Missed connection due to first-leg delay — Folkerts protocol
First flight "only" 90 min late but you missed connection and arrived 6 hours late at destination? Folkerts ruling (C-11/11) gives you right to €250-€600. Not the en-route delay — the arrival delay at the final destination counts.
The biggest airline pitfall on missed connections: they refuse with "your first flight was only X min late, below the threshold". But the Folkerts ruling (ECJ C-11/11, 26 February 2013) makes that impossible: what counts is the arrival delay at your final destination, not the first-leg delay.
Step by step
1
Calculate your final-destination arrival delay
Compare: scheduled arrival at your final destination (per original booking) vs. actual arrival at your final destination. The difference = your relevant delay. ≥3 hours at the final destination = right to compensation.
2
Keep your full itinerary as one PNR
Key point: it must be one booking (one Passenger Name Record / PNR). Two separate tickets — no right under EU 261. KLM/Delta codeshare on one PNR: yes.
3
Document the first-flight delay + missed connection
Photo of departure board showing first-leg delay. Evidence you were at the connection gate on time (boarding pass for connecting flight). Name of gate staff who routed you to rebooking.
4
Keep receipts for care
During the wait for the rebooking: meals, hotel if overnight needed (especially for delays that land at destination at late hour). Art. 9 rights apply unchanged.
5
Send formal claim — cite Folkerts explicitly
Write the claim to the operating carrier (Van der Lans ruling). Cite Art. 7 + Folkerts (ECJ C-11/11). Sample sentence: "Per Folkerts (ECJ C-11/11) the delay at final destination Y counts, not at intermediate stop Z." Our missed-connection letter (€9.99) does this.
6
On "extraordinary circumstances" refusal: cite Wallentin-Hermann
Technical fault on first leg, staff shortage, operational decision — no excuse (Wallentin-Hermann C-549/07). Demand written substantiation of "reasonable measures" taken.
Ready to claim?
Missed connection due to first-leg delay? Still claim
Folkerts ruling (ECJ C-11/11) determines that arrival delay at the final destination counts — not interruption en route. Our letter cites the ruling explicitly.
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missed connection KLMmissed connecting flightEU 261 transfer claimFolkerts protocol