AirwayControlDenied boarding
Bumped from an overbooked flight?
When there are more passengers than seats, the airline has to ask for volunteers first. If you are left behind against your will, European rules say compensation is owed at once, with a choice of a refund or another flight, and care while you wait.
General information, not legal advice. Not a promise of payment.
What EU 261 says
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, usually called EU 261, sets out what happens when an airline expects more passengers than it can carry (Article 4).
- Volunteers first. The airline asks who will give up their seat in exchange for benefits agreed with it. A volunteer also gets the choice of a refund or another flight.
- Then against your will. Only if too few volunteer may the airline deny boarding to others.
- Then at once. A passenger denied boarding against their will is owed compensation immediately, the choice of a refund or another flight, and care while waiting.
The amounts
The sum depends on the distance of the flight, not on what you paid for the ticket (Article 7).
The airline may halve the sum when it rebooks you and you arrive within two, three or four hours of the original time, by the same distances (Article 7(2)). It is paid in money: cash, bank transfer or cheque. Travel vouchers only with your signed agreement (Article 7(3)).
What counts as denied boarding
The rules cover a passenger with a confirmed reservation who checked in on time: by the time the airline gave in writing, or 45 minutes before the published departure if it gave none (Article 3(2)). They do not cover a refusal for reasonable grounds, such as health, safety, security or travel documents that are not in order (Article 2(j)).
What you are owed while you wait
- Meals and drinks in reasonable relation to the wait, and two calls or messages (Article 9).
- A hotel and the transfer to it if you have to stay one or more nights.
- Passengers with reduced mobility, their companions and children flying alone are owed this care as soon as possible (Article 11).
Which flights are covered
- Every flight that departs from an airport in the EU, Norway, Iceland or Switzerland, whatever the airline.
- Flights into those countries on an airline that is licensed there.
What to do at the airport and after
- Ask for the written notice. An airline that denies boarding has to give each passenger a written notice of the rules, with the contact details of the national complaints body (Article 14(2)).
- Keep the proof. The booking confirmation, the boarding pass or check-in receipt, and the receipts for anything you paid for while waiting.
- Write to the airline that operated the flight. The claim AirwayControl writes is for a delay, a cancellation or denied boarding.
- No reply, or a refusal? Take it to the complaints body in the country you departed from.
AirwayControl
Or let the app fill it in.
AirwayControl is a flight tracker for iPhone and Apple Watch. Set your flight before you leave, and it follows the day for you. If the day goes wrong, it already knows the details the claim needs.
- It tells you when it matters. A notification when your flight lands three hours late or more.
- It knows which rules cover your route. EU 261, UK 261 and the rules of 18 more countries, in plain words.
- It fills in the claim. Airline, flight number, date and route come from My Flight.
- You send it. From your own email, or through the airline's own claim form with every answer ready to copy.
- No fee and no share. AirwayControl never takes a part of what you receive.
7 days free, then 29 NOK a month.
Questions people ask
How much compensation is owed for denied boarding?
Under EU 261 a passenger denied boarding against their will may be owed €250, €400 or €600, by the distance of the flight. The airline may halve it if the new flight arrives within two to four hours of the original time.
Can an airline deny me boarding because the flight is overbooked?
Only after asking for volunteers. If too few come forward, it may deny boarding against your will, and then EU 261 says compensation, the choice of a refund or another flight, and care are owed at once.
What if I volunteer to give up my seat?
EU 261 gives a volunteer the benefits agreed with the airline, and the choice of a refund or another flight. The fixed sum is for passengers denied boarding against their will.
Am I covered if I checked in late?
The rules cover passengers who checked in by the time the airline gave in writing, or 45 minutes before the published departure if it gave none.
Is AirwayControl a claims company?
No. It tells you which rules cover your route and writes the claim, and you send it from your own email. AirwayControl never sends or handles a claim for you, and takes no share.
Other problems
What the rules say when something else went wrong. The main guide covers delays and cancellations, and the checker shows which rules cover your route.
One subscription. The whole app.
29 NOK a month
The first 7 days are free. No tiers, nothing locked, cancel any time in Settings. No account, no ads, no tracking.
General information about air passenger rules, not legal advice and not a promise of payment. Your airline decides; a complaints body decides on appeal. AirwayControl never submits or handles claims: the mail is yours, from your own account. Rules last checked 9 August 2026. The regulation and the judgments named on this page were read in full on 3 October 2026.
Sources: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and the European Union's own guide to air passenger rights.