Flight Delay Compensation in the UK: What You Are Owed Under UK261

• £220–£520

  Fixed UK261 compensation per passenger, set by distance and arrival delay

• 3 hours

  Arrival delay at the final destination that opens a delay claim

• 6 years

  Time limit to take a UK claim to court, or five in Scotland

• £0

  Cost of claiming direct, through the airline or an approved ADR scheme

The UK has run its own passenger-rights regime since it left the EU. The rules are written into domestic law as UK Reg (EU) No. 261/2004, which the CAA and everyone else calls UK261, and the compensation is fixed in sterling rather than euros. The rights look similar to the European version and behave differently in the details: who is covered, who regulates the airline, and which authority you escalate to when a claim stalls.

The reason this matters now is that the exemption was tested in public this month. After the NATS flight-planning outage on 8 September 2026, the CAA said disruption caused directly by the incident, and by its knock-on effects, was likely to count as extraordinary circumstances. Passengers were still owed care. They were probably not owed compensation. That is the whole shape of UK261 in one event: a duty to look after you that survives almost anything, and a cash payment that does not.

Which flights UK261 covers

The departure rule is the one that catches most people out, usually in a good way. A flight from Heathrow to anywhere, on any carrier in the world, is a UK261 flight. Your nationality, where you bought the ticket and the currency you paid in are all irrelevant. If the aircraft pushes back from a UK airport, the UK rules travel with it.

Arrivals are narrower. A flight into the UK is covered only when a UK or EU carrier operates it. The CAA is explicit that different rights can apply to passengers arriving on flights operated by non-EU carriers such as a US airline flying from the United States, so a delayed inbound flight on a US carrier is not a UK261 claim even though it lands at a UK airport. Check the rules of the country you departed from instead. The American equivalent is covered in our guide to refunds and rights when a US flight is cancelled or delayed.

Connecting itineraries on a single booking stay inside the scheme. If you fly Manchester to Dublin to New York on one ticket, the journey is measured from the first airport to the last, which pushes it into the long-haul band. The CAA explains the mechanics further down this guide.

How much UK261 pays for a delay

Compensation under UK261 is a fixed amount per passenger. It is not a refund, it is not a proportion of what you paid, and a £60 ticket and a £600 ticket on the same delayed flight attract exactly the same sum. Two things set the number: the distance of the flight and how late you arrive.

The £260 figure for long-haul flights is the one most people have never heard of. Arriving three hours and twenty minutes late on a transatlantic flight pays half the maximum, not the maximum. Arriving four hours and one minute late pays the full £520. The difference between catching a train home and missing it can be worth £260 per passenger.

Distance is measured by the great circle route between the two airports, not the distance flown or the miles in your loyalty account. The CAA treats a flight as short, medium or long by that measure, and the airline’s own classification does not decide it.

Three hours at the gate: the test that pays

Everything in the delay rules turns on arrival, not departure. The CAA describes the trigger as arriving at the gate more than three hours late. A flight that pushes back two hours behind schedule but claws the time back in the air owes nothing. A flight that leaves on time and then holds over the destination can owe the full sum.

This is also why the clock is read at your final destination. On a multi-leg booking, an on-time arrival at the connection counts for nothing. What matters is when you walk off at the end of the journey. The regulation calls this the last destination at which the delay affects you, and it is the single most useful fact to know when an airline’s first response says your flight landed within the threshold.

Take the scheduled arrival time from your booking confirmation, not from memory, and compare it with the time the aircraft actually arrived at the gate. Airport apps, flight-tracking sites and the airline’s own flight status page all publish the recorded times, and an airline asking you to prove a delay will accept the record it published itself.

Care while you wait, whatever the cause

Care is the right people forget, because it survives the exemption. Whatever caused the disruption, and whether or not compensation is owed, the airline must look after you once the delay crosses a distance-based threshold. The CAA is blunt that this applies regardless of the reason.

Care usually arrives as a voucher at the gate, which is why people assume it does not exist when staff are stretched. If no voucher appears, the airline still owes the cost. The CAA’s guidance is to make your own arrangements when the airline cannot, keep itemised receipts, and claim the reasonable cost back afterwards. Alcoholic drinks, luxury hotels and luxury meals are the examples the CAA gives of costs an airline is unlikely to accept.

If you are stuck overnight, the duty includes a hotel and transport between the airport and that hotel. If you live close to the airport, the airline may instead reimburse your travel home. Read the airline’s disruption email before booking anything yourself: many publish a link to their own accommodation process, and using it avoids the argument at the claim stage.

The exemption airlines reach for first

Extraordinary circumstances are the airline’s defence against paying. The regulation does not define the term, so it has been shaped by the courts, and the UK version has now been shaped by the UK Supreme Court as well.

The CAA lists the categories most likely to qualify: weather incompatible with safe operation, strikes by parties other than the airline such as airport staff, ground handlers, air traffic control or border force, terrorism or sabotage, security risks, political or civil unrest, and hidden manufacturing defects such as a manufacturer recall that grounds a fleet. The thread running through them is that the cause sits outside the airline’s own operation and could not have been avoided by any reasonable measure.

Two of the most common airline excuses sit on the wrong side of that line. Ordinary technical faults are not extraordinary: the CAA says component failure and general wear and tear should not be treated as exceptional, and the English courts reached the same conclusion in Jet2 v Huzar. Crew illness is not extraordinary either. In July 2024, in Lipton v BA Cityflyer, the Supreme Court held that a pilot falling ill at short notice was inherent in the airline’s normal activity, so the airline still had to pay. The CAA has pointed passengers at a template letter for exactly this situation.

When the exemption is claimed, ask the airline to set it out in writing. The CAA expects an airline that relies on extraordinary circumstances to explain clearly why it applies, and a one-line “operational reasons” reply is not an explanation. That written answer is the document an ADR adjudicator will read.

Cancelled or overbooked: what changes

A cancellation is not the same claim as a delay, and the amount turns on how much notice you were given. With 14 days or more, the airline owes you a refund or re-routing but normally no compensation. Below 14 days, fixed compensation can apply, and the sum depends on the flight distance and how late your replacement flight arrives.

The shape is the same three bands with a reduction for a prompt replacement. On a short-haul cancellation inside seven days, a replacement arriving two hours or more late attracts £220 and a replacement arriving sooner attracts £110. Medium-haul flights use a three-hour line at £350 and £175, and long-haul flights use four hours at £520 and £260. Between seven and 14 days the CAA publishes a similar table keyed to the timings of the alternative flight. The amounts are always per person.

Cancelled passengers also have a choice the delay rules do not give: a full refund of the ticket, re-routing at the earliest opportunity, or re-routing at a later date that suits you. Airlines sometimes nudge passengers towards a refund because it closes the case. If the trip still matters, re-routing is usually the stronger first move, and keeping the refund option open while you ask is reasonable.

Denied boarding on an overbooked flight uses the same bands when you are bumped without agreeing to it and you checked in on time, halved when the replacement flight gets you there sooner: £220 becomes £110, £350 becomes £175, and £520 becomes £260. If you volunteer to give up your seat, that negotiated deal replaces the statutory amount, so weigh the airline’s offer against the £220 to £520 you could otherwise claim. The mechanics of a cancelled trip, including how the refund reaches you, are covered in the cancellation walkthrough.

Connecting flights and self-transfers

A single booking that includes a connection is treated as one journey. Care and compensation are calculated on the distance from the first airport to the last, not the length of any individual leg, which is how a Manchester to Dublin to New York itinerary lands in the long-haul band despite a short first hop.

The arrival test is read at the final destination, so a late arrival at the transit airport does not count on its own. If you miss the connection because the first flight was delayed, the airline still owes care while you wait for the next one, including a hotel if the wait runs overnight. If the delay on a connecting itinerary passes five hours, you can take a refund for the unused portion and the airline must get you back to where you started.

Self-transfer itineraries are different in kind. If you booked two separate tickets, you have no statutory right to care, compensation or onward transport when a delay on the first flight makes you miss the second, even when the two airlines are in the same alliance. Each ticket keeps its own rights. Our guide to what happens when you miss a connecting flight sets out the difference in full.

How to claim, step by step

Compensation is never paid automatically. The airline pays when it is asked, and the strongest claim is the one with the record attached. The CAA recommends a direct claim, and the ADR schemes that handle the disputes are free to consumers, so the whole process costs nothing except the time.

1. Claim from the operating airline. Not the airport, not the booking site, not a claims company. The airline on the boarding pass is the one that owes you. The Court of Appeal confirmed in Bott v Ryanair that a complaint raised by a third party can be rejected when it is not in the passenger’s own name.
2. Give the facts in one message. Flight number, date, route, booking reference, the scheduled arrival time and the actual arrival time. Most airlines have a form for exactly this.
3. State the amount and the rule. Say that you are claiming under UK261 and name the figure: £220, £350, £260 or £520 per passenger, according to the distance and your arrival delay. Knowing the number stops a low opening offer from looking generous.
4. Attach the evidence. Booking confirmation, boarding passes, the airline’s own disruption messages, and receipts if you paid for meals or a hotel. Screenshot the published arrival time before it fades from the flight-status page.
5. Claim care separately if you paid for it. Some airlines run one form for compensation and another for expenses. The CAA publishes a template letter for written claims.
6. Diarise the eight-week mark. If the airline has not given a final answer in eight weeks, you can escalate without waiting any longer. That date is fixed by the scheme rules, not by the airline’s queue.

If the airline says no: ADR, PACT and court

Airlines reject claims for reasons that range from correct to optimistic, and the escalation path is the part of UK261 most people never use. It has three levels, and the first is free.

Approved ADR. There are two approved alternative dispute resolution providers in aviation, AviationADR and CEDR, and airlines sign up to one or the other. You complain to the airline first, then apply to its scheme once you have a final response or eight weeks have passed. The adjudicator looks at the papers and usually decides within a few months. The decision binds the airline if you accept it, and CEDR caps awards at £10,000 per booking. If you reject the decision, you keep the right to go to court.

The CAA’s Passenger Advice and Complaints Team. PACT is the route for airlines that are not in an ADR scheme. It will review the case, tell you whether it believes the claim is valid, and take it up with the airline. It cannot impose a decision the way an adjudicator can, so treat its opinion as leverage rather than a ruling.

Court. A county court claim is the backstop and it is how many of the reported UK261 judgments started. It is worth knowing that the ADR landscape is mid-review: new ADR provisions in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 took effect on 6 April 2026, and the CAA is reviewing its policy documents while both schemes continue to accept complaints. Check the current position before choosing a route.

Deadlines that quietly close a claim

UK261 is unusual among consumer rights in how long it stays alive, but the clocks are not generous once an airline has answered. Scotland runs on a shorter cycle than the rest of the UK, and that catches people out.

A claims management company will usually take a percentage of the compensation as its fee, and the CAA’s position is that this is avoidable: complaint routes are free, the process is designed to be used by the passenger, and the airline’s own form is the fastest route to payment. The one time a paid service can make sense is when a claim is complex, disputed and close to its court deadline, which is a decision to make deliberately rather than at the first rejection.

None of this changes the deeper point of a disruption: the money arrives after the trip is already ruined. The part you control in advance is what you paid for the ticket in the first place, and comparing live fares across your airports and dates is the half of the problem that can still be won before you fly. Our guide to EU261 and the European version of these rights explains what applies on the other side of the Channel.

Book the next trip for less

Delay compensation is a fixed statutory sum. A cheaper ticket is not: it is the variable you can still move, and on UK routes it moves more than most people expect. Shifting a Friday evening departure to Saturday morning, or comparing a regional airport against a London one on the same weekend, often frees up more than a short-haul claim would pay back.

The practical sequence for the next trip is short. Fix the dates you can genuinely use, keep the destination loose, compare the UK airports you can actually reach, and set a price you are willing to pay rather than waiting for a sale that may never arrive. Blame the Fare’s public fare previews show recent checks from 13 UK departure airports without an account.