Originally Posted by
bristol brabazon
The flight actually took off at 22.25 on the same day which at that point 3 hours 10 minutes later than scheduled.
Airlines don't schedule take-off time. The departure time on the ticket and in the timetable refers to pushback from the terminal. Depending on the airport, takeoff will be several, sometimes many, minutes later.
So it's quite possible that the actual departure time from SZG was delayed by (just) under 3 hours.
Having said that, I believe that EU261 compensation relates to arrival time at the final destination. The FR24 track suggests that your friend's flight didn't arrive at the gate until 22:18.
There appears to be some confusion over the scheduled arrival time - FR24 reckons it was 19:20 (local time), in which case your friend has no case. But if his ticket said, as you state, 19:15 then he might.