Flight delayed in Europe? EU rules mean money is owed to you — but as a fresh ranking shows, some carriers hand it over in days while others drag you through court.

Under EU Regulation 261/2004, passengers are entitled to €250 for short-haul flights (under 1,500km) delayed more than two hours, €400 for medium-haul routes (1,500–3,500km) delayed over three hours, and €600 for longer flights delayed more than four hours. The catch is enforcement: airlines can ignore, reject or slow-walk legitimate claims for months.

Compensation claims specialist AirAdvisor analysed 68,283 claims filed with 59 airlines between January and June 2026, ranking carriers by how often claims were resolved and how frequently disputes ended up in court. Only 22 airlines with more than 100 claims made the list.

TAP Air Portugal tops the table as Europe's most honest payer: 88.7% of claims resolved, a court referral rate of just 0.6%, and an average payout wait of only 10 days. LOT Polish Airlines came second with zero court cases and an 82.8% success rate, while Wizz Air took third at 72.4% resolved. Iberia (67.3%) and Brussels Airlines — another with no court referrals — rounded out the top five, ahead of Air France, Aegean, KLM, ITA Airways and SAS.

The bottom of the table is where it gets painful. Romania's flag carrier TAROM is the hardest to claim against: just 3.3% of 122 claims succeeded, nearly half (46.7%) went to court, and the average wait stretches to 110 days. Italian carrier Aeroitalia resolved only 0.6% of claims, with 28.2% heading to court. Europe's biggest airline, Ryanair, landed third-worst — of 991 qualified claims, just 2.1% were successfully resolved and 17.8% went to court.

A caveat worth knowing: the data reflects claims handled through AirAdvisor, so each airline's overall record may differ. Still, the pattern is clear — if your flight is disrupted, the carrier you're dealing with shapes how much fight you'll face.

Why does this matter to travellers? If you've been delayed, you're entitled to that money whether or not the airline makes it easy. You can file directly with the carrier, or use a claims company that typically takes a cut but handles the paperwork and escalation. Knowing that airlines like TAP, LOT or Wizz tend to settle quickly — while TAROM, Aeroitalia or Ryanair claims often stall — helps you decide whether to chase it yourself or hand it to a specialist. Either way, keep your boarding pass, note the delay length, and submit the claim promptly; under EU rules the entitlement applies regardless of ticket price or nationality, as long as your flight departed from an EU airport (or was an EU carrier arriving into the EU).