On October 23, 2012, the European Court of Justice published its judgement which rules that passengers on delayed flight are entitled to seek compensation from the airlines similar to compensations of cancelled flights, unless the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances.

The Court of Justice based its judgement on the equal treatment principle which requires that the delayed flight passengers and cancelled flight passengers are entitled to claim similar compensation for similar loss of time. Since the cancelled flight passengers are entitled to compensation if the loss of time is three or more hours, the passengers who suffer the same or even longer time loss as a result of a delayed flight, should be compensated in the same way.

Under the Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council all cancelled flight passengers are entitled to compensation from EUR 250 to 600 depending on the length of the flight. Thus, the delayed flight passengers can claim similar compensation in the light of the said judgement. Under the Regulation, they are entitled to such compensation only provided the departure point or destination is located within the EU.