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Connecting flights and missed connections: how the rules count

On one booking, the rules treat the whole trip as one journey. That changes both the distance and the delay.

Updated

One booking, one journey

The Commission guidelines treat a booking made as a single unit as one journey. The distance is measured from where you started to your final destination, and the delay is measured when you reach that final destination.

What this means

  • If you missed a connection and reached the final destination 3 hours or more late, the delay test is met.
  • The amount follows the distance from first departure to last arrival, not the length of the leg that went wrong.
  • Enter the first departure airport and the final arrival airport in the calculator, with the airline that operated the delayed leg.

Separate tickets

If you bought the flights separately, each ticket is its own journey. A delay on the first does not make the second late in the legal sense. Check each ticket against the rules on its own.

Example

Amsterdam to Aruba is about 7,878 km. A trip that starts in a smaller city and connects through Amsterdam is measured from the first city. See the calculator.

Check your flight

Where the trip started. For one booking with connections, the first airport.

Where the trip ended: the final destination.

The operating airline, not the one on the ticket. A boarding pass or the flight status page names it.

What happened

At the final destination, when the aircraft door opened.

We read this to explain the result. We never decide whether it counts as extraordinary.

Carried into the claim letter. It does not change the amount.

Results

Enter both airports and the airline to see a result.

Loading the airport list

Choose where the trip started, where it ended, the airline and what happened. The result updates as you type.

Information, not advice

Hours Late is not a law firm and not a claims company. It does not file claims for you. The results are estimates from published rules and the details you enter. They are not legal advice. Airlines and courts decide each case.

Sources