Your Rights During Long Delays: Meals, Hotels, and Transport

Compensation Isn't the Only Thing Airlines Owe You

Most passengers who know about EC 261 focus on the headline compensation amounts. But the regulation contains another equally important provision that applies in more situations and kicks in much sooner: the duty of care. Under Article 9 of EC 261/2004, airlines must provide meals, refreshments, communication, and hotel accommodation when flights are significantly delayed, regardless of what caused the delay.

This is a separate entitlement from the compensation for delays over three hours. You can be owed both. And unlike compensation, the duty of care applies even when the delay is caused by extraordinary circumstances like severe weather or air traffic control issues. The airline must look after you no matter what.

When Your Rights Kick In

The duty of care obligation is triggered based on the length of the delay and the distance of your flight. The thresholds are staggered to reflect the fact that longer flights warrant earlier intervention.

These are minimum requirements. The airline should be providing care proactively, without passengers having to demand it. In practice, this is often where airlines fall short.

What "Reasonable" Care Looks Like

The regulation says meals and refreshments must be provided "in reasonable relation to the waiting time." This language is deliberately flexible, but it does have limits. A bag of crisps and a small bottle of water after a six-hour delay does not meet the standard. Passengers are entitled to proper meals at regular intervals throughout the delay.

For hotel accommodation, "reasonable" means a proper hotel room, not a camp bed in the terminal. It doesn't need to be a luxury hotel, but it should be a clean, comfortable room in reasonable proximity to the airport. The airline must also arrange and pay for transport between the airport and the hotel.

Common Airline Failures

Despite these obligations being clear in the regulation, airlines frequently fail to meet them. The most common failures follow predictable patterns.

Meal vouchers with absurdly low values are endemic. Airlines hand out vouchers worth five or ten euros at airports where a basic sandwich and coffee costs twice that. Passengers are left either spending their own money to eat properly or going hungry because the voucher covers almost nothing.

Refusal to arrange overnight accommodation is another persistent problem. Airlines tell passengers to "make their own arrangements" without committing to reimburse the cost. Passengers, unsure whether they'll be repaid, either sleep in the terminal or reluctantly book a hotel and hope for the best. Some airlines go further and claim that duty of care doesn't apply because the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances, which is flatly wrong. The duty of care applies regardless of the cause.

Information failures compound the problem. During long delays, airlines are required to keep passengers informed about the situation and their rights. Instead, updates are often vague, infrequent, or contradictory. Passengers don't know whether their flight will depart in an hour or be cancelled entirely, making it impossible to make informed decisions about booking hotels or alternative transport.

What to Do When the Airline Won't Help

If you're stuck at an airport and the airline isn't providing care, take practical steps to protect yourself and your claim. First, ask the airline directly for what you're entitled to. Go to the service desk or gate and request meals, hotel accommodation, or whatever the situation requires. If they refuse, ask them to confirm the refusal in writing or note the time and the name of the staff member.

Then handle your own care. Book a reasonable hotel near the airport. Eat proper meals. Keep a taxi receipt for transport to and from the hotel. Save everything. When you claim reimbursement later, you'll need to show what you spent and demonstrate that it was reasonable.

What counts as reasonable is a matter of common sense. An airport hotel or a mid-range hotel near the airport is reasonable. A five-star resort is not. A proper sit-down meal is reasonable. A Michelin-starred dinner is not. The standard is comfort and necessity, not luxury.

The Proposed Reform

The proposed revision of EC 261 would make duty of care obligations more specific. The draft includes explicit timelines: refreshments every two hours during a delay, a proper meal after three hours, and hotel accommodation for up to three nights. These clearer standards would make it harder for airlines to offer token care and claim they've met their obligations.

Until any reform is finalised, the current rules still provide strong protection. The key is knowing they exist and being prepared to assert them.

Remember that duty of care and compensation are two distinct rights under EC 261. Even if your delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances and the airline legitimately doesn't owe compensation, they still owe you care. And if the delay was within the airline's control, you're entitled to both. Don't let an airline convince you that one replaces the other.