ANSWER · UK 261 AND EC 261

My flight was late because the inbound aircraft was late. Can I claim?

Often yes. A knock on delay is not in itself an extraordinary circumstance under Art. 5(3): what matters is the original cause and what the airline did afterwards. TAP held in 2020 that an extraordinary event on an earlier rotation can excuse a later flight, but only where the carrier proves it took all reasonable measures, including re-routing on other airlines.

REVIEWED AGAINST RULE SET V5 AND THE CITED PRIMARY SOURCES · UPDATED 7 AUGUST 2026

The two questions a rotational claim turns on

What actually caused the first disruption in the chain, and was that cause extraordinary?
Once it happened, what did the carrier do to stop it reaching your flight?

What TAP added in 2020

A diversion to offload a disruptive passenger delayed a later flight on the same aircraft. The Court accepted that an extraordinary circumstance can carry forward through a rotation, and then set the price of relying on it.

Offering the next seat in the airline's own schedule is not enough. The carrier has to show it deployed all resources available to it, including flights operated by other airlines, unless doing so would be an intolerable sacrifice given the size of its operation.

Why airlines chain aircraft so tightly

A single airframe commonly operates five or six sectors a day. That is a commercial choice about utilisation, and Wallentin-Hermann puts the risks of the way an airline chooses to operate inside its own activity.

THE JUDGMENTS BEHIND THIS ANSWER

Wallentin-Hermann, C-549/072008 TAP, C-74/192020

SOURCES

Case C-74/19 LE v Transportes Aéreos Portugueses, judgment of 11 June 2020 (ECLI:EU:C:2020:437) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
Case C-549/07 Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia, judgment of 22 December 2008 (ECLI:EU:C:2008:811) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 5(3) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026