Care and assistance: meals, hotel and transport the airline must provide
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Quick answer
Article 9 obliges the airline to provide meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, two calls or e-mails, and hotel accommodation with transport when an overnight stay becomes necessary. This applies to every cancellation and denied boarding immediately, and to delays from 2 hours (up to 1,500 km), 3 hours (up to 3,500 km) or 4 hours (beyond) — regardless of the cause, extraordinary circumstances included. If the airline provides nothing, keep receipts and claim the reasonable amounts.
How much flight compensation could I receive?
€250–€600 per passenger, depending on the distance of the flight, for an arrival delay of 3 hours or more, a cancellation announced under 14 days ahead, or denied boarding on a flight covered by Regulation 261.
Does this apply to your flight?
Does this apply to your flight?
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.
What happened to your flight?
What must be provided
- Meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time.
- Communication: two telephone calls, e-mails or messages.
- Hotel accommodation where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or where a stay additional to the one you intended becomes necessary.
- Transport between the airport and the hotel.
Special attention is owed to passengers with reduced mobility, their companions, and unaccompanied children.
When it starts
Immediately for cancellations and denied boarding. For delays, from the distance-based threshold: 2 hours on flights up to 1,500 km, 3 hours between 1,500 and 3,500 km, 4 hours on longer flights.
No cause exempts the airline
The Court of Justice held in McDonagh v Ryanair — the volcanic-ash case — that the duty to provide care applies even in the most extraordinary circumstances and is not limited in time or amount. A strike or a storm may cancel compensation; it never cancels care.
If the airline gives you nothing
Pay for what you reasonably need, keep every receipt and claim the amounts back in writing. Reasonable means a normal meal, a modest hotel near the airport, a taxi when public transport is not available. The airline may refuse what it considers excessive, and an ADR body will use the same standard.
Vouchers and desk queues
A voucher for one sandwich after six hours is not “reasonable relation to the waiting time”. If the queue at the desk makes it impossible to obtain care in time, buying it yourself and claiming the cost is the accepted route.
Sources
- Court of Justice of the European UnionCase C-12/11 McDonagh v Ryanair — the duty to provide care (meals, accommodation) applies without temporal or monetary limit, even in 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
- European Union — Your EuropeAir passenger rights
Last legally reviewed: 12 September 2026 · Content updated: 12 September 2026
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