KLM Royal Dutch Airlines compensation claims

Does KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have to pay compensation?

It depends on where the flight departed, not on the airline’s home country. Because KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is an EU licensed carrier, a flight into the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK is covered when no other airport on the route is — and any flight departing from those airports is covered whatever the carrier.

What the compensation comes to

The sum is fixed by the distance of the flight and is unrelated to the fare you paid. It is €250 for flights up to 1,500 km, €400 for 1,500 to 3,500 km, and €600 for longer flights.

When the airline does not have to pay

Where the disruption was genuinely outside the airline’s control — severe weather, an air-traffic-control strike, a security alert — the fixed sum falls away. A technical fault, a crew shortage or a strike by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’s own staff does not normally qualify as extraordinary circumstances, and the courts have repeatedly said so.

How Flightright enforces the claim

We assess the claim against the current court decisions, correspond with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in full, and take the matter to court where it refuses. You pay nothing unless the claim succeeds.