Delayed or cancelled at Paris Charles de Gaulle: what you are owed

The big one in France is the air traffic control strike. Since a law of 28 December 2023, controllers must tell the authorities by noon two days before each strike day whether they will strike, so the civil aviation authority (DGAC) can ask airlines to cut flights in proportion; that is why strike cancellations are often announced a day or two ahead. A strike by air traffic controllers is outside the airline's control and normally counts as an extraordinary circumstance, so compensation is not usually due for those cancellations and delays. Everything else still is: meals, a hotel if you are stuck overnight, and a refund or a new flight at the earliest opportunity, which can mean another airline if that gets you there sooner. EUROCONTROL counted more than a million passengers affected by the French controllers' strike of 3 and 4 July 2025, with arrival punctuality at French airports falling from 73% to 50%.

Other causes do pay. A strike by the airline's own pilots or cabin crew is not extraordinary, and nor, generally, is a technical fault. Bad weather, a bird strike and air traffic management restrictions can excuse the airline, but only if it shows the event caused your delay and that it took all reasonable measures. If the airline tells you the delay was a strike or the weather, ask for the reason in writing.

Ask your airline's desk in the terminal you are flying from for meal vouchers and, if you are stuck overnight, a hotel. Charles de Gaulle works almost as three separate airports, so check your terminal on your booking: Air France flies from 2E, 2F and 2G, its SkyTeam partners and oneworld airlines from Terminal 2, Star Alliance airlines mostly from Terminal 1, and charter and low-cost airlines from Terminal 3. The free CDGVAL shuttle links the terminals every 4 minutes from 04:00 to 01:00.

If the airline books you into a hotel, it also owes you the transfer. The Sheraton is inside Terminal 2, above the station, and several more airport hotels are a CDGVAL ride away. If you are offered a voucher instead of a cash payment for compensation, you do not have to accept it.

If you booked your whole trip on one reservation, for example Manchester to Paris to Boston, the delay that counts is the one at your final destination, and the distance is measured from where your journey started to where it ends, not leg by leg. Arrive 3 hours or more late at the end and you are owed compensation for the whole journey, even if the first flight was only an hour late, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances. Separate tickets are assessed one by one, so a missed self-transfer at CDG is not covered.

Claiming yourself is free. Write to the airline that operated the flight with your booking reference, flight number, date and what happened, and ask for the compensation under EU Regulation 261/2004. If it refuses or does not reply within two months, you can turn to the Médiateur Tourisme et Voyage (MTV), the French mediation service; since 7 February 2026 mediation has been compulsory before taking an air passenger compensation claim to a French court. You can also complain to the DGAC, the national enforcement body, which can sanction airlines but does not recover money for individual passengers. In France you have five years to bring a claim; if you bring it in another country's courts, that country's limit applies.

Or let AirHelp do it on a no win, no fee basis: if they win, they keep 35% of the compensation including VAT, plus 15% if court action is needed; if they do not win, you pay nothing. Either way, keep your boarding pass, booking confirmation, receipts for anything you bought while waiting, and the reason for the delay the airline gave you.

New EU rules (Regulation (EU) 2026/2202) apply from 23 October 2027; until then, today's rules apply, including to every flight described on this page.