Who Is Entitled to Compensation: The Passenger or the Person Who Paid?

Your employer booked and paid for a business trip. Your parents bought your ticket home. A friend gave you a flight as a birthday present. Then the flight is cancelled or arrives hours late, and compensation of up to €600 is at stake. The question that follows is simple: whose money is it?

Who gets flight compensation, passenger or payer? Under EU rules, the answer is clear: compensation belongs to the passenger who was booked on the flight, not to the person or company that paid for the ticket. Who paid does not decide who is entitled.

This guide explains why compensation follows the passenger, what the EU Court of Justice has said about tickets paid by someone else, how business trips, gifts, package holidays and tickets bought with miles are treated, what applies to children and babies, and how a claim is made when the passenger and the payer are different people. The rules referred to are those of EU Regulation 261/2004.

Who Gets Flight Compensation, Passenger or Payer?

The regulation grants its rights to passengers. When a flight is cancelled, arrives three hours or more late or a passenger is denied boarding, it is the passengers who are entitled to compensation of €250, €400 or €600 each, depending on the distance and subject to the usual conditions. The same applies to care during the wait and to rerouting: they are the passenger’s rights.

To be covered, a passenger needs a confirmed reservation on the flight, meaning a ticket or other proof that the reservation was accepted and registered by the airline or tour operator. Nothing in these conditions refers to who paid. A person can be entitled to compensation without having paid a cent, as long as they were a passenger on a covered flight.

Why the Rules Follow the Passenger

The regulation states that it aims to ensure a high level of protection for passengers. The passenger is the one who waits at the airport, misses appointments, spends a night in a hotel that was never planned and arrives hours late. Compensation, care and rerouting are all tied to that experience, which is why they belong to the person who lived through it, not to whoever settled the bill.

Compensation Goes to Passenger, Not Buyer: The Court’s View

In case C-20/24, decided in March 2025, the EU Court of Justice dealt with two passengers on a package holiday whose flight from Tenerife to Warsaw arrived more than 22 hours late. The package had been paid for by a third company, and the airline argued that the passengers had therefore travelled free of charge or at a reduced fare, which would exclude them from compensation.

The Court rejected that argument. The fact that a third party paid for the package, and that the tour operator paid the airline a market price for the flight, did not prevent the passengers from being entitled to compensation. The Court added that it is for the airline to prove that a passenger travelled free of charge or at a reduced fare. According to the European Consumer Centre in the Netherlands, such a fare exists only where the airline itself offered the discount. The Court also confirmed that a boarding pass can be sufficient proof of a confirmed reservation, unless the airline shows otherwise.

The European Commission summarises the ruling in the same way: even if the passenger’s trip was paid for by a third party, the passenger may be entitled to compensation for a long delay. In practice, this matters most for trips paid by employers, family members or organisers of group travel, where an airline may argue, as it did in that case, that the passenger paid nothing.

Common Situations at a Glance

Situation	Who is entitled to compensation
Business trip paid by the employer	The employee who flew
Ticket paid by parents for an adult son or daughter	The son or daughter who flew
Flight received as a gift	The person who flew
Package holiday paid by a company or another person	Each passenger on the flight
Ticket bought with miles or loyalty points	The passenger, because such tickets are covered
Free or discounted ticket not available to the public, such as some staff travel	Nobody, because such tickets are excluded

The last row is the only real exception, and it depends on the fare, not on the payer. The regulation excludes passengers travelling free of charge or at a reduced fare not available directly or indirectly to the public, but it expressly covers tickets issued under frequent flyer and other commercial programmes.

Tickets Bought by an Agency, a Tour Operator or a Platform

When an intermediary pays the airline, nothing changes for the passenger. The European Commission refers to case C-215/18, in which a passenger on a package holiday booked through a travel agency had no direct contract with the airline, yet the EU Court of Justice held that the airline was liable to her under the regulation. More on such bookings is available in our guide on flight compensation for flights booked through a travel agent.

Tickets Paid With Someone Else’s Card

The name on the payment card does not matter either. What matters is who was booked on the flight as a passenger. If your partner, a parent or a colleague paid with their card, the booking still shows you as the passenger, and the entitlement is yours.

Ticket Buyer vs Passenger Compensation: What the Buyer Can Claim

In ticket buyer vs passenger compensation questions, the position of the buyer is straightforward. A person who bought a ticket for someone else but did not travel has no compensation claim of their own for that flight. If the buyer also travelled, they are a passenger too and are entitled to compensation for themselves, exactly like everyone else on the booking.

Refunds are a separate right, as explained in our guide to the difference between flight compensation and refund, and the same logic has been applied to them. Germany’s Federal Court of Justice has held that the right to a refund of a cancelled ticket also belongs to each passenger, regardless of who booked and paid for the flight. How a refund is paid out in practice can still depend on how the ticket was bought, especially when it was booked through an intermediary, as explained in our guide on flight compensation for flights booked through a travel agent.

Business Trips

On a business trip, the employee who flew is the passenger and the one entitled to compensation under the regulation, even though the employer chose and paid for the flight. The airline owes the compensation to the employee, and it cannot refuse to pay because the ticket was bought with company money.

Some employers have travel policies that address what happens to such compensation. Whatever those policies say is a matter between the employee and the employer, not between the passenger and the airline, and it does not change who is entitled to claim.

Example: Three Colleagues on a Cancelled Flight

A company books three employees on a flight of about 1,800 km, which is cancelled on the day of departure. Each employee can be entitled to €400, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances. The company that paid €900 for the tickets has no compensation claim of its own under the regulation. So who gets flight compensation, passenger or payer, in this case? The three employees, €400 each.

Children and Babies

Children with their own ticket and their own seat are passengers in their own right and are entitled to the same compensation as adults. The regulation makes no distinction by age, so the amount for a child is the same €250, €400 or €600. The claim is made on their behalf by a parent or legal guardian. A family of four on a cancelled flight is therefore four passengers, each with an individual entitlement.

The position of babies travelling on a parent’s lap without their own seat is less settled. We are not aware of a ruling of the EU Court of Justice on this point. At least one national court has awarded compensation for an infant whose parents paid a fee for the baby’s travel, treating that fee as a fare, but airlines dispute such claims, and the outcome can depend on what exactly was paid for the infant. We assess these cases individually.

Groups and Families on One Booking

Compensation is paid per passenger, not per booking. If one person booked and paid for a group of six, there are six separate entitlements, one for each person who travelled. The person who made the booking does not collect the others’ compensation by default, and each passenger’s right exists regardless of who paid for the group. The organiser of a group trip can still coordinate the claim, for example by collecting the booking confirmation and the airline’s messages, while each adult passenger signs for their own entitlement.

The same applies to meals, refreshments and accommodation during a long wait, which are owed to each passenger. Costs a passenger paid while the airline failed to provide care can be claimed as well, as described in our guide to meals and accommodation during a flight delay.

Passenger or Ticket Payer? Compensation Claims With FlyPayout

Because the compensation belongs to the passenger, the claim is made by the passenger. With FlyPayout, the assignment of the claim is signed by each adult passenger for themselves, and by a parent or legal guardian for a child. The person who booked and paid can still help: they usually have the booking confirmation, the emails from the airline and the receipts, and they can pass these on.

We check each passenger’s entitlement, pursue the claim with the airline, including legal steps where needed, and transfer the passenger’s share once the airline pays. How long this takes depends on the airline. You do nothing further and pay only if money arrives, which is how no win no fee flight compensation works.

Claiming on Someone Else’s Behalf

A payer who wants to help can do so, but only with the passenger’s agreement. An adult passenger decides whether to claim and signs for themselves; nobody can assign or settle another adult’s compensation without their consent. For children, the parents or legal guardians act on the child’s behalf, as they do in other legal matters.

What Each Passenger Needs

The evidence is the same whoever paid:

• The booking confirmation or e-ticket showing the passenger’s name, or a boarding pass, which the EU Court of Justice has accepted as proof of a confirmed reservation.

• Any message from the airline about the delay or cancellation.

• Receipts for meals, accommodation or transport paid during the wait.

• The bank details to which the passenger’s share should be transferred.

General rules are explained on our flight delay compensation and cancelled flight compensation pages, and our guide to the most common mistakes that cause passengers to lose compensation covers decisions to avoid.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who gets flight compensation, passenger or payer?

The passenger. The regulation grants compensation to passengers with a confirmed reservation, and who paid for the ticket does not change that.

My employer paid for my ticket. Is the compensation mine?

Under the regulation, yes: the airline owes it to you as the passenger. Any arrangement with your employer about such payments is a separate matter between you and your employer.

I bought tickets for my parents but did not travel. Can I claim?

Not for yourself, because you were not a passenger. Your parents are entitled to compensation, and each of them can claim for their own flight.

Passenger or ticket payer: compensation for a package holiday paid by someone else?

The passengers are entitled. In case C-20/24, the EU Court of Justice held that payment by a third party does not prevent passengers from receiving compensation.

Compensation goes to passenger, not buyer: does that apply to gift tickets?

Yes. The person who received the flight as a gift and travelled on it is the passenger, and the compensation is theirs.

Does the passenger need to have paid anything at all?

No. What matters is that the passenger did not travel free of charge or at a reduced fare unavailable to the public, and it is for the airline to prove that exception applies (case C-20/24).

Can the person who paid claim on the passenger’s behalf?

Only with the passenger’s agreement, or as a parent or guardian of a child passenger. The right itself stays with the passenger.

Does it matter who is named as the contact person on the booking?

No. The contact person may receive the airline’s messages, but the entitlement belongs to each passenger named on the booking.

Can I claim for my child?

Yes. A child with their own ticket is a passenger, and a parent or legal guardian claims on the child’s behalf.

What about a baby travelling on my lap?

This is not settled. The outcome can depend on what was paid for the infant, and airlines dispute such claims. We look at these cases individually.

Is a ticket bought with miles covered?

Yes. Tickets issued under frequent flyer and other commercial programmes are expressly covered by the regulation.

The Passenger Is the One Who Counts

Who gets flight compensation, passenger or payer, is one of the few questions in air passenger rights with a simple answer: the passenger. Check your flight with FlyPayout: it is free, you do nothing further, and you pay only if money arrives.

FlyPayout helps passengers claim compensation, reasonable costs and downgrade refunds for delayed and cancelled flights, denied boarding, downgrades and missed connections under EU Regulation 261/2004, UK261 and related passenger rights rules. No win, no fee: you pay only when your money is paid.