ANSWER · UK 261 AND EC 261

Is a flight delay measured at departure or at arrival?

At arrival. The 3 hour threshold in EC 261 and UK 261 counts the difference between the scheduled arrival time at your final destination and the moment the aircraft doors open there. Departure delay is what triggers the Art. 6 duty of care, from two hours on short flights, but it does not decide whether the fixed compensation is due.

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

Where the doors-open rule comes from

Sturgeon framed the test as loss of time: passengers are compensated where they reach the final destination three hours or more after the scheduled arrival. The Court has since treated arrival as the moment at least one aircraft door opens and passengers are permitted to leave.

Two clocks, two duties

CLOCK	WHAT IT DECIDES	SOURCE
Departure delay	Meals, refreshments, communications, accommodation	Art. 6 and Art. 9
Arrival delay at final destination	Fixed compensation of €250, €400 or €600 or £220, £350 or £520	Art. 7 read with Sturgeon

The two run independently. A flight can owe care and no compensation, or compensation and no care.

Why the distinction decides borderline claims

Airlines schedule padding into block times. A departure two hours and forty minutes late can land inside the scheduled arrival, and a departure of ninety minutes can still arrive four hours down after a holding pattern and a remote stand.

The figure that matters on a claim form is therefore the actual arrival, which sits on the flight's own record rather than on the departures board you photographed.

THE JUDGMENTS BEHIND THIS ANSWER

Sturgeon, C-402/07 and C-432/072009

SOURCES

Joined Cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 Sturgeon v Condor, judgment of 19 November 2009 (ECLI:EU:C:2009:716) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 6 · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026