Compensation is the headline figure in EC261, but there is another set of rights that applies during the disruption itself, while you are stranded at the airport, waiting for news, watching departure boards flicker with delays. These are your "right to care" entitlements, and they are separate from and additional to any compensation you may later claim.
Article 9 — Right to care
"Passengers shall be offered free of charge: (a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time; (b) hotel accommodation [...] where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary; (c) transport between the airport and place of accommodation." — Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 9
What the airline must provide
The right to care activates based on the length of the delay and the distance of your flight. Once the relevant threshold is reached, the airline must proactively offer assistance. In practice, many airlines are slow to do this, which is why knowing your rights matters.
Thresholds
When your right to care kicks in
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1
2+ hour delay on short-haul flights (under 1,500 km): meals and refreshments, plus two phone calls or emails
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2
3+ hour delay on medium-haul (1,500–3,500 km): same as above
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3
4+ hour delay on long-haul (over 3,500 km): same as above
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4
Overnight delay (any distance): hotel accommodation and transport to/from the hotel
Meals and refreshments should be proportionate to the waiting time. A two-hour delay warrants a snack and a drink. An eight-hour delay warrants multiple meals. The airline cannot meet its obligations by handing out a single bottle of water and considering the matter closed.
When the airline doesn't provide care
In reality, airlines frequently fail to meet their care obligations, particularly during large-scale disruptions when many flights are affected simultaneously. Vouchers run out, help desks close, and passengers are left to fend for themselves.
If this happens, you have the right to arrange your own care and claim reimbursement afterwards. Buy a reasonable meal at the airport. If you need a hotel, book one nearby. Keep every receipt. The key word is "reasonable": the airline must reimburse proportionate expenses, not extravagant ones. An airport hotel at standard rates is reasonable. The Presidential Suite at a five-star resort is not.
Keep every receipt
If the airline fails to provide meals, hotel, or transport, arrange them yourself and keep all receipts. You can claim these expenses back separately from your EC261 compensation. Without receipts, reimbursement becomes very difficult to prove.
Right to care vs compensation
These are separate entitlements. A passenger whose flight is delayed seven hours might receive €400 in EC261 compensation and also claim back €45 in meals and €120 in hotel costs incurred during the wait. One does not reduce the other. Airlines sometimes try to suggest that providing meals or a hotel room satisfies their compensation obligation — it does not.
Cancellations and the right to care
When your flight is cancelled, the right to care applies from the moment of cancellation until you either receive a refund and leave the airport, or until your rebooking departs. If the airline rebooks you on a flight the next morning, it must provide overnight accommodation and meals for the interim period.
If you choose a full refund instead of rebooking, the airline's care obligations end once the refund is processed and you leave the airport. But if you choose rebooking and the alternative flight is not until the following day, the airline cannot simply hand you a boarding pass for tomorrow and send you away. It must provide care for the entire waiting period.