First flight delayed: will you make your connection, and what are your rights?

If your first flight is late, what happens next depends mostly on one thing: whether both flights are on the same booking. On a single booking the airline has to get you to your final destination and look after you while you wait, and in Europe you may be owed compensation if you arrive three hours or more late. On separate tickets, a missed connection is your own problem.

This guide explains the rules as they stand in September 2026. It isn't legal advice.

First, check how you booked

• One booking, one reservation code for both flights. The flights count as one journey. If a delay makes you miss the second flight, the airline must rebook you, and under EU and UK rules your rights are judged on when you reach your final destination.
• Two separate bookings (self-transfer). Each flight is a separate contract. If the first one is late and you miss the second, the second airline doesn't have to rebook you or pay anything for that missed flight. The late first flight can still give you rights on its own if it arrives three hours or more late.

A combination sold by a travel agency with a single ticket and one overall price also counts as a single booking.

What to do while your first flight is delayed

1. Before boarding, talk to the staff at your departure gate. If the delay is announced before you leave, ask whether you'll make the connection and whether they can rebook you onto a later flight now. It's easier to change plans before takeoff than after.
2. Keep an eye on both flights. Check the new arrival time of your first flight and the departure time of your second. A connecting flight can be late too.
3. On board, tell the crew. Crew members sometimes know which connections are being held or which passengers will be met at the gate.
4. After landing, go straight to your next gate. Follow the transfer signs, not the exit. Check the departure screens for the gate, allow for passport control if you're changing between Schengen and non-Schengen flights, and don't stop on the way.
5. If you miss it, go to the transfer desk. On a single booking, the airline must rebook you. Don't buy a new ticket yourself before talking to them, or you may not get the money back.
6. Keep every receipt, for meals, calls, transport and hotels.

Missing a connection because you were stuck in a security queue or reached the gate after boarding closed doesn't give you compensation, even on a single booking. So go straight to your gate.

Your rights under EU rules

These rules apply when your journey departs from an airport in the EU, Iceland, Norway or Switzerland, on any airline, or when you fly into the EU from outside on an EU airline. On a single booking, what counts is where your whole journey starts and where it ends.

Compensation

On a single booking, you can be owed compensation if you reach your final destination three hours or more late, however late your first flight left. The amount depends on the straight-line distance from your first departure airport to your final destination, not on the distance of each leg.

No compensation is due if the airline can prove the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances that couldn't have been avoided. The Court of Justice of the EU reads that narrowly:

• Usually not extraordinary: most technical problems with the aircraft, and strikes by the airline's own staff.
• Often extraordinary: bad weather, air traffic control restrictions or strikes, airport staff strikes, security risks and bird strikes.

Care while you wait

Even when no compensation is due, the airline must look after you while you wait for your next flight, including at the transfer airport:

• meals and refreshments in line with the waiting time
• two phone calls or emails
• a hotel and transport to it if you have to stay overnight

The airline should offer this rather than leave you to arrange it. If it doesn't, keep the receipts and claim the reasonable costs back.

Rebooking or refund

On a single booking the airline must get you to your final destination at the earliest opportunity under comparable conditions. If the delay reaches five hours or more, you can instead give up the trip, get the unused part of your ticket refunded, and be flown back to where you started.

Flights under UK rules

Since leaving the EU, the UK has its own version of the same rules. It covers flights departing the UK and certain flights arriving there. Single bookings count as one journey, and compensation for arriving three hours or more late is:

• £220 up to 1,500 km
• £350 between 1,500 and 3,500 km
• £520 over 3,500 km, or £260 if you arrive between three and four hours late

The UK Civil Aviation Authority also confirms that separate bookings give no right to care or compensation for a missed flight.

How to claim

1. Write to the airline first, with your booking reference, flight numbers, and the time you actually arrived at your final destination.
2. If there's no answer within two months (eight weeks in the UK), or you disagree, complain to the national enforcement body of the country where the incident happened. In the EU that's usually the country of departure, or the country of arrival for flights from outside the EU. The European Commission publishes the list. In the UK, go to an alternative dispute resolution body or the Civil Aviation Authority.
3. Mind the deadline. Time limits for going to court depend on each country's law.

A reform is coming, but isn't in force yet

In 2026 the European Parliament and the Council adopted a reform of air passenger rights. It keeps the three-hour threshold and the €250, €400 and €600 amounts, and adds new rules on how to claim. In September 2026 it was still awaiting signature and publication, so the rules above are the ones that apply.

Connecting at a big European airport?

How much time you need, and which checks you face, depends on the airport. These guides cover what each airport publishes:

• Amsterdam Schiphol
• Athens
• Frankfurt
• London Heathrow
• Madrid-Barajas
• Munich
• Paris-Charles de Gaulle
• Rome Fiumicino

Keep track of both flights

Before you fly, add both flights to FlyingOver while you have internet, so you can follow the first flight offline and see its estimated arrival. With a Premium subscription, connection guidance shows at a glance whether your layover looks comfortable, whether you need to keep moving, or whether you should go directly to the gate. Once you're back online, the times update with live data.