How long do you have to claim ferry compensation?
Last reviewed 18 October 2026
Most ferry compensation claims that fail do not fail because the passenger was wrong. They fail because the claim arrived too late to be considered, and once that happens the merits never get looked at.
The two-month rule
Article 24 of EU Regulation 1177/2010 requires you to submit your complaint to the carrier within two months, counted from the date the service was performed or should have been performed.
Read that second half carefully, because it is where people lose claims.
The clock runs from the sailing, not from the day you noticed, not from the day you got home, and not from the day the operator finally replied to an earlier email. For a cancelled sailing — one that never ran at all — it runs from the date it should have run. There is no event to remember, which is exactly why those are the claims people let expire.
What the operator owes you in return
The deadline is not one-sided. Once you have complained in time, Article 24 puts the carrier on a clock too:
| Stage | Deadline |
|---|---|
| You complain to the carrier | Within 2 months of the sailing |
| Carrier tells you whether your complaint is upheld, rejected, or still being considered | Within 1 month |
| Carrier gives you a final reply | Within 2 months |
If they miss either of those, that is itself grounds to escalate — you do not have to keep waiting politely. Silence is an outcome you can act on.
Why "I complained already" often is not enough
Two things trip people up, and both are about proof rather than law.
A phone call is not a record. If you cannot show when you complained, you cannot show you were inside the two months. Put it in writing, even if you also phone. Keep the sent copy.
The right destination matters. Some operators publish a designated complaints address; others publish only a web form, and a few route everything to general customer service. A complaint sent somewhere the operator does not treat as a complaints channel can be genuinely received and still not be logged as a complaint. We maintain the published channel for each operator we track for exactly this reason.
If the two months have passed
It is not automatically over, but your position is weaker and you should know that going in.
The two-month rule governs the complaint to the carrier. National enforcement bodies and alternative dispute resolution schemes have their own time limits, which are usually longer — but most of them expect you to have complained to the carrier first, so a missed deadline tends to follow you up the chain.
Some carriers accept late complaints anyway, particularly where the disruption is documented and uncontested. It costs nothing to submit, say plainly that you are outside the window, and ask them to consider it.
What to do today
If your sailing was in the last two months, the useful thing is to put something in writing now, even briefly. You can add evidence later; you cannot add time.
- Write down the sailing date, route, and what happened.
- Send it to the operator's published complaints channel, in writing, and keep proof of the date.
- Check what the Regulation may entitle you to before you decide how hard to push.
If the reason the operator gave was weather, read whether that actually excuses them first — for a cancelled sailing, often it does not.
This is general information about Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010, not legal advice. Time limits in your own country may differ; if a claim matters financially, take advice on it.