French Polynesia — Service d'État de l'Aviation Civile and the EU261 territorial position

The clocks it starts

• Two years for a Montreal Convention claim (Art. 35)This is the limitation period for the Convention claim for proven delay damages on international carriage, not for any national compensation scheme, which may have its own. It is fatal to the Convention claim specifically, and correspondence does not suspend it.Montreal Convention 1999, Art. 35(1) — Art. 35(1)Limitation period

What it entitles you to, beyond money

• Why Regulation 261/2004 does not simply apply hereFrench Polynesia — an overseas country and territory of France, outside the Union. Regulation 261/2004 applies to passengers departing from an airport situated in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty applies, and to passengers departing a third-country airport for such an airport where the operating carrier is a Community carrier. An overseas country and territory is not within the territory to which the Treaty applies for this purpose. That is the opposite of the position in Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, Mayotte and Saint-Martin, which are outermost regions under Art. 349 TFEU and are inside the Regulation in full. The distinction is modelled properly in the European module of this product; do not reason from "it is France" to "the Regulation applies".Art. 3(1)
• The direction of your flight decides the answerA flight from Paris, Lyon or any other airport in metropolitan France or elsewhere in the Union to PF departs an airport within the territory to which the Treaty applies, so Regulation 261/2004 covers it on the outbound. The return leg does not qualify on that basis: it departs an airport outside the Union, and the Regulation reaches it only if the operating carrier is a Community carrier within Art. 3(1)(b) — which for a carrier licensed in an overseas territory is not a settled question. The practical consequence is that on the same return ticket the two legs may sit under different regimes. Claim the outbound leg under the Regulation without hesitation, and make the Community-carrier argument on the inbound as an argument rather than an assumption.Art. 3(1)
• French civil and consumer law still appliesPF is French territory and French private law, as adapted locally, governs the contract of carriage. The Code de la consommation's provisions on unfair terms and on the supply of services, and the general law of contract, apply to a carrier selling carriage there. The Service d'État de l'Aviation Civile en Polynésie française (SEAC-PF) is the local civil aviation service and is the regulator to address, rather than the metropolitan DGAC.
• Complain to The Service d'État de l'Aviation Civile en Polynésie française (SEAC-PF)The Service d'État de l'Aviation Civile en Polynésie française (SEAC-PF) exercises the civil aviation regulatory functions locally, under the authority of the French Directorate General for Civil Aviation. It is the right destination for a complaint about a carrier operating in PF. Its address is https://www.polynesie-francaise.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/.
• Montreal Convention damages for delay (international carriage)On international carriage between States Parties, Art. 19 of the Montreal Convention makes the carrier liable for the damage the delay actually caused you — the unused hotel night, the missed onward booking, the extra meals and transport — unless it proves it took all measures that could reasonably be required. It is capped at 6,303 SDR per passenger (the figure ICAO set with effect from 28 December 2024) and it requires receipts, not a formula. This claim exists independently of any national scheme, and airlines never mention it. The right is extinguished two years after arrival under Art. 35.Art. 19, Art. 22(1)

Where to take it next

1. 01Written claim to the airlineWrite to the carrier. If any leg of your journey departed an airport in the European Union, claim that leg expressly under Regulation 261/2004 and say so in the first line — carriers concede the outbound leg far more readily than the return.Claim direct·typically 30 days
2. 02Service d'État de l'Aviation Civile en Polynésie française (SEAC-PF)The local civil aviation service, operating under the French Directorate General for Civil Aviation. The right destination for a complaint about a carrier operating in French Polynesia.Regulator·typically 90 days·official page
3. 03Direction générale de l'Aviation civile (France) — for the European legWhere the claim is about a leg departing metropolitan France or another EU airport, the French DGAC is the national enforcement body designated under Art. 16 of Regulation 261/2004. Send the European leg there and the local leg to SEAC-PF.Regulator·typically 90 days·official page
4. 04Tribunal judiciaire de PapeeteBinding on themThe local civil court. French procedure allows a consumer to sue where they are domiciled, and for a claim of this size the procédure simplifiée is available.Small claims·typically 180 days