Montreal Convention vs EU261: Know Your Rights

When your international flight lands three hours late, two separate legal frameworks may apply, and they work very differently. The Montreal Convention, a treaty ratified by more than 140 countries, lets you claim documented losses up to a high cap. EU Regulation 261/2004 gives every qualifying passenger a fixed cash amount with no receipts needed, but only on routes it covers. Knowing which one covers your route, your airline and your kind of loss can decide whether you get your costs back. Below we compare the two and explain where event contracts on Gaduin fit when neither law pays you on the night of the delay.

Two Laws, One Delayed Plane

The Montreal Convention 1999 is a multilateral ICAO treaty that sets common liability rules for international air travel. More than 140 states have ratified it, covering almost every major aviation market. It replaced the older Warsaw Convention and has two levels of liability: unlimited for death and bodily injury, and capped for delay.

EU Regulation 261/2004 (EU261) is European Union law from 2004. It applies to flights departing from any EU airport, and to flights arriving in the EU on an EU-licensed airline. You don’t have to prove any financial loss. If your flight arrives three or more hours late, you get a fixed cash amount, unless the airline can show extraordinary circumstances.

The two laws come from different places, cover different flights and compensate in different ways, and you can use both. European courts have confirmed that a passenger can make an EU261 flat-rate claim and a Montreal Convention claim for actual damages over the same delay. The one limit is that you can’t be paid twice for the same loss.

EU261: Fixed Compensation for Europe-Connected Flights

Article 7 of EU Regulation 261/2004 sets fixed compensation by flight distance:

€250: flights of 1,500 km or less
€400: intra-EU flights over 1,500 km, and all other flights between 1,500 km and 3,500 km
€600: all other flights over 3,500 km

[Source: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art.7, eur-lex.europa.eu]

The delay threshold for compensation is three hours on arrival. Departure time doesn’t count. The Court of Justice ruled in Sturgeon v Condor (C-402/07), and confirmed in Nelson v Lufthansa (C-581/10), that passengers who arrive three or more hours late are owed the same compensation as passengers whose flights are cancelled.

No proof of loss required. You don’t need to show a missed connection, a lost hotel booking or a missed meeting. The delay alone gives you the right to compensation under EU261.

The airline’s defence: extraordinary circumstances (Art.5(3)). Airlines don’t have to pay if the delay was caused by circumstances that couldn’t have been avoided even if they had taken all reasonable measures. Real weather events, air traffic control strikes and political instability are usually accepted. Technical faults are less clear-cut. In Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia (C-549/07), the court held that a technical fault doesn’t qualify unless the defect was unexpected, wasn’t caused by poor maintenance and couldn’t have been prevented.

Care during delay (Art.9). Separately from compensation, airlines must provide meals and refreshments and, if you need to stay overnight, a hotel and transport to it. This applies from two hours on short flights, three hours on medium flights and four hours on long-haul flights.

Time limits for claims depend on the EU member state: six years in England and Wales, five years in France and three years in Germany.

For the case law on extraordinary circumstances in detail, see the EU261 Extraordinary Circumstances Guide.

Montreal Convention Article 19: Prove Your Loss, Up to the SDR Cap

What Article 19 Says

Article 19 of the Montreal Convention 1999 makes airlines liable for damage caused by delay to passengers, baggage or cargo. There’s no flat rate. The airline is liable for actual, documented losses, up to a fixed cap per passenger.

The limit for passenger delay is 6,303 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) per passenger, as updated by ICAO from 28 December 2024. At late-2024 exchange rates that’s about USD 8,400, though the dollar figure moves with the value of the SDR. [Source: ICAO periodic review under Art.24 Montreal Convention. Treat dollar figures as examples and check the current SDR rate before you claim.]

To avoid liability under Article 19, the airline must show it “took all reasonable measures to avoid the damage, or that it was impossible for it to do so.” This test differs from EU261’s extraordinary circumstances. The airline has to show what it actually did to prevent the damage. Showing the cause was outside its control isn’t enough.

The time limit is two years from the date of arrival (Art.35 Montreal Convention).

What Counts as Damage Under Article 19

Under the Montreal Convention you can only recover actual out-of-pocket costs caused by the delay:

Hotel nights and meals during the extra wait
The cost of a replacement flight if the airline didn’t rebook you
Prepaid accommodation and activities you couldn’t cancel
Documented business losses, such as a missed contract signing with a verifiable revenue figure

Not recoverable under Montreal: inconvenience, stress, lost time or any other non-economic harm. Unlike EU261, there’s no fixed payment for your wasted time. Without receipts, you have no claim.

Keep your documents. From the moment a delay is announced, keep every boarding pass, hotel invoice, restaurant receipt, message from the airline and rebooking confirmation.

Where Montreal Convention Applies (and Doesn’t)

The Montreal Convention applies to international carriage, meaning a trip where the departure and destination are in two different contracting states, or both are in one contracting state with an agreed stop in another state.

It does not apply to:

Purely domestic flights within a single country (for example, a US domestic ticket)
Flights by airlines of non-signatory states on routes between non-signatory states

Flights between two EU countries are international carriage between contracting states, so the convention covers them alongside EU261. For EU passengers on transatlantic and other long-haul routes, the Montreal Convention is the delay liability law that applies alongside EU261.

EU261 vs Montreal Convention: Head-to-Head

Feature	EU261	Montreal Convention Art.19
Geographic scope	EU-connected flights only	International routes, 140+ countries
Compensation type	Fixed flat rate	Actual documented losses only
Maximum per passenger	€600	~USD 8,400 (6,303 SDR)
Proof of loss required	No, the delay alone is enough	Yes, receipts required
Carrier defence	Extraordinary circumstances (Art.5(3))	All reasonable measures (Art.19)
Delay threshold	≥3h on arrival (Sturgeon C-402/07)	No fixed statutory threshold
Care during delay	Yes, meals and accommodation (Art.9)	No equivalent provision
Filing deadline	Varies by member state (e.g. 3 years in Germany, 6 in England and Wales)	2 years from arrival (Art.35)
Non-economic loss	Covered by the flat rate	Not recoverable

Can You Use Both? Overlap and Complementarity

European courts have confirmed that EU261 fixed compensation and Montreal Convention damages are separate rights. You can claim both for the same delay.

The limit is no double recovery for the same loss. If you get €600 under EU261 on a long-haul flight, you can’t also claim the same hotel receipt under Montreal if the EU261 payment was meant to cover that cost. If your documented losses are higher than the EU261 amount, the Montreal Convention covers the difference, up to the SDR cap.

Example: A transatlantic delay costs you €2,000 in missed hotel bookings and emergency rebooking. EU261 pays €600, with no receipts needed. Montreal covers the other €1,400, as long as you have the documents and the airline can’t show it took all reasonable measures.

Using both makes most sense on expensive trips where your documented losses are well above the EU261 amount. For ordinary holiday travel, EU261 is usually simpler and more reliable.

If you booked a package holiday through an organiser, the EU Package Travel Directive adds a third layer of organiser liability. It works alongside both laws and may give you a separate way to recover your costs.

The Gap Neither Framework Covers Tonight

Both laws work after the fact. The delay happens, you collect evidence, you claim, and then you wait.

EU261 claims: airlines often reject claims or are slow to reply. National enforcement bodies and alternative dispute resolution schemes can take three to eighteen months. Court takes longer still. Claims services such as AirHelp, Compensair and ClaimCompass handle the process for a success fee and charge nothing if the claim fails, but they’re bound by the same legal timeline. For how these services compare, see AirHelp vs Compensair vs ClaimCompass.

Montreal Convention claims: you have two years, which is plenty, but proving your losses is entirely up to you. Most travellers don’t keep enough evidence.

In practice: it’s 3am, you’re stranded, your non-refundable connection is gone and you’re paying for a hotel room you can’t use. Neither EU261 nor the Montreal Convention pays you that night. Your legal rights are real, but the money comes months or years later.

Event Contracts: A Complementary Tool for Immediate Coverage

Gaduin is an offshore prediction market on transport events. It isn’t an airline, an insurance product or a legal claims service, and it has no link to any airline, airport authority or claims company.

An event contract on Gaduin isn’t a legal claim. You take a position before departure on whether your flight arrives On time, Delayed (more than 15 minutes late), or is Cancelled. The market settles on the flight’s recorded arrival compared with its scheduled arrival, and each share of the outcome that happens pays $1.00 in USDT. There’s no airline liability, no extraordinary circumstances defence, no receipts and no dispute process. The official record is compared with terms that were fixed when the market opened.

	EU261 / Montreal Convention	Gaduin Event Contract
Timing	Claim after the delay	Position before departure
What decides it	Legal entitlement + dispute process	The flight’s recorded arrival against its scheduled arrival
Proof required	Receipts (Montreal) or delay data alone (EU261)	None, the official record decides it
Settlement currency	EUR/GBP/local fiat	USDT, at $1.00 per share of the outcome that happens
Typical timeline	3–18+ months	Automatic, once that record is in
Carrier involvement	Direct claim against airline	None

You can use event contracts on Gaduin and your legal rights under EU261 and the Montreal Convention together. Making a legal claim doesn’t affect an event contract position, and the other way round. The legal claim recovers compensation over time. The event contract can cover the cash you’re short while that claim runs.

One thing to plan for: an event contract pays on the recorded arrival, whatever the delay cost you. A share pays $1.00 if its outcome happens and $0 if it doesn’t. If a flight lands 14 minutes late and the threshold is 15 minutes, Delayed pays nothing, however much that quarter of an hour cost you. Pick a position based on the delay at which your own costs start. For more on how position size interacts with delay risk, see Basis Risk in Event Contract Hedging.

This is not financial advice. Event contracts can lose you money. Gaduin does not accept US persons.

Practical Steps: Know Your Rights Before You Fly

Work out your route type. Departing from an EU airport: EU261 applies whatever the airline. Flying to the EU on an EU-licensed airline: EU261 applies. International route between two Montreal Convention states: Art.19 applies. Many long-haul routes from EU airports are covered by both.
During the delay: note the exact gate departure and gate arrival times (flight status shows the reported times for a flight number). Ask the airline for meals and accommodation under EU261 Art.9 if your route qualifies. Keep every receipt from the first hour, small ones included.
After the delay: send the airline a written EU261 claim (email gives you a record). For large documented losses, file a separate Montreal Convention Art.19 claim with your receipts. Keep all evidence for at least two years.
If arriving late would cost you real money: consider whether an event contract on Gaduin can hedge the delay risk on your route, whatever happens with the legal claim. Not every route has a live market, and flights only list about 48 hours before departure.
A rejection isn’t final. Airlines often refuse claims by citing extraordinary circumstances. Escalate to the national enforcement body or the relevant ADR scheme. You can challenge a rejected EU261 claim, and an Article 19 claim is a separate process.

For what happens when strikes are involved, see Airline Strikes & EU261: When You Are and Aren’t Entitled to Compensation.

What to Take Away

Both laws can cover the same delayed flight. EU261 pays fixed cash on EU-connected routes without receipts, as long as you arrive at least three hours late and there’s no genuine extraordinary circumstance. The Montreal Convention covers more of the world, with international routes in more than 140 countries, but you need documents and you only recover what you can prove, up to the SDR cap.

Neither pays you on the night you’re stranded. Whether your rights turn into money depends on knowing which law applies, keeping records from the first minute of the delay and following the claims process, with or without a claims service. For the gap between the delay and the legal outcome, event contracts on Gaduin settle in USDT on the flight’s recorded arrival, whatever the airline’s liability.