Flight Delayed or Cancelled in Portugal? Your Compensation Rights

A long delay or a late cancellation can wipe out a day of your holiday. If you’re flying to or from Portugal, though, EU rules can give you up to €600 per person, plus free meals and a hotel while you wait. Here’s when you’re owed money and how to claim it yourself. This is general information, not legal advice.

Quick answer: if your flight leaves Portugal (any airline), or arrives from outside the EU on an EU airline, and you reach your destination 3 or more hours late, it’s cancelled with under 14 days’ notice, or you’re bumped, you can usually claim €250, €400 or €600 per person, unless the cause was outside the airline’s control, such as bad weather. Meals and a hotel are owed whatever the cause. Claim from the airline for free; if it ignores you for 6 weeks, complain to ANAC.

Which flights are covered?

The rules are EU Regulation 261/2004, often called EU261. They cover:

• Flights leaving Portugal (or any EU airport) on any airline.
• Flights into Portugal from outside the EU on an EU airline. New York to Lisbon on TAP is covered; the same route on a US airline isn’t.
• Flights within Portugal, including Madeira and the Azores.

What counts is the airline that operates the flight, so check the “operated by” line on your booking. Flights from the UK come under the UK’s own version, UK261, which pays £220, £350 or £520. If a flight falls under both, you’re only paid once.

How much compensation?

The amount is fixed per passenger and depends on distance, not the ticket price. It’s paid in money (vouchers only if you agree in writing), on top of any refund or new flight.

Distance	Compensation	Examples
Up to 1,500km	€250	Porto–London, Lisbon–Madeira
Over 1,500km within the EU, or 1,500–3,500km	€400	Faro–London, Lisbon–Dublin
Over 3,500km, outside the EU	€600	Lisbon–New York

The 50% cut: if the airline reroutes you and you arrive no more than 2 hours late (short flights), 3 hours (medium) or 4 hours (long), it can halve the payment. On flights over 3,500km, a delay of 3 to 4 hours usually means €300.

Delays of 3 hours or more

What counts is how late you arrive at your final destination, measured when an aircraft door opens, so time stuck on the taxiway counts. Miss a connection on the same booking and arrive 3 or more hours late, and you can claim for the whole journey. If the departure delay reaches 5 hours, you can give up the trip and get the unused ticket refunded.

Cancellations

• 14 days’ notice or more: no compensation, but you choose between a refund (due within 7 days) and a new flight.
• 7 to 13 days: compensation is owed unless the new flight leaves no more than 2 hours earlier and arrives less than 4 hours later than planned.
• Under 7 days: the same, but within 1 hour earlier and 2 hours later.

The airline has to prove when it told you, so keep its emails and texts.

Denied boarding

On an overbooked flight, the airline must first ask for volunteers. If you’re bumped against your will, you’re owed compensation straight away, plus a refund or another flight. Being turned away for the wrong documents doesn’t count; see Portugal entry requirements.

Extraordinary circumstances

The airline doesn’t pay compensation if it can prove extraordinary circumstances that couldn’t have been avoided with all reasonable measures.

• Usually accepted: bad weather, air traffic control restrictions, security risks, political instability, and strikes by outside workers such as airport staff or air traffic controllers.
• Usually not accepted: most technical faults, and strikes by the airline’s own staff, which the EU Court of Justice ruled in March 2021 (case C-28/20) aren’t extraordinary.

“Operational reasons” isn’t proof, so ask for the cause in writing.

Right to care, whatever the cause

Even when the cause is weather or a strike, the airline must look after you once you’ve waited 2 hours (flights up to 1,500km), 3 hours (medium) or 4 hours (long):

• Meals and drinks in reasonable relation to the wait, often as vouchers.
• A hotel if you’re moved to the next day, plus transport to and from it.
• Two phone calls or emails.

If staff provide nothing, buy what you need at a sensible price, keep the receipts and claim it back.

Travel insurance: EU261 won’t pay for a prepaid hotel night or tour you missed. Travel delay and missed-departure cover can. EKTA sells short-trip cover online; check what it includes and that it’s available where you live.

How to claim yourself

1. Keep the evidence: boarding passes, the airline’s messages, a photo of the departures board and all receipts.
2. Use the airline’s own claim form on its website, with your booking reference, flight number, passenger names, scheduled and actual arrival times and bank details.
3. Wait up to 6 weeks. No reply, or a refusal without a convincing reason? Go to ANAC.

Time limits: EU261 sets none, so national law applies. In Portugal, ANAC accepts complaints up to 3 years after the flight, and three years is generally taken as the limit for court claims too. If your flight left another EU country, its own limit may apply.

Changes in 2027: revised rules (Regulation 2026/2202) were published in October 2026 and are due to apply from late October 2027. The 3-hour threshold and €250 to €600 amounts stay, but you’ll have 9 months to claim and airlines 30 days to pay or explain a refusal.

ANAC and the complaints book

ANAC (Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil) enforces the rules for flights leaving Portugal and for flights into Portugal from outside the EU on EU airlines. Complaining is free: use the online form linked from anac.pt, or email [email protected] to write in another language, attaching your complaint to the airline, its reply and your booking. After that, the options are consumer arbitration or the courts. For a flight from another EU country, complain in that country.

Airline and ground-handling counters in Portugal must also keep the official Livro de Reclamações (complaints book), and ANAC receives these complaints. The online version is at livroreclamacoes.pt. It puts your complaint on record, but it isn’t a compensation claim.

When a claims service makes sense

Rather not chase the airline? Claiming yourself is free and you keep the full amount, but a service helps if the airline has rejected or ignored you. AirHelp pursues the airline for you. It charges nothing if the claim fails. If it wins, it keeps a 35% fee (including VAT), plus a further 15% if legal action is needed (fees as listed in August 2026).

Strikes in Portugal

Strikes are announced in advance. Recent ones:

• 11 December 2025: a national general strike. TAP cut its schedule, and Lisbon lost 64 departures and 62 arrivals.
• 3 June 2026: another general strike, which cabin crew joined. Portuguese media reported 658 of 1,472 flights cancelled nationwide.
• 2 to 6 October 2026: easyJet cabin crew in Lisbon, Porto and Faro walked out; the union said about 370 flights were cancelled. A second easyJet strike is called for 19 to 23 December 2026.

Who is striking matters. A walkout by the airline’s own crew usually means compensation, unless the flight was cancelled at least 14 days ahead. Strikes by air traffic controllers, airport staff or an outside ground-handling firm usually don’t. General strikes are less clear-cut, so claim and let the airline justify any refusal.

How to check: watch your airline’s app, the airport website and The Portugal News, or search for greve (strike).

Stuck at Lisbon, Porto, Faro or Madeira

• Go to your airline’s desk. Ask for meal vouchers, a hotel if you’re there overnight, and the reason in writing.
• No hotel offered? See Lisbon airport hotels, or our Porto and Faro airport guides for getting into town.
• Madeira: strong winds regularly delay or cancel flights at Funchal, in any season, and some divert to Porto Santo. Expect care rather than compensation.

FAQ

How much compensation do I get for a delayed flight from Portugal?

€250, €400 or €600 per person by distance, if you arrive 3 or more hours late and the airline was responsible. Porto to London is €250; Lisbon or Faro to London is €400.

Do I get compensation if my flight is cancelled because of a strike?

Usually yes if the airline’s own staff were striking and you had under 14 days’ notice. Usually no for air traffic control or airport strikes, though meals and a hotel are still owed.

How long do I have to claim in Portugal?

ANAC accepts complaints up to 3 years after the flight, but claim from the airline as soon as you can.

Do I need a claims company?

No. You can claim from the airline, then ANAC, for free. A claims company keeps part of the payout.

More: Lisbon stopovers and layovers and getting from Lisbon airport to the city.

See also: Porto airport to the city, Faro airport to the resorts, Portugal entry requirements, is Portugal safe? and Lisbon Airport Terminal 2.

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