Your flight may involve connecting flights, therefore, you must take more than one flight to reach your destination. For instance, if you are due to fly from Munich to Rio de Janeiro via Madrid and you miss your connection in Madrid since your flight from Munich arrives an hour late, you can claim compensation as long as you arrive your final destination Rio de Janeiro more than three hours late.

Under EU law, you may be entitled to compensation from your airline if you miss a connection. To be covered by these rules, your flight must be either:

departing from an EU airport and operated by any airline or
arriving at an EU airport and operated by an EU airline

(Under this law, EU airports also include those in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.)

If your journey involves flights with airlines from different countries, it’s generally the nationality of the airline at fault that determines your rights.

For instance, if a delay on your first flight causes you to miss your second, it’s the airline operating the first flight that is responsible.

In some circumstances you may be eligible to claim compensation for your missed connection. This depends on how late you arrive at your final destination and what is the root cause of the delay. The rules about compensation when you miss a connection are the similar for any other flight delay.

If the missed connection is the airline’s fault (due to previously delayed flight), the airline should provide a replacement on the next available flight as well as:

Food, refreshments, and water
Access to telecommunication services (phone calls and e-mails)
Accommodation if the new flight is the following day and you need to stay overnight.

You are entitled to claim compensation depending on the flight distance and length of delay:

(a) EUR 250 for all flights of 1 500 kilometers or less;

(b) EUR 400 for all intra Community flights of more than 1 500 kilometers, and for all other flights between 1 500 and 3 500 kilometers;

(c) EUR 600 for all flights not falling under (a) or (b).

The cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances (force majeure) which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken such as bad weather, labor strikes, acts of terrorism or sabotage, political or civil unrest, etc. or
You book a trip on two separate reservation. For example, if you book first leg of your trip with Lufthansa, and the second ticket on British Airways with two different booking number, British Airways will not take responsibility for missing the connection.

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