ANSWER · UK 261 AND EC 261

The two legs were with different airlines. Does that change the claim?

Under the regulation what matters is whether the flights were directly connecting on one reservation, which is possible across airlines through interline and codeshare agreements. Art. 5 and Art. 7 obligations fall on the operating carrier of the flight that caused the disruption. Our own free check stops short of a verdict on cross airline cases.

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

Who the claim is against

The regulation puts the duties on the operating air carrier, defined in Art. 2(b) as the carrier performing or intending to perform the flight. On a two airline itinerary that is the airline whose flight was disrupted, not the one whose name is on the booking or the frequent flyer account.

Codeshare and interline in practice

ARRANGEMENT	ONE RESERVATION?	CLAIM GENERALLY LIES AGAINST
Codeshare, single ticket	Yes	The operating carrier of the disrupted leg
Interline, single ticket	Yes	The operating carrier of the disrupted leg
Two separate bookings	No	Each flight assessed on its own arrival delay

Art. 2(b) and Art. 3(5). The marketing carrier's code on the ticket does not move the obligation.

Why our check declines these

Identifying the operating carrier on a cross airline itinerary is a document question, and the free check works from the passenger's own answers rather than from the booking file. Rather than produce a confident verdict from an unverifiable input, the rule set stops.

THE JUDGMENTS BEHIND THIS ANSWER

Folkerts, C-11/112013

SOURCES

Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 2(b) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 3(5) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
Case C-11/11 Air France v Folkerts, judgment of 26 February 2013 (Grand Chamber, ECLI:EU:C:2013:110) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026