellation or a terminal-departure delay exceeding 90 minutes triggers reasonable snacks, meals or refreshments and, if an overnight stay becomes necessary, up to two nights' accommodation capped at €80 per night. The accommodation duty has a severe-weather or major-natural-disaster exception under the Regulation.
Missed onward coach connections are protected where they form part of the covered transport contract. Separate tickets do not automatically make the first carrier responsible for the next service.
Sea and inland waterways: duration sets arrival thresholds
For a covered passenger service, cancellation or departure delayed more than 90 minutes requires a choice between rerouting at the earliest opportunity without extra cost and reimbursement, with a free return service where relevant. Reasonable snacks, meals or refreshments are due in proportion to waiting time.
Where an overnight stay becomes necessary, the carrier may limit accommodation cost to €80 per night for three nights, excluding transport to and from the terminal and accommodation. It need not provide accommodation where cancellation or delay is caused by weather endangering safe ship operation.
Arrival-delay compensation starts at 25% of the ticket price when delay reaches:
If delay exceeds twice the relevant threshold, compensation is 50%. The payment is based on the affected service's ticket price and may be subject to a lawful minimum threshold no higher than €6.
Cruise passengers receive information and assistance but do not receive all rerouting and arrival-compensation rights in the same way as ordinary passenger services.
Reimbursement, compensation and damages are different
Reimbursement restores the ticket price when the passenger abandons or cannot use the journey. Standard compensation addresses inconvenience or loss of time without individual proof. Care meets immediate needs. Proven additional loss may be claimable under the Montreal Convention for air travel, rail liability rules, package-travel law, contract or national law, subject to causation, limits and avoidance of double recovery.
The carrier cannot replace cash compensation with vouchers without the passenger's signed agreement where the regulation requires money. Nor may a platform fee or internal dispute between operators reduce the statutory amount.
Practical claim record
Keep the entire itinerary, proof of one booking or through-ticket, cancellation notice, boarding records, screenshots of actual arrival, written alternatives, receipts and correspondence. State separately the remedy requested: fare reimbursement, rerouting cost, care expenses and standard compensation. This avoids an operator treating one payment as settlement of every right.
Conclusion
EU passenger calculations begin with mode and ticket, then separate journey choice, care and compensation. Air uses distance and final-arrival delay; rail uses a 60-minute trigger and ticket-based percentages; bus focuses on long-service departure disruption; sea uses scheduled-duration bands. Exceptions and ticket separation can change compensation, but operators must still analyse the other remedies independently.
Sources
This article provides general legal information, not advice for a specific matter. Laws, facts and procedural deadlines may change the result. Follow the linked primary sources and obtain local advice before acting.