Flight compensation in Belgium

Rules and amounts

Regulation 261/2004 applies to every departure from Brussels Airport (Zaventem), Brussels South Charleroi, Liège, Antwerp and Ostend-Bruges, and to inbound flights on EU airlines (Brussels Airlines, TUI fly Belgium, Ryanair, Air Belgium…). Amounts: €250 / €400 / €600. Brussels–London, Paris, Amsterdam and most of Europe pay €250; Brussels–Canary Islands, Athens or Istanbul pay €400; Brussels Airlines’ African and North American routes pay €600.

Departures, arrivals and who is covered

• Departing Belgium: every airline is covered — Ryanair at Charleroi, Wizz Air, TUI fly and Brussels Airlines alike — and the FPS Mobility passenger-rights service is competent whatever the airline’s nationality.
• Arriving in Belgium from outside Europe: only EU/EEA-licensed airlines. Brussels Airlines from Kinshasa, New York or Washington, yes; Ethiopian Airlines, United, Delta, Emirates or Qatar Airways into Brussels, no — those legs are governed by the Montreal Convention and the airline’s conditions.
• From the UK to Belgium: UK261 on any airline, with the CAA and the UK ADR schemes; from Belgium to the UK: EU261 on any airline, with the FPS.

Enforcement: the FPS Mobility and Transport (DGLV / DGTA)

The Directorate-General Civil Aviation of the Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport is the body Belgium has designated under Article 16; its Passenger Rights service (Dienst Passagiersrechten / Service Droits des passagers) takes the complaints. Complain to the airline (or the airport) first; when the complaint is refused, left unanswered or answered unsatisfactorily, file through the FPS’s online platform, attaching every exchange with the airline, the booking and the receipts for any expenses — an incomplete file is not handled, and no notice is sent when it is not. The FPS says processing can take up to six months because of the volume of cases. It does not stand in for the airline: compensation and refunds remain the airline’s responsibility, and the FPS does not order payment. What it can do is draw up a report under the Law of 27 June 1937 on air navigation, from which criminal or administrative sanctions may follow; that investigation is secret, so the FPS does not report back on it. The complaint is not a prerequisite for going to court.

No sectoral ADR scheme

Belgium has no aviation-specific dispute-resolution scheme: Brussels Airlines, TUI fly Belgium and Ryanair are not members of a binding Belgian body for Belgian departures. The FPS points to three other doors: the Geschillencommissie Reizen / Commission de Litiges Voyages for package holidays; the European Consumer Centre Belgium when the airline is established in another EU/EEA state or the United Kingdom; and the Consumer Mediation Service (Consumentenombudsdienst / Service de Médiation pour le Consommateur) when you do not know which body to turn to. None of them binds an airline; the FPS complaint and the justice de paix are the routes that count.

Courts and the two-year limitation

You may sue before the court of the place of departure, the place of arrival or the airline’s seat; the justice de paix / vredegerecht handles claims up to €5,000 in a simple procedure without a lawyer, and the European Small Claims Procedure is available for cross-border claims. Under Article X.49 of the Code of Economic Law, every action arising from a contract of passenger transport — the FPS says expressly that this includes claims under Regulation 261/2004 — must be brought within two years of the flight. The period was one year until 21 December 2023 (Law of 5 November 2023), which is why older Belgian case law applied a one-year limit; a flight before that date may still be subject to it. Either way, claim from the airline immediately and do not let the FPS file run the clock down.

Belgian specifics: national strike days

Belgian national strike days (grève nationale / nationale staking) regularly close Brussels Airport for departures when skeyes air-traffic controllers, airport security or the ground handlers (Aviapartner, Swissport) join. The FPS’s own guidance draws the line the Court of Justice drew: strikes outside the airline — security services, air-traffic control — can be extraordinary circumstances; a strike within the airline — pilots, cabin crew — is not. Even for an external strike the airline must show it affected your flight and that it could not re-route you, and a flight cancelled the day before “to protect the schedule” is judged on that decision, not on the strike.

Carrier-dependent cases in Belgium

• Brussels Airlines (Lufthansa Group, Belgian licence): covered on every departure and on its inbound flights from Africa and North America; claims go through its own passenger-rights form and, failing that, to the FPS.
• TUI fly Belgium: Belgian carrier, same coverage; package-holiday passengers keep their Regulation rights against the airline in addition to any package-travel rights against TUI, and the Geschillencommissie Reizen is open to them.
• Ryanair at Charleroi: Irish and Maltese licences; for departures from Charleroi that changes nothing — the FPS is competent and the Regulation applies in full. Ryanair accepts claims only through its own EU261 form.
• Third-country carriers (Ethiopian, United, Delta, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines): covered on departure from Belgium only.

Practical workflow for a Belgian departure

1. Claim in writing from the operating airline with the flight, the arrival delay or the cancellation notice and the amount per passenger; keep every exchange.
2. After a refusal, silence or an unsatisfactory answer, file with the FPS Mobility passenger-rights service online, with the correspondence, the booking and the receipts.
3. Do not wait for the FPS: if the airline has not paid within a few months of the flight, bring the claim before the justice de paix — within two years of the flight.