AESA claim in Spain: what to do when an airline rejects your EU261 claim

Who is who

Four parties appear in a Spanish compensation dispute, and they are easy to confuse:

Step 1 — claim from the airline first

AESA will not look at a claim the airline has not seen. Write to the operating airline — through its own claim form where it has one, otherwise by e-mail or letter to customer services — naming the flight, the disruption, the amount per passenger and the article of Regulation 261/2004 you rely on. Do this within five years of the flight (the Spanish limitation period, Article 1964 of the Civil Code). Keep the reference number, the date you sent it and every reply. The airline must acknowledge the claim and answer within one month.

Step 2 — a refusal, a partial offer, or silence

Three answers open the AESA route: a refusal (“extraordinary circumstances”, “outside the Regulation”, “no compensation due”), an offer you do not accept (a voucher, half the amount, expenses only), or no answer within one month. Before you file, read the refusal against the rules: most refusals rest on an extraordinary-circumstances claim the airline has to prove, and the rejected-claim guide shows how to test it. A short written reply to the airline pointing out the flaw sometimes ends the matter; if not, it becomes part of your AESA file.

Step 3 — when AESA is the right body

AESA’s dispute-resolution procedure covers flights dated 2 June 2023 or later that:

• departed from a Spanish airport, on any airline, whatever its nationality; or
• arrived in Spain from an airport outside the EU, on an EU airline;

and concern a cancellation, a delay of 3 hours or more, a flight brought forward by more than one hour, a denied boarding, a downgrade, or the rights of passengers with reduced mobility. AESA does not handle baggage, service quality, package-holiday or contract disputes, flights you chose not to take, flights before 2 June 2023 (an older, non-binding complaint route exists for those), or journeys whose first departure was in another EU country — those go to that country’s enforcement body. A flight to Spain from another EU country belongs to the departure country’s body, not AESA.

Filing with AESA is not a precondition for going to court, and you may withdraw at any time. But it works one way only: a claim already brought before a court is inadmissible at AESA.

Step 4 — what to prepare

AESA lists the documents itself:

1. Its claim form for your incident — there is one for cancellations and brought-forward flights, one for delays, one for denied boarding, one for downgrades.
2. Your claim to the airline and the airline’s reply (or proof of the date you sent it, if it never answered).
3. An identity document for every passenger in the claim, and proof of authority if you file for someone else.
4. The booking confirmation, ticket or boarding passes.
5. Receipts for any expenses you claim — meals, hotel, transport to and from it, calls — and the ticket of any alternative transport you bought yourself.

Filing is online through AESA’s electronic office, with a Spanish digital certificate, electronic ID, Cl@ve permanente, the EU citizens’ login, or AESA’s own e4F login for foreigners without any of those (Cl@ve PIN identifies you but cannot sign). Without any of them, use the semi-electronic route: fill in the form online without identifying, download it, sign it by hand and deliver or post it within 10 days, or AESA treats it as never filed. Paper filing at any Spanish public registry, post office or consulate is also accepted. A claims company or lawyer acting for you must use the fully electronic route.

Step 5 — what AESA does

AESA checks that the file is complete — the 90-day clock starts only then — then asks the airline for its version and evidence. The airline is obliged to take part. You are heard too, and AESA can ask both sides for more; those exchanges pause the clock. Within 90 days of the complete file, extendable to 180 for a complex case, AESA sends both of you a decision that states your rights. In September 2026 AESA warns on its own page that a high volume of claims is stretching these deadlines.

The decision binds the airline: it has one month to comply and must tell AESA it has done so. If it does not pay within that month — whether or not it challenges the decision — you can ask the competent court to enforce it with a demanda ejecutiva; the decision carries a verification code that proves it is genuine. The decision does not bind you: if AESA finds against you, or awards less than you think is due, the civil courts remain open within the five-year period.

Step 6 — the courts, if it comes to that

Before the Juzgado de lo Mercantil the juicio verbal procedure applies to claims up to €15,000 (Article 250 LEC since the 2025 reform), no lawyer or procurador is required below €2,000, and since 3 April 2025 you must show an attempt at out-of-court settlement first — your written claim to the airline and the AESA procedure both count. The Spain page covers the court route, the amounts and the carrier-specific points.

What Horvera does at each step

Horvera is not AESA and does not decide anything. What it does: check whether your flight qualifies and for how much; write the claim to the airline with the right article and amount; read the airline’s refusal against the case law and draft the reply; and assemble the dossier — claim, reply, timeline, evidence list — in the order AESA asks for it, so the file is complete on the day you submit it and the 90-day clock starts at once. Filing with AESA is yours to do, in your name, for free.

Two realistic scenarios

Ryanair Palma → Manchester, delayed 3 h 40, refused for “air traffic control restrictions”. Departure from Spain, so AESA is competent although Ryanair is Irish. You claimed on 2 July and were refused on 20 July; you file with AESA before 2 July next year with the refusal, the boarding passes and the aircraft’s timeline that day. AESA asks Ryanair for the ATC regulation reference; if the restriction covered only part of the delay, €400 per passenger is due and the decision binds Ryanair.

Vueling Barcelona → Rome, cancelled the evening before, voucher offered, no cash refund. You asked for the €250 and a cash refund on 5 March; by 6 April there is no reply. Silence for one month opens the AESA route. File with the claim, the booking, the cancellation message and the voucher offer; AESA can order the compensation and the refund in money, which Article 7(3) requires unless you signed for the voucher.

What to keep

Your written claim and its date, the airline’s answers, the booking and boarding passes, every receipt, and the AESA filing receipt with its reference — you can follow the case in AESA’s electronic office with any of the electronic logins.