Flight delays are a perennial frustration for travellers, but under EU law, passengers are entitled to compensation. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 guarantees €250 for flights under 1,500 km delayed by more than two hours, €400 for flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km delayed by more than three hours, and €600 for longer flights delayed by more than four hours. In theory, this is a robust safety net. In practice, getting an airline to pay up can be a bureaucratic ordeal.
To help passengers navigate this, AirAdvisor, a company that specialises in flight and baggage compensation claims, has analysed its own claims data from January to June 2026. The company handled 68,283 claims across 59 airlines, ranking carriers by their claim resolution rate and the proportion of cases that ended up in court after being rejected or ignored.
The most cooperative airlines
According to AirAdvisor, the most cooperative carrier is Portugal's flag carrier, TAP Air Portugal. It resolved 88.7% of claims without court involvement, with only 0.6% of cases referred to court. The average payout time was just 10 days. LOT Polish Airlines came second, with an 82.8% resolution rate and no cases going to court. Wizz Air, the Hungarian low-cost carrier, took third place with a 72.4% resolution rate and a 1.2% court referral rate.
The top five is completed by Iberia (67.3% resolution) and Brussels Airlines, which also had no court cases. Air France, Aegean Airlines, KLM, ITA Airways and SAS round out the top ten.
The most difficult airlines
At the other end of the scale, Romania's TAROM is the most difficult airline to claim from. Of 122 claims, only 3.3% were successful, and 46.7% were sent to court. The average wait for payment was a staggering 110 days. Aeroitalia, an Italian carrier, had a resolution rate of just 0.6%, with 28.2% of claims going to court. Europe's largest airline, Ryanair, also performed poorly: of 991 claims, only 2.1% were resolved, and 17.8% were referred to court.
It is worth noting that these figures are based solely on claims made through AirAdvisor, so they may not reflect the overall performance of each airline. The ranking only includes carriers with more than 100 claims, which left 22 airlines in the final list. The full dataset is available on the AirAdvisor website.
For passengers, the message is clear: while EU law provides strong protections, the ease of claiming varies significantly by airline. If you are planning a trip and want to minimise hassle, choosing a carrier with a good claims record might be as important as the ticket price. And if you do face a delay, remember that you can claim directly with the airline or use a service like AirAdvisor to handle the paperwork.
For more on travel and consumer rights, see our coverage of cross-border workers claiming unpaid wages and the future of electric flights in Europe.
