ANSWER · UK 261 AND EC 261
My replacement flight was delayed too. Can I claim twice?
Yes, where each disruption crosses the thresholds on its own. The Court of Justice held on 12 March 2020 in the Finnair re-routing case that a passenger already compensated for a cancellation, who accepted re-routing on the same carrier, was entitled to a second Art. 7 payment when the replacement flight itself arrived late enough to cross the compensation line. Nothing in the regulation caps a re-routed passenger's rights.
REVIEWED AGAINST RULE SET V6 AND THE CITED PRIMARY SOURCES · UPDATED 7 AUGUST 2026
How the second claim crosses the line
The replacement flight is tested like any other: arrival at the final destination 3 hours or more behind its own schedule, with no proven extraordinary circumstance. In the Finnair case the second delay came from a rudder component failure, and the Court held that the failure of a part replaced only when it becomes defective is generally not extraordinary, even with a spare permanently in stock.
Why the airline cannot point at the first payout
Each inconvenience is its own claim: the regulation compensates the cancellation and the re-routing delay separately, because the passenger suffered both. An airline answering the second claim with the first payment is answering the wrong claim.
THE JUDGMENTS BEHIND THIS ANSWER
SOURCES
- Case C-832/18 A and Others v Finnair, judgment of 12 March 2020 · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 7(1) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
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