261/2004 and codeshares

A word of caution to anyone hoping to rely on EU regulation 261/2004.

The wording specifically refers to the operating carrier (as opposed to the airline that sold the ticket or that put its flight number on the ticket). So a flight operated by a non EU carrier departing from outside the EU is not covered, even if the passenger’s ticket shows a flight number identifying an EU airline, and it is thus more worthwhile than ever to check who the operating airline is.

(Apologies is this is old news to some of you but I only discovered this today.)