ANSWER · UK 261 AND EC 261

Who enforces air passenger rights if the airline will not?

Art. 16 requires every country in scope to designate a national enforcement body, responsible for flights from its airports and for inbound flights from third countries. Any passenger may complain to any such body about an alleged infringement at any airport in a Member State, and the sanctions behind the regime must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Money claims themselves are decided by courts and approved dispute schemes.

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

How to find your enforcement body

The airline is required to give it to you: under Art. 14(2) the written notice handed to disrupted passengers must include the enforcement body's contact details. The body for a departure is the one in the departure country; for an inbound flight from outside the EU or UK it is the body where you landed.

What the body does and does not do

It polices the regulation and sanctions infringements. Whether it also adjudicates your individual payout varies by country; where it does not, the routes for a contested claim are the courts of the forum and any approved alternative dispute resolution scheme the airline belongs to. This page describes those routes; which fits a given claim depends on its facts.

Mind the clock while you complain

Complaining to a regulator does not usually stop the limitation period, which national law sets and Cuadrench Moré confirmed runs from one to ten years depending on the forum. The published time limits table covers all 31 forums in the rule set.

THE JUDGMENTS BEHIND THIS ANSWER

Cuadrench Moré, C-139/112012

SOURCES

Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 16 · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 14 · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
Case C-139/11 Cuadrench Moré v KLM, judgment of 22 November 2012 (ECLI:EU:C:2012:741) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026