This page keeps them separate, explains what each is for at the level that does not go out of date, and names the official route a complaint takes in Greece. It is not legal advice, and it does not promise you will win a particular claim, because that depends on the specific facts. The exact figures and hour thresholds are set by law and refined by case law, and we point you to the primary sources for them rather than printing numbers a page like this gets subtly wrong.
Diagram by Greece Trips. Free to reuse with credit - CC BY 4.0.
The two rules, and which is which
When a flight is delayed a long time, cancelled at short notice, or you are denied boarding on an overbooked flight, the relevant law in the EU is Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, usually called EU 261 or EC 261. It applies to flights departing from an EU airport, and to flights into the EU on an EU airline, so most flights that touch Greece are covered. Which routes those are is the subject of flights to Greece.
When your baggage is delayed, damaged or lost, a different regime applies: the Montreal Convention, an international treaty that governs airline liability for baggage on international flights. It has nothing to do with EU 261 and is claimed on its own terms.
Keep that split in your head and the rest follows. A ruined suitcase is not an EU 261 matter; a five-hour delay is not a Montreal Convention matter. Some bad travel days involve both, and then you have two separate claims running at once.
Flight delays, cancellations and denied boarding: EU 261
EU 261 does two distinct things, and it is worth separating them too.
The first is a right to care while you wait, and it does not depend on whose fault the delay is. During a long delay the airline is required to look after you: meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, a way to communicate, and, if you are kept overnight, hotel accommodation and transport to it. This is the part people most often fail to claim, because they buy their own sandwich and forget the airline owed them one. Keep the receipts.
The second is cash compensation, which is more conditional. For qualifying long delays, short-notice cancellations and denied boarding, the regulation sets fixed compensation amounts that scale with the flight distance, the same figure for everyone on the flight regardless of what they paid. But there is a large exception: the airline does not owe this compensation if it can show the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances outside its control, such as certain severe weather or air-traffic-control decisions, and that it took all reasonable steps to avoid it. A technical fault with the aircraft is generally not extraordinary; a closed airport generally is.
We deliberately do not print the exact hour thresholds or the euro amounts here. They are defined in the regulation and sharpened by European court rulings, and a specific figure copied onto a travel page is exactly the thing the claims industry gets wrong in its own favour. Read them at the source: the European Commission’s air passenger rights pages and the text of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 itself. What is durable is the shape: a right to care regardless of fault, and cash compensation for qualifying disruptions unless the airline proves an extraordinary cause.
One thing not to assume: a delay being the airline’s bad luck does not automatically cancel your rights. Whether a cause counts as extraordinary is a legal test the airline has to meet, not a line it gets to draw for itself, which is why the complaint route below exists.
Baggage: the Montreal Convention
Baggage is where acting fast matters most, and it starts before you leave the airport.
If your bag does not arrive, is damaged, or is delayed, report it at the airport immediately and get the written record, usually called a Property Irregularity Report, before you go landside. That document is the spine of any baggage claim, and it is far harder to open a claim without it.
Under the Montreal Convention the airline is liable for delayed, damaged or lost baggage up to a limit set by the Convention, and there are strict time limits for putting a written claim in, which differ for damage and for delay and are short. For a delay, you can generally claim the reasonable cost of essential items you had to buy while you waited for the bag, so keep those receipts too. The exact liability limit and the exact deadlines are set by the treaty and we do not print them here for the same reason as above; the airline’s own baggage-claims page and the Convention are the sources, and the deadlines are short enough that you should read them the day it happens, not later.
This is a different page from ours on luggage storage and transfers, which is about where to leave a bag you still have. This one is about a bag the airline has mislaid.
Where a complaint goes in Greece
The route is the same shape as the one for a cancelled ferry: you try the operator first, and only then does the state body get involved.
Start with the airline. Put the claim to the airline in writing and give it the chance to resolve it. This is not just good practice; the Greek enforcement body will not take a complaint until you have done it.
If that fails, the National Enforcement Body for EU 261 in Greece is the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA). Its Air Passenger Rights division handles complaints about flights within its competence, which broadly covers flights departing from a Greek airport, and it publishes the process on its own site at hcaa.gov.gr. It requires evidence that you contacted the airline first and the airline’s response, submitted with the EU complaint form. For a flight that departed from another EU country, the enforcement body of that country is the one to approach instead.
You do not need a claims company to do any of this. They exist, they take a cut, and the official route is free. Whether one is worth it for a difficult case is your call, but the free route is a real route, not a token one, which is the sibling point our ferry cancellation guide makes for the sea.
A practical order of operations
When it goes wrong, in order:
At the airport, get the paperwork. For a delay or cancellation, ask the airline in writing for the reason and note the times. For baggage, file the report and get the reference before you leave.
Claim the care you are owed on the day, and keep every receipt, for meals and communication during a flight delay and for essential purchases during a baggage delay.
Put the claim to the airline in writing, promptly, because the baggage deadlines especially are short.
If the airline does not resolve it, take it to the enforcement body: in Greece, the HCAA, with your evidence that you contacted the airline first.
Read the numbers at the source. The compensation amounts, distance bands, hour thresholds and baggage limits are all set by law, and the European Commission’s passenger-rights pages and the two instruments themselves are where the current figures live.
And once the paperwork is done, the onward journey is its own problem: if a delay lands you late, airport transfers in Greece and getting around Greece cover getting from the airport to where you are staying.
Last checked July 2026. What gets re-checked here: that the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority remains Greece’s National Enforcement Body for EU 261 and requires airline-first contact, and the naming of the two instruments. The compensation amounts, hour thresholds and baggage liability limits are DELIBERATELY not printed, because they are set by law and case law and a copied figure is the exact error to avoid; the Commission’s passenger-rights pages and Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and the Montreal Convention are the primary sources. This is not legal advice.
Quick answers
What are you entitled to if your flight from Greece is delayed?
Two different things under EU 261. Regardless of fault, on a long delay the airline must provide care: meals, a way to communicate, and accommodation if you are kept overnight. Separately, for qualifying delays you may be owed fixed cash compensation scaled by flight distance, unless the airline proves the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances. The exact hours and amounts are set by the regulation; read them at the European Commission’s passenger-rights pages.
Is flight delay compensation different from baggage compensation?
Yes, and this is the key point. Flight delays, cancellations and denied boarding fall under EU Regulation 261/2004. Delayed, damaged or lost baggage falls under the Montreal Convention, a separate international treaty with its own limits and deadlines. They cover different problems and are claimed differently, so a bad travel day can involve two separate claims at once.
What should you do if the airline loses your luggage in Greece?
Report it at the airport immediately and get the written record, usually a Property Irregularity Report, before you leave the baggage area, because it is the basis of any claim. The airline is liable under the Montreal Convention up to a set limit, with short deadlines for a written claim that differ for delay and damage. Keep receipts for essential items you had to buy while waiting for the bag.
How do you make an EU 261 complaint in Greece?
Contact the airline in writing first and give it a chance to resolve the claim; the Greek enforcement body will not take a complaint otherwise. If it is not resolved, the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) is Greece’s National Enforcement Body for EU 261, broadly for flights departing a Greek airport, and it publishes the process and the complaint form on its own site. For a flight leaving another EU country, that country’s enforcement body is the one to use.
Do you need a claims company to get flight compensation?
No. The official complaint route, through the airline first and then the national enforcement body, is free, and claims companies take a percentage of any payout. They can be worth it for a genuinely difficult or contested case that you do not want to pursue yourself, but the free route is a real one, not a formality, and most straightforward claims can be made without paying anyone a share.