Austrian Airlines cancelled flight compensation
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Quick answer
When Austrian Airlines cancels your flight you always get the choice between a full refund and re-routing, plus meals and a hotel while you wait. Compensation of €250, €400 or €600 per passenger is due on top if Austrian Airlines told you less than 14 days before departure and did not offer a replacement flight within the legal time windows — unless it proves extraordinary circumstances.
Operating carrier
Austrian Airlines OS / AUA · Austria
EU/EEA-licensed carrier — Regulation 261/2004 applies to all its flights departing from the EU/EEA and to its flights into the EU/EEA.
Where to send your claim
- Official claim form / help centre
- https://www.austrian.com/at/en/passenger-rights
- Customer relations
- https://www.austrian.com/at/en/help-and-contact
- Dispute-resolution scheme
- apf (Austria)
Cancellation compensation on typical Austrian Airlines routes
- Vienna → London (1,275 km)€250
- Vienna → Frankfurt (621 km)€250
- Vienna → Paris (1,035 km)€250
- Vienna → Tel Aviv (2,361 km)€400
- Vienna → New York (6,805 km)€600
Due when {airline} informed you less than 14 days before departure and no replacement flight met the legal time windows.
Direct answer
- Short answer
- If Austrian Airlines told you of the cancellation less than 14 days before departure and did not re-route you within the legal windows, EU261 compensation is due per passenger unless Austrian Airlines proves an extraordinary circumstance.
- Amount
- €250–€600per passenger on Austrian Airlines’s typical routes, by distance
- Why
- Compensation depends on when Austrian Airlines informed you and what it offered (Article 5); the amount is fixed by distance. Refund or re-routing and care are due whatever the cause.
- What can change it
- You were told 14 days or more before departure: no fixed compensation, but refund or re-routing
- Austrian Airlines re-routed you within the legal windows (2 h early / 4 h late with 7–14 days’ notice; 1 h / 2 h under 7 days)
- Austrian Airlines proves an extraordinary circumstance for your flight — weather, ATC, a third-party strike — and that it could not avoid the delay
- Another airline operated the aircraft: the operating carrier owes the compensation, not Austrian Airlines
- Check your flight
- Check my Austrian Airlines flight
- Official source
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights — European Parliament and CouncilLast checked against the source on 23 September 2026
Can Austrian Airlines passengers claim compensation?
Yes. Austrian Airlines holds a EU/EEA licence, so Regulation 261 covers its flights departing from the EU/EEA, the UK or Switzerland and its flights into them: €250–€600 per passenger for an arrival delay of 3 hours or more, a cancellation announced under 14 days ahead, or denied boarding — unless the airline proves an extraordinary circumstance.
Does this apply to your flight?
Austrian Airlines flight affected?
A few short questions — no flight number needed yet. You get a preliminary result on the facts you give; the full check confirms it from the itinerary.
Already known from this page
- Austrian Airlines
- Cancelled
When were you told about the cancellation?
Austrian cancellations: what is specific
Austrian’s cancellation e-mail or app message is the notice; its timestamp decides the 14-day rule. Cancellations announced as “schedule changes” months ahead carry no compensation, but the refund-or-rerouting choice remains yours.
If Austrian re-routes you on another Lufthansa Group flight arriving within 2, 3 or 4 hours of your original schedule (depending on distance), compensation is halved or falls away; if the alternative arrives later than that, the full amount is due. Care in Vienna while you wait is owed whatever the cause.
The three questions that decide a Austrian Airlines cancellation claim
- When did Austrian Airlines tell you? Informed 14 days or more before departure: no compensation, but a refund or re-routing and care. Less than 14 days: compensation is due unless a replacement flight met the windows below or the cause was extraordinary. Austrian Airlines must prove when and how it informed you — keep its cancellation e-mail or app notification with the timestamp.
- What replacement did Austrian Airlines offer? Between 7 and 14 days’ notice, no compensation if the re-routing departed no more than 2 hours early and arrived less than 4 hours late; under 7 days’ notice the margins shrink to 1 hour early and 2 hours late.
- Why was it cancelled? Weather, air-traffic-control restrictions, security and external strikes are extraordinary; Austrian Airlines’s technical problems, crew shortages, rotation planning and its own staff’s strikes are not.
What you always get, whatever the reason
Compensation may depend on the cause, but three rights never do. Austrian Airlines must offer you the choice between a full refund of the unused ticket (within 7 days, in cash or bank transfer — a voucher only with your agreement) and re-routing to your final destination at the earliest opportunity or on a later date of your choice. While you wait for the re-routing Austrian Airlines must provide meals, refreshments, two calls or e-mails and, when an overnight stay becomes necessary, a hotel and transport to it. If it leaves you to arrange this yourself, keep receipts and claim the reasonable amounts.
How much Austrian Airlines owes when compensation is due
€250, €400 or €600 per passenger under EU261, set by the distance of the flight (or of the whole journey on one booking). Austrian Airlines may halve the long-haul amount to €300 when the replacement flight it offered arrived within the reduction windows (2 hours late for short flights, 3 hours for medium, 4 hours for long).
How to claim a cancellation from Austrian Airlines
- Keep the cancellation notice, the original booking and the details of any replacement flight offered (departure and arrival times).
- Ask Austrian Airlines in writing for the reason for the cancellation.
- Submit the claim through Austrian Airlines’s official channel (https://www.austrian.com/at/en/passenger-rights), stating the notice date, the replacement offered (or not) and the amount per passenger.
- If Austrian Airlines refuses or stalls for 8 weeks, escalate to apf (Austria), then to the courts within the limitation period of the departure country.
Prepare the claim letter
Enter your flight and what happened; get the regulation, the amount, the evidence list and an editable letter — free.
Frequently asked questions
Do I get compensation if Austrian Airlines cancelled my flight two weeks in advance?
Not fixed compensation: cancellations announced 14 days or more before departure are exempt. Austrian Airlines still owes you the choice between a full refund and re-routing, and care if you travel on the replacement flight.
Can Austrian Airlines give me a voucher instead of a refund?
Only with your written agreement. The refund must be paid in cash, by bank transfer or card within 7 days. You can decline a voucher and insist on money.
Is a strike a valid reason for Austrian Airlines not to pay?
A strike by Austrian Airlines's own pilots, cabin crew or ground staff is not an extraordinary circumstance, so compensation is due. Strikes by air-traffic controllers or airport staff outside Austrian Airlines's control are extraordinary, but the refund, re-routing and care rights still apply.
Austrian Airlines rebooked me on a flight the next day — is that compensable?
If you were informed less than 7 days before departure, compensation is due unless the replacement departed at most 1 hour early and arrived less than 2 hours late — a next-day flight almost always exceeds that. Austrian Airlines also owes a hotel and meals for the night.
Sources
- Republik Österreich — RISAllgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch § 1489 — dreijährige Verjährung von Entschädigungsklagen
- Agentur für Passagier- und Fahrgastrechte (apf)Schlichtung Flug — Voraussetzungen
- Court of Justice of the European UnionCase C-28/20 Airhelp v Scandinavian Airlines — a strike organised by the airline's own staff is not an extraordinary circumstance
- Court of Justice of the European UnionCase C-826/19 WZ v Austrian Airlines — a diversion to a nearby airport is not a cancellation; the delay is measured on arrival at the original destination airport and the carrier bears the transfer cost
- Court of Justice of the European UnionJoined Cases C-195/17 etc. Krüsemann v TUIfly — a "wildcat strike" by airline staff is not an extraordinary circumstance
- Court of Justice of the European UnionJoined Cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 Sturgeon v Condor and Böck v Air France — passengers of flights delayed by three hours or more may claim compensation
- Court of Justice of the European UnionCase C-549/07 Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia — technical problems are not, as such, extraordinary circumstances
- European CommissionInterpretative Guidelines on Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (2016/C 214/04)
- European Parliament and CouncilRegulation (EC) No 261/2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights
Last legally reviewed: 12 September 2026 · Content updated: 12 September 2026
Did Austrian Airlines cancel with less than 14 days’ notice?
Enter the flight, when you were told and what Austrian Airlines offered; the check applies the notice and re-routing windows and tells you the amount.