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European airlines have been cancelling flights due to war in the Middle East, which has resulted in higher jet fuel costs. Lufthansa alone cut around 20,000 short-haul routes for summer 2026. Can passengers claim EC 261/2004 compensation for flight cancellations due to the Middle East crisis?
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European Airlines Argued the Jet Fuel Shortage Was an Extraordinary Circumstance
European Airlines argued that the jet fuel shortage occasioned by the Middle East conflict was an extraordinary circumstance that should excuse them from EC 261/2004 compensation obligations. The geopolitical conflict and the passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz aren't within the airlines' control, their reasoning went, so surely this should count as an exogenous shock, similar to extreme weather events.
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European Commission to Airlines: Higher Fuel Costs are NOT an Extraordinary Circumstance
Fortunately for passengers of European airlines, the European Commission issued formal guidance that strongly rebuts the airlines seeking to exempt themselves from EC261/2004 compensation claims for cancelled flights: “The Commission considers that high fuel prices should not be considered as constituting extraordinary circumstance.”
This makes sense when viewed in the context of how the EC has, in past rulings, limited “extraordinary circumstances” to security risks, political instability, labor strikes, and extraordinary weather conditions that directly affect the flight in question (i.e. not weather elsewhere that causes a domino effect). In all cases, these exceptions are supposed to be events that make it unsafe or impossible to operate the flight in question. Higher jet fuel prices do not make it safe or impossible to operate a flight, simply more expensive, and this is something that airlines could have mitigated, had they chosen to do so, by hedging their exposure via futures contracts. That they chose not to do so or hedged insufficiently is a business decision, not an extraordinary circumstance.
The EC did make one narrow exception: a local fuel shortage, for example if an airport from which a flight was to depart did, in fact, run out of jet fuel. This also makes sense, since it literally prevents the flight from operating, similar to extreme weather or war.
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EC 261/2004 Compensation Amounts
- EUR 250 per ticket for all flights < 1500 km (most short-haul European flights, e.g. Paris CDG to Rome FCO)
- EUR 400 per ticket for all intra EU flights > 1500 km OR any non-EU flight >1500 m but <3500 km (e.g. Dublin DUB to Rome FCO)
- EUR 600 for non-EU flight >3500 km (e.g. Paris CDG to New York JFK)
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Bottom line: If you're flying an EU airline either direction or within Europe, or any airline departing from the EU, and your flight is cancelled within the 14 days prior to departure, you could be entitled to the EC261/2004 compensation amount above, as well as rerouting, meals, and accommodation, assuming the airline doesn't cite a permitted “extraordinary circumstance.” When claiming your compensation, be sure to reference the EC guidance linked to above, which explicitly denies higher jet fuel prices as an “extraordinary circumstance.”
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