Reimbursement and Compensation: Southwest Airlines

Any Southwest Airlines flight departing from a UK airport must conform to the law which protects air passengers in the event of flight delays. A similar law applies across Europe.

This law, known as EC 261 in the EU, and often referred to as UK 261 in the UK, says that airlines must provide passengers with food, drink, and access to communication when they're delayed. They must also offer accommodation and replacement flights if necessary.

But more than that, if Southwest Airlines is responsible for the flight delay, the law says that they must compensate passengers when the flight is delayed by 3 hours or more. All the details are included in our guide to flight delay compensation.

So if you arrive at your destination over 3 hours late, it's always worth checking if you're owed Southwest Airlines flight delay compensation. Don’t miss out on up to £520 per person.

We make claiming compensation for Southwest Airlines flight delays as easy as possible. Our compensation check tool, together with our air passenger rights experts, will confirm your delay time, and make sure there are no extraordinary circumstances which impact your eligibility. You can usually claim for flights from as far back as 3 years ago.

In the UK, passenger rights protect all passengers in the event of flight cancellations, especially last-minute flight cancellations. The same goes for flights in Europe.

If there's any Southwest Airlines flight cancellation less than 14 days before the flight was due to depart from a UK or EU airport, passengers may be eligible for Southwest Airlines flight cancellation compensation, up to £520 per person.

That's unless there were some kind of extraordinary circumstances which gave Southwest Airlines no choice but to cancel the flight. The law accepts that airlines should only pay compensation when they are at fault — but they must still ensure passengers reach their final destination or get a full refund for the flight.

Airlines like Southwest Airlines also don't need to pay compensation if they're able to offer an alternative flight that arrives at a very similar time to the original one. The specific time limits are included in our flight cancellation compensation guide.

Even though Southwest Airlines is neither a UK nor EU airline, they still must comply with the laws of the countries operate in. In this case, that means passengers flying out of an EU airport with Southwest Airlines are protected by regulation EC 261, and passengers flying out of a UK airport are covered by the equivalent: "UK 261".

This gives passengers the right to claim flight delay compensation, Southwest Airlines cancellation compensation, or overbooking compensation if Southwest Airlines is responsible for the issue.

Unfortunately, the same protections don't apply for flights going the other way. Southwest Airlines passengers who land in the UK or EU are not covered by these laws if the departure airport is elsewhere. For these flights, you'll need to check what other air passenger rights apply.

Which Southwest Airlines Flights are Covered by UK passenger rights?

As you might expect with any law, there are exceptions and special circumstances that can affect how much compensation is owed in every individual case. AirHelp makes it simple to check what you’re owed with our free compensation calculator.