Neos

Neos: the dream-holiday airline where the flight home is covered too

Neos is Italy’s holiday airline — owned by Alpitour, the country’s biggest tour operator — flying Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners from Milan-Malpensa, Verona, Bologna and Rome to the destinations Italians dream about: the Maldives, Zanzibar, Mombasa, Cancún, Punta Cana, Havana. And it comes with a quietly valuable advantage that non-EU holiday carriers can’t match.

Neos is an Italian airline — an EU carrier — so EU Regulation 261/2004 covers it in both directions. Not just the flight out to your island paradise, but the flight home into Italy as well. Compare that to a non-EU charter carrier, where only the outbound from Europe is covered and the long flight home isn’t. With Neos, both legs of your long-haul holiday count — and because every one of these routes is over 3,500 km, both are the €600 band. A disrupted round trip can be €600 out and €600 home.

What your Neos claim is worth

EU 261 sets the amount by the great-circle distance to your final destination:

Neos’s long-haul leisure network runs 6,000–8,800 km from Italy, so it’s firmly €600 each way. Only the shorter Mediterranean routes drop to €400. Pick a route:

(The odd one out: Sharm el-Sheikh at ~2,989 km is the €400 band — the only one here under 3,500 km. Everything long-haul is €600.)

Booked as a package? You have two claims, not one

Because Neos is owned by Alpitour, a lot of its passengers fly as part of a package holiday — and that gives you two separate sets of rights people often confuse. The €600 EU 261 flight compensation is owed by Neos, the airline, for a delayed or cancelled covered flight. Your package-travel rights — refunds, alternatives, and being looked after for the trip as a whole — are owed by the tour operator. They stack. Toggle between them:

Real example. A Milan → Malé flight is delayed 5 hours by a technical fault. EU departure, over 3,500 km → €600 per passenger; a family of four is owed €2,400. Check a delayed flight →

Real example. The same family’s Malé → Milan flight home is delayed 6 hours. Inbound flight — but on an EU carrier, so fully covered → another €600 per passenger. That’s the Neos advantage: the return counts too. Check a cancelled flight →

Delays, cancellations and overbooking

• Delays. Reach your destination 3+ hours late for a reason within Neos’s control and you’re owed €600 on the long-haul routes — either direction. Measured at arrival.
• Cancellations. A refund or rerouting, care, and — unless 14+ days’ notice or extraordinary — the €600 on top.
• Denied boarding. Bumped from an oversold flight? Compensation immediately.
• Both directions. Because Neos is an EU carrier, the flight home from the Maldives, Caribbean or Zanzibar is covered exactly like the outbound — the point that sets it apart from non-EU charters.

How to claim from Neos yourself

1. Gather your evidence — booking reference, boarding passes, flight number and date, Neos’s stated reason, and any receipts for meals or a hotel.
2. Confirm it qualifies — you arrived 3+ hours late (or it was cancelled with under 14 days’ notice, or you were denied boarding) and the cause wasn’t extraordinary. Remember the inbound leg counts too.
3. Work out the amount — long-haul leisure routes are €600 each way; shorter Mediterranean routes €400 or €250.
4. Submit Neos’s claim form. Open a claim ticket at Neos’s customer-service portal, stating clearly that you’re claiming under EU 261/2004, with the flight details and the arrival delay.
5. Escalate if refused. Escalate to Italy’s enforcement body ENAC for an Italian departure — or hand the claim to a specialist. (For a package, pursue the tour operator separately for the package rights.)

Real Neos scenarios

• Long-haul outbound delay. Milan → Malé 5 hours late → €600 each (family of four = €2,400).
• The return — and yes, it counts. Malé → Milan 6 hours late → another €600 per passenger, because Neos is an EU carrier.
• Cancelled holiday flight. Milan → Zanzibar cancelled short-notice → €600 plus a hotel and meals, separate from any package refund.
• Mediterranean route. Milan → Sharm el-Sheikh delayed 4 hours → €400, because it’s under 3,500 km.

See real won cases and verdicts →.

Neos at a glance

Founded in 2001 and owned by the Alpitour group, Neos is led by CEO Carlo Stradiotti and flies Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners from northern Italy to long-haul leisure destinations, with 737s on the Mediterranean routes. Charter or scheduled, it’s an EU carrier — which is why both directions of your holiday flight are covered, and why the long flight home is worth just as much as the flight out.

Why hand your Neos claim to Refundio

A Neos claim has two things passengers routinely miss: that the long flight home is covered (so a bad round trip can be €1,200 a head), and that a package booking doesn’t wipe out your €600. Refundio works out both legs and keeps your flight compensation separate from your package rights, buys your claim and pays you upfront, then takes Neos on itself and escalates to ENAC if needed. No win, no fee.

Check your Neos claim in 2 minutes →

Frequently asked questions

My Neos flight home from the Maldives was delayed. Am I covered, even though it didn’t leave the EU?

Yes — Neos is an Italian (EU) airline, so EU 261 covers it both ways, including the flight home. A non-EU charter would cover only the outbound. Every long-haul route is over 3,500 km, so a 3+ hour delay either way is €600.

How much does Neos owe for a delayed long-haul holiday flight?

€600 per passenger, each way — the routes to the Maldives, Zanzibar, the Caribbean are all over 3,500 km. A disrupted round trip can be €600 out plus €600 home. Rerouted under four hours late can be €300; four hours or more, the full €600.

I booked Neos as part of an Alpitour package holiday. Can I still claim?

Yes — EU 261 flight compensation (from Neos) is separate from your package-travel rights (from the tour operator). You can pursue both; the package doesn’t waive your €600.

What about a shorter Mediterranean Neos flight?

Those are lower bands — a route like Sharm el-Sheikh (~3,000 km) is €400. Only the long-haul routes over 3,500 km reach €600.

How do I claim compensation from Neos?

Open a claim ticket on Neos’s customer-service portal, stating you’re claiming EU 261 compensation with your flight details and arrival delay. Response is typically within 30 days. If refused, escalate to Italy’s ENAC — or hand it to Refundio.

Is Neos a charter airline, and does that affect my rights?

It runs both charter and scheduled flights, and it makes no difference — charter flights are fully covered by EU 261. It flies 737s short-haul and 787-9 Dreamliners long-haul.