How Far Back Can You Claim Flight Compensation?

The US Department of Transportation has no federal statute of limitations for passenger compensation complaints. There is no hard cutoff date after which you are legally barred from filing. However, the practical reality is very different from the legal one.

DOT enforcement staff deprioritize complaints about flights from more than one to two years ago. Airlines are not required to retain detailed operational records indefinitely, and most purge booking data, gate logs, and delay records on rolling 12 to 24 month cycles. Once those records are gone, proving your claim becomes nearly impossible regardless of what the law technically allows.

Credit card chargeback deadline: 120 days. If you paid by card and the airline denied a refund it owed you, your card network (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) typically gives you only 120 days from the transaction to dispute it. This is the tightest deadline in US air travel and it is strictly enforced. See how to get a refund from an airline for full chargeback steps.

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  File DOT complaints promptly. The DOT's Air Consumer Protection office recommends submitting within 12 months for the best chance of action.

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  Airline records window: 12 to 24 months. After that, flight logs and delay data are routinely purged.

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  Credit card chargeback: 120 days from the original transaction date.

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  No federal court statute of limitations for breach-of-contract claims under airline contracts of carriage (varies by state, typically 3 to 6 years).

EU Regulation 261/2004 entitles passengers to compensation of up to €600 for long delays, cancellations, and denied boarding on flights departing from an EU airport or arriving on an EU carrier. What the regulation does not specify is how long you have to claim. That question falls under the civil law of each member state, which means the deadline varies significantly by country.

Courts across the EU have confirmed that EU261 compensation is a civil right enforceable through national courts, and each country's general contract or tort limitation period applies. The practical consequence is that a passenger flying Paris to New York has up to five years to claim, while someone flying Rome to London has only two.

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   France: 5 years (Code Civil, Article 2224). One of the most passenger-friendly windows in the EU.

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   Germany: 3 years (BGB §195), running from the end of the calendar year in which the claim arose.

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   Spain: 5 years (Código Civil, Article 1964, as amended in 2015).

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   Italy: 2 years (Codice della Navigazione, Article 949-bis), the shortest window in a major EU market.

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   Netherlands: 2 years, though Dutch courts have occasionally applied longer general limitation periods.

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   Belgium, Austria, Poland: 3 years under general civil limitation rules.

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   Sweden, Denmark: 3 years under national contract law.

Which country's law applies? Generally the law of the country where the flight departed or where the airline is headquartered governs your claim. When in doubt, check the EU261 rights page or run your flight through TravelStacks for an instant eligibility check.

Since Brexit, the United Kingdom enforces its own version of EU261 known as UK261 (retained in UK law via the Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019). The compensation amounts and eligibility rules are nearly identical to EU261, but the limitation period is governed by UK domestic law and is notably more generous.

Under the Limitation Act 1980, simple contract claims in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have a six-year limitation period from the date the cause of action arose (i.e., the date of the disrupted flight). Scotland operates under the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, which sets a five-year prescriptive period.

UK261 time limits at a glance. England, Wales, Northern Ireland: 6 years (Limitation Act 1980). Scotland: 5 years (Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973). Claims can be filed with the airline directly, through an approved ADR body, or via the County Court. Read the full UK261 guide for step-by-step instructions.

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  UK261 applies to flights departing any UK airport, or flights arriving in the UK on a UK- or EU-based carrier.

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  Post-Brexit, EU261 and UK261 run in parallel for some routes (e.g., London to Paris on British Airways): you may have rights under both.

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  The six-year window means flights from mid-2020 onward (including heavily disrupted COVID-era flights) are still potentially claimable through mid-2026.

The biggest practical barrier to old claims is not the legal deadline. It is documentation. Airlines will deny claims that lack supporting evidence, and courts expect you to demonstrate the flight number, date, scheduled times, and actual delay. Here is how to reconstruct your records even years after the fact.

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   Email booking confirmations. Search your inbox for the airline name, booking reference, or terms like 'itinerary' or 'e-ticket'. Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail all support full-text search going back years.

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   Credit card statements. Your card statement proves you purchased the ticket and establishes the date. Most banks provide 7 years of statements online. This is also the document you need for chargebacks.

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   Airline apps and loyalty accounts. Log into your frequent flyer account. Most carriers (Delta, United, American, BA, Lufthansa) store trip history for 2 to 5 years in the app or web portal.

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   FlightAware historical data. FlightAware maintains a searchable archive of actual departure and arrival times for commercial flights. Search by flight number and date to get documented delay information airlines cannot dispute.

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   Google Timeline or photo metadata. If you had location history enabled, Google Timeline can confirm you were at an airport on a specific date. Photo EXIF data (timestamp and location) can corroborate travel.

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   Travel insurance records. If you filed a travel insurance claim at the time, those records include flight details and delay documentation.

Tip: request your data from the airline. Under GDPR (EU/UK) or CCPA (California), you can submit a Subject Access Request to the airline and receive all personal data they hold about you, including booking history and flight logs. This can surface records you thought were gone.

Airlines process millions of claims and complaints per year. Their first-line response is often a form denial, and they rarely run a proactive statute-of-limitations check on individual passenger claims. If you submit a well-documented claim, most carriers will process it on the merits without first asking when the flight occurred.

The limitation period only becomes a legal shield if the airline actively raises it in court proceedings. In practice, airlines that receive a solid claim with flight records, delay documentation, and a clear legal basis frequently settle rather than litigate, even on older flights. Strong documentation beats age in the vast majority of cases. For a complete walkthrough of the claims process, see how to get a refund from an airline.

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  Airlines rarely audit claim submission dates unless a case reaches formal dispute resolution or court.

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  Third-party claims services (including TravelStacks) regularly recover compensation on flights 2 to 4 years old.

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  EU and UK small claims courts are experienced with EU261/UK261 cases and apply limitation periods precisely, meaning a claim filed one day before the deadline is just as valid as one filed the day after the flight.

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  The more complete your documentation, the less the age of the claim matters in practice.

Not sure which rules apply to your flight? TravelStacks checks US DOT, EU261, and UK261 automatically. US claims: $19 flat. EU/UK claims: 25% no-win-no-fee. Check your flight.