easyJet arranges hotel food where it can. Where the hotel cannot, its delays and cancellations page said on 16 September 2026 that it will reimburse up to £25 per person per day, EUR or CHF equivalent, for 3 star accommodation, standard class transport and food without alcohol. That is easyJet policy, not the regulation.
Up to £25 per person per day. easyJet's delays and cancellations page, read on 16 September 2026, says it will arrange where possible for the hotel to provide an evening meal excluding alcohol and breakfast, and that if the hotel is not able to provide you with food, we will reimburse you up to £25 per person per day (EUR/ CHF equivalent). That sentence is the whole policy on food at an overnight hotel, and it is the number the expenses team works to when your receipt arrives.
While you are still at the airport the figure is smaller and tied to the delay. The same page says easyJet provides a refreshment voucher worth £6 or €9, from two hours on flights up to 1500km and from three hours on flights over 1500km, and that if it cannot hand you a voucher it will reimburse up to the same amount against appropriate receipts.
Neither number appears in any regulation. Both are easyJet's own internal limits, which is why they are round and sterling first.
Because the law does not set one. Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, headed right to care, says passengers shall be offered free of charge meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time, hotel accommodation where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, and transport between the airport and the place of accommodation. It names no amount, no star rating and no currency. The UK version on legislation.gov.uk keeps the same three items and the same wording.
So the pages ranking above easyJet's own are correct and useless at once. There is no statutory cap, and there is still a fixed number on the other side of the desk.
The regulator is blunter. The CAA's flight delays page, read on 16 September 2026, tells passengers to keep itemised receipts for reasonable costs, then says airlines may have guidelines on their website on what they consider reasonable, and that airlines are unlikely to consider alcoholic drinks, luxury hotels or luxury meals to be reasonable. easyJet's guideline is just written down, which makes it easier to work with than most.
| Care item | easyJet's own limit | What Regulation 261/2004 says |
|---|---|---|
| Refreshments during the wait | £6 or €9 voucher, or the same amount back | Meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time |
| Food at an overnight hotel | Up to £25 per person per day, EUR or CHF equivalent | Same wording, no amount given |
| Hotel grade | 3 stars or equivalent, Premier Inn and Travelodge named as examples | Hotel accommodation where a stay becomes necessary, no grade given |
| Airport to hotel transport | Taxis, buses or local metro, no private limousines | Transport between the airport and place of accommodation |
| Alcohol | Not reimbursed | Not mentioned |
Some of the exclusions cost more than the £25 does. The delays page and the expenses claim form both rule out whole categories of spending.
The two that catch most people are the self-booked hotel and the pre-booked one. If easyJet could have given you a room for free and you booked your own instead, the page says it will not be able to reimburse those expenses. The hotel you had already booked at your destination and never reached is a pre-travel cost, so it is not the airline's problem either. easyJet's page sends those costs to your insurer instead, and our guide to what travel insurance covers sets out which policies pay for a missed night.
Compare cover for disruption costseasyJet's own page points pre-booked stays, parking, car hire and missed excursions at your insurer rather than the airline.
Itemised ones. The delays page says all expense claims must be supported by valid itemised receipts or invoices on headed paper as proof of purchase, and that we cannot accept credit card receipts as proof of payment. For a room you found yourself it asks specifically for the VAT invoice, not the booking confirmation email.
Read the claim form on the same day and the wording softens, it says cardholder copies will be accepted as supporting documents for receipts submitted. Both sentences were live on 16 September 2026. Read together they mean the till receipt or invoice is the evidence and the card slip only backs it up, so send the itemised receipt and treat the card copy as an extra. Other carriers are harder about this, see Jet2 and bank statements.
The form has a few mechanical traps. Receipts upload as pdf, html, htm, gif, bmp, png, jpeg or jpg only, under 5MB each. The amount and currency you enter must match the receipt. Names, email and phone must match the booking. One receipt covering several passengers is split between them, and if you were not the lead passenger you can only claim for yourself.
Claim the real amount and expect the policy number. easyJet's limit caps what it pays, it does not decide what you are owed, so a dinner receipt above the line is a legitimate claim for the full amount and a likely payment of £25 per person. What decides the difference is whether the spend reads as reasonable next to the waiting time, which is the only test the regulation actually sets.
If you are pushing past the policy line, argue about reasonableness rather than about the cap. A meal for a family at an airport hotel with nothing else within walking distance is a different case from a bottle of wine and a tasting menu, and the CAA has already said which of those airlines refuse. Turn down an offered room for a better one and the capped self-booked hotel problem applies too.
No, and treating them as one claim is the commonest way to lose money here. Care under Article 9 is food, a bed and transport while you are stuck, and it is owed whatever caused the delay. Compensation is a separate fixed sum that only arrives when the cause sat inside the airline's control.
The amounts are not comparable either. On the CAA's page, read on 16 September 2026, UK compensation is £220 per person under 1500km, £350 between 1500 and 3500km, and £260 or £520 over 3500km depending on how late you arrive. easyJet's own page puts the trigger at arrival more than three hours late, cancellation within 14 days of departure, or denied boarding, and says you must apply directly to it. Our EU261 guide has the thresholds in full.
One consequence follows. Because care is owed even on a weather night when no compensation is due, the £25 is often the only money on the table, and the money people forget to claim. Every figure here was read on 16 September 2026, and our methodology explains how we check them.
Up to £25 per person per day for hotel food where the hotel cannot provide it, and a refreshment voucher worth £6 or €9 while you wait at the airport, both read on easyJet's delays and cancellations page on 16 September 2026. Alcohol is excluded from both. Keep itemised receipts if easyJet does not arrange either one for you.
Yes. Where widespread disruption means easyJet asks you to find your own room, its page tells you to look for accommodation that is 3 stars or equivalent, and names Premier Inn, IBIS, Holiday Inn, Hotel Formule 1, Travelodge and Motel-One as examples. It reimburses standard class or shared transport and reasonable food and drink, not alcohol.
Only if easyJet did not offer one. Its page states that if you book and pay for a hotel or transport separately when easyJet could have provided it for free, it will not be able to reimburse those expenses. Wait for the ground crew or the app to confirm that nothing is available before you book anything yourself.
Not on its own. The delays page says claims need valid itemised receipts or invoices on headed paper and that credit card receipts are not accepted as proof of payment, while the claim form says cardholder copies are accepted as supporting documents. Send the itemised receipt or VAT invoice and add the card copy as backup.
Yes. Expenses are the right to care under Article 9, owed even when bad weather or a strike caused the delay. Compensation is a separate fixed sum that is not payable in extraordinary circumstances. You can be owed both, one, or only the expenses, and easyJet requires you to apply to it directly for compensation.
easyJet's pages publish no deadline for expenses, so claim as soon as you are home and the receipts are still legible. In England and Wales, section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 gives six years for court action on a simple contract, but airline goodwill drops fast after a few months and thermal paper fades, so photograph everything on the night.