TAP Air Portugal compensation: your EU261 rights (2026)
If a TAP Air Portugal flight is delayed, cancelled, or overbooked, you may be owed a fixed cash payment of EUR 250, EUR 400, or EUR 600 per passenger under EU Regulation 261/2004 (EU261) — separate from any refund or rebooking.
Free eligibility check
Check your case in the form
Enter your route, date and type of disruption. We will check whether your case qualifies for a claim under EU 261/2004 or UK261.
What happened to your flight?
Claim up to €600 for a delayed or cancelled flight.
Choose the situation that applies to your flight:
Short answer: TAP is an EU carrier based in Portugal, so EU261 covers every TAP flight leaving an EU airport, and every TAP flight arriving in the EU from a third country such as Brazil, the US, or Angola. If you reach your final destination three or more hours late, are bumped, or your flight is cancelled at short notice, TAP owes EUR 250-600 by distance unless it proves a genuine extraordinary circumstance. Flights departing the UK fall under UK261 (GBP 220/350/520) instead.
When EU261 covers a TAP flight
Two rules do most of the work. First, any flight departing an airport in the EU is covered, regardless of the airline. Second, because TAP is a Portuguese (EU) carrier, EU261 also covers TAP flights arriving in the EU from a non-EU airport. That second rule matters for TAP's long-haul network: a São Paulo-Lisbon or New York-Lisbon flight operated by TAP is protected even though it departs outside the EU.
Portugal's outermost regions count as EU territory, so flights to and from Madeira (Funchal) and the Azores (Ponta Delgada), and the Lisbon-Porto domestic hop, are all inside EU261. TAP's hubs are Lisbon (LIS) and Porto (OPO), and as a Star Alliance member it also sells codeshare seats. Under case C-532/17 (Wirth), it is the operating carrier that pays — so if your leg was actually flown by TAP Express or a codeshare partner, check which airline operated the flight before you claim.
How much: EUR 250, 400 or 600
Compensation depends on the distance of your flight, not the ticket price. A discounted economy fare and a business seat attract the same amount.
| Distance (to final destination) | Compensation | Typical TAP routes |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | EUR 250 | Lisbon-Madrid, Lisbon-Paris, Lisbon-Funchal, Lisbon-Ponta Delgada |
| 1,500-3,500 km (and any intra-EU over 1,500 km) | EUR 400 | Lisbon-Berlin, Porto-Rome, longer intra-EU routes |
| Over 3,500 km (non-EU) | EUR 600 | Lisbon-São Paulo, Rio, Newark, JFK, Miami, Toronto, Luanda, Maputo |
TAP's heavy Brazil, US, Canada, and Africa network means the EUR 600 band comes up often — see our guide on the TAP EUR 600 long-haul claim. Under Article 7(2), TAP can halve the amount (for example EUR 300 instead of EUR 600) if it rebooked you close to your original arrival time. You can sanity-check your figure with our flight compensation calculator or the TAP compensation calculator.
Delay, cancellation or denied boarding
Delayed flights
Following case C-402/07 (Sturgeon), a long delay is treated like a cancellation for compensation purposes once you arrive three or more hours late at your final destination. The clock that counts is arrival, not departure — a flight that pushes back four hours late but lands only 2h45 late usually falls short. Separately, Article 9 gives you a right to care (meals, refreshments, phone access, and a hotel if you are stranded overnight) once waiting passes 2, 3, or 4 hours depending on distance. Full detail sits in our TAP delayed-flight guide and the three-hour rule explained.
Cancelled flights
If TAP cancels, you get a choice between a full refund and rerouting, plus the same right to care. Cash compensation is also due unless TAP gave you enough notice or offered a close-enough alternative. Under Article 5(1)(c)(iii), if TAP told you less than seven days before departure but rerouted you to leave no more than one hour early and arrive less than two hours late, no compensation is due; for 7-14 days' notice the window is two hours early and four hours late. See the TAP cancelled-flight guide.
Denied boarding and overbooking
If you are bumped against your will on an overbooked flight — after presenting on time with a valid booking — you are entitled to compensation immediately, with no delay threshold to clear, plus a refund or rerouting. TAP must first ask for volunteers. Downgrading to a lower class triggers a partial ticket refund under Article 10, and case C-255/15 (Mennens) confirms this is calculated on the price of the affected leg. Our denied-boarding guide walks through the process.
Extraordinary circumstances and TAP strikes
TAP does not have to pay if it proves the disruption was caused by an extraordinary circumstance that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures. Genuinely qualifying events include severe weather, air-traffic-control restrictions, and political instability. But the bar is high: routine technical faults generally do not count (C-549/07 Wallentin-Hermann), nor does a spontaneous component failure discovered during maintenance (C-257/14 van der Lans).
TAP is regularly hit by industrial action from its own SPAC pilots and SNPVAC cabin-crew unions. This is decisive, because in case C-28/20 (Airhelp v SAS) the Court of Justice held that a strike by an airline's own staff is part of the carrier's normal activity and is not an extraordinary circumstance. So a TAP flight cancelled or delayed by a TAP crew strike will usually still owe compensation. A strike by third parties — airport security, ground handlers, or air-traffic controllers — is a different matter and may qualify. Note too that even during genuinely extraordinary events such as the 2010 ash cloud (C-12/11 McDonagh), the airline's duty to provide meals and accommodation continues without a cap.
Connections: your final destination governs
For journeys on a single booking, what matters is the arrival delay at your final destination and the total distance to it — not the individual segment that went wrong (case C-11/11, Folkerts). For TAP this is common: a short Lisbon feeder that runs 40 minutes late can cost you a Star Alliance long-haul connection and produce a EUR 600 claim based on the full distance to São Paulo or Newark.
Baggage: a separate regime
Lost, damaged, or delayed baggage is governed by the Montreal Convention, not EU261, with airline liability capped at roughly 1,519 SDR per passenger (in force since 28 December 2024). File a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) at the airport, then a written claim within 7 days for damage or 21 days for delay. Montreal claims carry a strict two-year time bar.
How to claim, and where to escalate
Start directly with TAP: gather your booking reference, boarding passes, and evidence of the actual arrival time, then submit a written claim stating the amount and legal basis. Our how-to-claim guide and claim-form walkthrough cover the wording, and if TAP says no, the rejected-claim guide explains your next move.
If TAP does not resolve the matter, escalate to Portugal's national enforcement body, ANAC (Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil), which handles EU261 complaints about flights departing Portuguese airports — typically once the airline has not replied satisfactorily within six weeks. Alternatively you can sue: under case C-204/08 (Rehder) you may generally bring a claim in the courts of either the departure or the arrival airport, giving many passengers a choice of jurisdiction.
ClaimWinger can handle the whole process for you on a no-win, no-fee basis: there is no upfront cost, and we take a commission only if your claim succeeds. If TAP has delayed, cancelled, or bumped you, start with our delayed-flight or cancelled-flight check and we will assess the claim for free.
Time limits
There is no single universal deadline, because the period to sue depends on the jurisdiction where the claim is brought — in Portugal, complaints to ANAC are generally accepted for up to three years from the flight, while national limitation periods for court action vary from country to country. Do not assume one figure applies everywhere; check the rules for your route and act early. Our time-limit guide breaks this down. A separate July 2026 EU reform (proposing a nine-month claim window and a 30-day airline response deadline) is only a proposal, not yet in force.
UK departures: UK261 instead
For flights departing a UK airport, EU261 no longer applies — the retained UK version, UK261, governs, with compensation set in sterling at GBP 220, GBP 350, and GBP 520 by distance and enforced by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. A TAP Lisbon-Heathrow flight is EU261; the Heathrow-Lisbon return is UK261. See UK261 vs EU261: which rules apply. If TAP offers you a voucher instead of a refund, remember you can insist on cash.
FAQ — Frequently asked questions
Does EU261 cover TAP flights from Brazil or the US to Lisbon?
Yes. Because TAP is an EU carrier, EU261 applies to its flights arriving in the EU from a non-EU airport, so São Paulo-Lisbon, Rio-Porto, and New York-Lisbon are all covered even though they depart outside the EU.
Do I still get paid if a TAP strike caused the cancellation?
Usually yes. A strike by TAP's own pilots or cabin crew is not an extraordinary circumstance (C-28/20 Airhelp v SAS), so TAP normally still owes compensation. A strike by third parties, such as air-traffic controllers, may be treated differently.
My short TAP feeder was only slightly late but I missed my long-haul connection. Can I claim?
Yes, if you were on a single booking and reached your final destination three or more hours late. Under C-11/11 (Folkerts) the delay at your final destination is what counts, and the amount is based on the total distance to that destination.
What is the compensation for a TAP flight to São Paulo or Newark?
These long-haul routes are over 3,500 km outside the EU, so the amount is EUR 600 for a three-hour-plus arrival delay, cancellation, or denied boarding — potentially halved to EUR 300 under Article 7(2) if TAP reroutes you close to your original arrival time.
Is delayed or lost baggage part of an EU261 claim?
No. Baggage is handled under the Montreal Convention (liability around 1,519 SDR), separate from EU261. File a PIR at the airport, claim within 7 days for damage or 21 days for delay, and note the two-year time bar.
Related TAP Air Portugal guides
This guide is the overview. For a specific question, these guides go deeper:
Delay, cancellation and amounts
Hubs, connections and long-haul
Extraordinary circumstances and refusals
Claiming, deadlines and further rights
- How to claim compensation from TAP
- TAP compensation claim form
- TAP compensation time limit
- TAP schedule change or brought-forward flight
- TAP diverted flight
- TAP denied boarding and overbooking
- TAP downgrade: 30, 50 or 75 percent
- TAP right to care: meals, hotel, transport
- TAP refund vs voucher
- TAP alternative transport costs
Baggage, operating carrier and booking channel
Sources
This guide reflects the legal position in 2026: the EU261 three-hour threshold and EUR 250/400/600 amounts remain in force, and the proposed EU261 reform (including revised delay thresholds and a nine-month claim window) is not yet law. It is general information, not legal advice; verify the current position for your specific flight.