Indemnisation vol retardé Eurowings

Eurowings delays: what is specific

Eurowings flies point-to-point rotations from its German bases; the only delay that counts is the arrival delay of the flight on your booking. Morning delays cascade through the day, and a “late inbound aircraft” is compensable unless the earlier cause was itself extraordinary — ask Eurowings what delayed the first rotation.

Summer ATC restrictions over Germany, France and Spain are Eurowings’ most frequent defence. They can be extraordinary, but only for the specific flight and only if Eurowings shows what it did about them.

How the 3 hours are measured on Eurowings flights

The delay that counts is the arrival delay at your final destination, measured when at least one aircraft door opens — not the departure delay, the touchdown time or the block-on time. Compare it with the scheduled arrival on your booking. A Eurowings flight that leaves 3 hours 30 late but makes up time to arrive 2 hours 50 late is not compensable; one that leaves on time and arrives 3 hours late is.

How much Eurowings owes for a delay

Under EU261 the amount depends only on the great-circle distance of the flight (or of the whole journey on a single booking), never on the ticket price: €250, €400 or €600 per passenger. On flights over 3,500 km Eurowings may halve the amount (€300 instead of €600) when the arrival delay is between 3 and 4 hours; from 4 hours the full amount applies. The table above shows the amounts on Eurowings’s typical routes.

Care while you wait

From 2 hours of delay (short flights), 3 hours (medium) or 4 hours (long) Eurowings must offer meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, two phone calls or e-mails, and a hotel with transport if you are kept overnight. If it does not, keep receipts for reasonable expenses and claim them separately — they come on top of the fixed compensation. After 5 hours you may also abandon the trip and claim a full refund of the unused ticket.

What Eurowings may argue

Only extraordinary circumstances exempt Eurowings from paying: severe weather, air-traffic-control restrictions or strikes, security incidents, bird strikes, external strikes. Technical faults, crew shortages, late inbound aircraft from an earlier rotation and Eurowings’s own staff strikes are not extraordinary. The burden of proof is on Eurowings: ask for the precise cause of your flight’s delay and the measures it took, and treat a bare “operational reasons” as no answer.

How to claim a delay from Eurowings

1. Note the actual arrival time (arrivals board, flight-tracker screenshot, Eurowings’s own notification).
2. Ask Eurowings in writing for the reason for the delay.
3. Submit the claim through Eurowings’s official channel (https://www.eurowings.com/en/information/passenger-rights.html), quoting the booking reference, the flight, the date, the arrival delay and the amount per passenger.
4. If Eurowings refuses or does not reply within 8 weeks, escalate to Schlichtungsstelle Reise & Verkehr (formerly söp, Germany); a court claim remains available within the limitation period of the departure country.