Smartwings flight delay or cancellation compensation
- IATA QS, ICAO TVS — the largest Czech airline, based at Prague Václav Havel.
- Absorbed Czech Airlines, whose own flights ended in 2024.
- Boeing 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 fleet, with bases spread across Central Europe.
Smartwings grew out of charter flying for tour operators and now combines holiday contracts with its own scheduled services, operating from Prague plus bases in Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. After Czech Airlines stopped flying in October 2024, Smartwings became the country's flag operation in practice, inheriting routes and slots.
Your passenger rights
Smartwings holds a Czech operating licence, so EC 261/2004 applies to all of its departures from EU airports and all of its arrivals into the EU, including returns from Egypt, Türkiye, Tunisia, the UAE and other holiday markets. Those sectors are usually between 1,500 and 3,500 km, which puts compensation at €400.
Tips for claiming
Charter flights sold through a tour operator are fully covered by EC 261, and Smartwings is the operating carrier you claim against even if you never saw its name when booking. Holiday programmes are built on tight aircraft rotations, so a morning delay tends to grow through the day: record the actual door-open time on arrival, because that decides whether you crossed the three-hour line.
Ready to claim against Smartwings?
Use our boarding pass assistant on the homepage. It's fast, secure, and no win, no fee.
Fast & risk-free
No hidden fees
Talk to us
Human support available
Highest security
Your data is always protected