ANSWER · UK 261 AND EC 261

My employer paid for the flight. Who gets the compensation?

The regulation gives the rights to the passenger who was disrupted, not to whoever paid. Art. 7 awards compensation to passengers, and Art. 3(3) keeps a ticket in scope however it was bought, provided the fare was not free or reserved away from the public. Whether you then owe the money to your employer is a question of your arrangement with them, not of EC 261 or UK 261.

REVIEWED AGAINST RULE SET V6 AND THE CITED PRIMARY SOURCES · UPDATED 7 AUGUST 2026

What the regulation actually says

Every entitlement in Articles 4 to 9 attaches to the passenger: the person with the reservation who presented for the flight. Nothing turns on the payment card. A corporate rate booked through a travel management company is still a fare available to the public unless it is genuinely closed, which ordinary negotiated corporate fares are not.

What the regulation leaves to you and your employer

Whether compensation for a work trip is yours to keep is outside the regulation: employment contracts and expense policies answer it. The regulation only fixes who the airline must pay, and that is the passenger.

Claims can be signed over

Assignment is routine: several of the leading judgments, including Airhelp v Laudamotion and Touristic Aviation, were brought by companies suing as assignees of passengers' claims. An assigned claim runs on the same rules, including the notice provisions.

THE JUDGMENTS BEHIND THIS ANSWER

Airhelp v Laudamotion, C-263/202021

SOURCES

Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 7(1) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 3(3) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
Case C-263/20 Airhelp v Laudamotion, judgment of 21 December 2021 (ECLI:EU:C:2021:1039) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026