Flight delay and cancellation compensation: UK261 rights and claims

At the airport, ask the airline for the disruption reason, food or accommodation arrangements, and its refund or rerouting options. Record the original itinerary and every replacement offer before deciding. If you still need to travel, do not select a refund simply to dismiss an app notification: that choice can end the airline's obligation to arrange your onward journey.

Keep a simple claim folder: booking confirmation, operating airline, passenger names, flight number and date, scheduled and actual times, cancellation messages, assistance requests and itemised receipts. Save screenshots while the information is available, but do not post booking references or passport details publicly.

Use our step-by-step flight compensation claim guide when you are ready to submit. The immediate task is to get home or continue the journey safely; you can organise the compensation evidence afterwards.

Check the operating carrier, not just the airline logo or website that sold the ticket. A codeshare can be sold by one airline and flown by another. The CAA's coverage table sets out the route/carrier combinations. For a journey sold as one connecting booking, assess the itinerary as a whole rather than assuming each flight can be treated independently.

You normally need a confirmed reservation and to meet check-in requirements, except where the flight was cancelled. Publicly available discounted fares and frequent-flyer reward tickets can qualify; free travel or staff discounts unavailable to the public can be excluded. Article 3 sets out these conditions and the interaction with assistance or compensation already received in another country.

UK261 and EU261 can overlap, but the same disruption is not an opportunity to recover the same entitlement twice. Other countries have different rules: TravelShifu's flight passenger rights by region* provides wider travel context. Money Guide, TravelShifu and FlightLogic share the operator Elite Digital AI Solutions Ltd; these are related editorial resources, not independent endorsements.

For delay claims, the important measure is arrival at the final destination, not the length of the queue or departure delay. Establish route coverage and cause before using the table. The amount is per eligible passenger, independent of the ticket price. A qualifying child with a ticket can have an entitlement; do not assume every infant travelling free qualifies.

The CAA delay guidance explains the arrival-delay bands. UK261 uses sterling; an EU261 claim uses its own euro amounts. Do not substitute the EU rule for longer intra-EU flights into the UK distance table.

Distance is measured by the great-circle method. Keep the exact recorded arrival time where the result is close to a three- or four-hour boundary, and ask the airline to explain its calculation. Cancellation and rerouting reductions are a separate test below; a headline 'up to £520' is never a guaranteed outcome.

A cancellation is not simply a delay claim with the same three-hour trigger. Note when the airline told you, how early a replacement would leave, and how late it would arrive compared with your original booking. The airline must be able to establish when you were informed. These notice exceptions are set out in Article 5.

If the notice exception does not remove compensation, the cause still matters. Where compensation is due and the airline offers qualifying rerouting, Article 7 permits a 50% reduction when arrival does not exceed the original time by two hours (up to 1,500 km), three hours (over 1,500 to 3,500 km), or four hours (longer flights). That gives £110, £175 or £260 respectively. The shorter-distance cancellation bands can therefore be reduced too.

Worked example: a 1,200 km flight is cancelled two days before departure. The offered replacement leaves two hours early and arrives one hour late. The less-than-seven-days notice exception is not met because departure is too early. If the cause qualifies and the other conditions are met, the short arrival difference can reduce £220 to £110. Ask for a written breakdown if the airline applies a reduction.

For a covered cancellation, the airline must offer the choice of reimbursement, rerouting at the earliest opportunity under comparable conditions, or rerouting at a later convenient date subject to seats. A suitable earlier alternative can sometimes involve another airline or transport mode; discuss it with the carrier before buying a costly replacement yourself and keep evidence of the options and responses.

Article 8 provides reimbursement within seven days for unused travel and, where the journey no longer serves its original purpose, relevant completed travel plus a return to the starting point. A delay of at least five hours also allows you to abandon the journey and seek the applicable refund. Choosing reimbursement is different from continuing to wait for the airline to transport you.

A refund and fixed compensation can both be due if their separate conditions are met. You cannot normally take a refund and also demand the same airline-funded replacement journey. Explain each part of your request separately: ticket reimbursement, reasonable expenses and fixed compensation. You do not have to agree to a voucher as the compensation payment; check restrictions before accepting one.

For covered departure delays, assistance begins at two hours for flights up to 1,500 km, three hours for flights over 1,500 to 3,500 km, and four hours for longer flights. Ask for suitable meals and refreshments, two calls or emails, and necessary accommodation and airport transfers when an overnight wait is required. Covered cancellations also trigger care while you wait for the earliest rerouting.

The right to care is separate from the extraordinary-circumstances defence to compensation. Ask the airline to arrange it first; if it cannot, choose reasonable essentials and keep itemised receipts. There is no universal guaranteed hotel or meal allowance. Alcohol, luxury meals and unnecessarily expensive hotels may not be reimbursed. Record why an available room or transport was necessary.

Choosing a refund or a later flight for your own convenience changes the care position; do not assume an unlimited stay remains payable. Tell staff about reduced mobility, disability, medical needs or unaccompanied children. Article 9 specifically requires attention to passengers with reduced mobility and those accompanying them, and unaccompanied children.

For delay and cancellation compensation, ask the airline to identify the event and explain why it could not avoid the disruption despite reasonable measures. A general message saying 'operational reasons' or 'outside our control' does not, by itself, establish the defence. Weather incompatible with safe flying, some air-traffic restrictions, security incidents and strikes unrelated to the airline can qualify.

Ordinary technical faults are not automatically extraordinary; hidden manufacturing defects or sabotage may be different. Airline staff disputes and disruption involving external airport or air-traffic staff need different analysis. Knock-on delays also depend on the original event, its link to your flight and the steps the airline took. The CAA's extraordinary-circumstances guidance explains why the evidence matters.

Worked example: a covered 900 km flight arrives three hours and 20 minutes late after an ordinary technical problem. If the remaining conditions are met, the usual delay band is £220 per passenger. If unsafe weather instead caused the same delay, fixed compensation may not be due, while reasonable care during the wait can still be owed.

Involuntary denied boarding has its own rules. If you met check-in/boarding conditions but the airline cannot carry you, compensation and refund/rerouting rights can apply. Refusal for a justified health, safety, security or travel-document reason is different. If you volunteer to give up your seat, the benefits are what you agree with the airline; get the arrangement in writing. Do not apply the delay/cancellation extraordinary-circumstances test automatically to overbooking. See CAA denied-boarding guidance.

For a protected connecting booking, final-destination delay matters. With separate self-transfer tickets, the first airline is not automatically responsible under UK261 for getting you onto the missed second booking; the rights for each individual flight still apply. Check any booking guarantee, travel insurance and other contractual remedies. TravelShifu's guide to booking directly with an airline* explains practical disruption-handling trade-offs.

Package holiday flights can qualify, and the organiser can have additional responsibilities under package travel rules. Contact the organiser as well as the operating airline when the whole holiday is affected. Baggage claims and airline insolvency are separate: our travel insurance guide and Section 75 versus chargeback guide explain further routes. Do not claim the same expense twice.

Submit through the operating airline's official claim channel. Give the flight and booking details, actual arrival or cancellation notice, the amount requested and a concise explanation. Attach copies rather than surrendering your only originals. Airlines may use different forms for fixed compensation and expenses; keep both claim references and the date you submitted them.

Our free claim walkthrough includes wording you can adapt. For more route and scenario detail, FlightLogic's UK261 flight delay compensation guide links to its calculator and claim-letter resources. The related-site guide supports preparation; it is not an airline decision or legal guarantee.

If you receive a final rejection or no final response within eight weeks, check the airline's current approved ADR scheme. If it has none, the CAA's Passenger Advice and Complaints Team may assist within its remit. An accepted ADR decision can bind the airline; PACT cannot impose one. The CAA is not an appeal body for an ADR adjudicator's decision. Follow the CAA complaints process.

Act promptly. The CAA's ADR guidance describes the current schemes as free and states a 12-month submission window after the airline's final response, or last written communication where there is no response. It also gives incident-age limits of six years, or five in Scotland. Court time limits, jurisdiction and fees need separate checking; an ongoing complaint should not be assumed to stop a court deadline.

The free starting point is the airline. Direct claiming means you keep all compensation awarded without a claims-company deduction. A paid representative can be useful if you prefer someone else to handle the correspondence, but paying a firm does not change your statutory entitlement or guarantee success. Compare the service agreement, withdrawal terms, authority to act and fees before signing; avoid appointing several firms for the same claim.

AirHelp's published fee list, checked 7 October 2026, states a standard success fee of 35% of compensation, including applicable VAT. A further 15% applies if legal action is necessary, making the combined deduction 50%. Eligibility checking is free and the standard compensation service is no-win, no-fee. Membership and special partner terms can differ; read the terms offered for your claim. Currency conversion or receiving-bank charges can affect the final amount.

Ad · affiliate link: if you want paid help after comparing the free route and fees, check your flight with AirHelp*. Money Guide may receive commission after a qualifying referral. The link is advertising, not a claim that AirHelp is the cheapest or best service for every passenger.