Flight Delay Compensation in the UK

Previously, the UK's flight delay compensation rules were governed by the European Union's EC261 regulations. However, when the UK left the EU in 2020, there was uncertainty about whether these regulations would remain in force.

Post-Brexit Changes

As of January 2021, the UK applies its own version of the EC261 regulation, ensuring that claims for airline delay compensation can still be made against UK carriers. This UK legislation mirrors the European EC261 law, meaning there has been no significant change to passenger rights following Brexit.

Continuity of Passenger Rights

Despite Brexit, the UK's adoption of the EC261 regulation guarantees that passengers retain the same level of protection and rights for flight delay compensation as they had under EU law.

The 2003 Montreal Convention, signed by over 140 nations including the UK, EU, and USA, establishes comprehensive air passenger rights concerning various types of flight disruptions, including delays. This international treaty aims to unify and standardize the rules governing the responsibilities and liabilities of airlines in cases of flight disruptions, ensuring a consistent level of protection for passengers globally.

Key provisions of the Montreal Convention

The Montreal Convention specifically addresses the issue of "damages" resulting from flight disruptions. This term encompasses a wide range of potential financial losses and inconveniences passengers may experience due to delayed flights.

Financial compensation for additional expenses

If your flight is delayed, resulting in extra expenses such as the cost of an additional night in a hotel, meals, or transportation, you are entitled to reimbursement. This ensures that passengers are not financially burdened due to delays that are beyond their control.

If your delayed flight meant you had to pay for an additional night in a hotel, you should be reimbursed for this. You can read more about the Montreal Convention here.

If you are offered an alternative flight and receive an upgrade, the airline cannot charge you extra. Conversely, if the class of the alternative flight is lower, you are entitled to a reimbursement of 30-75% of the original ticket price.

Receiving airline delay compensation does not affect your right to request additional compensation. However, this rule does not apply if you voluntarily surrender your reservation. Any amount received under the “UK 261” regulation may be deducted from additional compensation you receive.

Contrary to some beliefs, the passenger who experienced the delay is entitled to plane delay compensation, not the employer who paid for the ticket. This principle applies regardless of whether the traveler is a private-sector employee or a public official. Knowing your rights ensures you can effectively claim late flight compensation and receive the benefits you're entitled to in the event of a flight delay.

It depends whether or not the airline could have prevented the problem.

If, for example, the airline failed to ensure that there were sufficient supplies of de-icer before the onset of winter, it could be held responsible for the delay – especially if flights operated by other airlines were able to depart on time.

In 2022 the UK Court of Appeal ruled that internal strikes by airline staff are not extraordinary circumstances.

Therefore, airlines must compensate air passengers for flight delays and cancellations, when an airline strike is to blame.

With travellers flying further afield than ever, it’s not unusual for a flight to have one (or more) stops, or connections, on the way.
And if any one of those flights are delayed it can cause you to miss your connection and throw the whole journey into chaos.

Firstly, if you do miss a connection because of a delayed flight, it is the airline’s responsibility to find you a replacement to the final destination on your ticket.

In addition you could be entitled to compensation under UK laws. If the time you arrive at your final destination is over three hours later than your original flight, you could claim up to £520.

It’s important that your flights are booked together and part of the same journey. If you booked your own onward flight separately, that would not be covered.

You can read a lot more information on our missed connection advice page.

With a few clicks of your finger, you can transform your delayed or cancelled flight into a reimbursement claim.

After you have gone through our eligibility checklist and qualify to seek compensation, the good news is you can make a delayed flight claim.

Our free trip delay compensation checker makes it quick and simple to find out if you’re eligible to make a compensation claim.

It means you are able to check your trip delay compensation eligibility instantly.

After you enter your flight details into our free compensation checker, within seconds you are notified if you are eligible or not to make a claim for your delayed, cancelled or overbooked flight.

Yes, if your flight meets some basic criteria you can claim delayed flight compensation under air passenger rights laws in the UK, the EU, and Brazil.

Under UK and EU laws you may be able to claim compensation for delays where you arrived at your destination over 3 hours late. In Brazil we can support compensation claims for delays over 2 hours. It's also important to check why the flight was delayed. Airlines are usually exempt from paying compensation if the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances outside of their control.

Usually no — bad weather is considered to be an extraordinary circumstance. It's something that's not the airline's fault, so they don't have to compensate passengers for the ensuing delays.

In rare cases it is possible to make a case for compensation — if it's clear the airline was not prepared for expected bad weather. For example if it snows in a cold country, airlines should be prepared for that. If all other flights were able to leave on time, while your flight was delayed by 5 hours or more you could have a claim for compensation there.

Under EU law carried over into UK legislation, you can claim compensation for flights delayed by 3 hours or more.

Passengers are legally entitled to up to £520 compensation if they arrive over 3 hours late at their destination and the airline is responsible for the delay.

In other parts of the world the question of how long flight delay for compensation isn’t quite as clear cut. Under Brazilian law, we suggest claiming for compensation if your flight is delayed by 4 hours or more, or if the delay caused you a major inconvenience.

Yes, you can — but things do get a little more complicated once you’re flying further afield.

Firstly you should know that flights leaving the UK (or the EU) for other parts of the world are still covered. Same for flights flying into the UK on a UK airline (or into the EU on an EU airline).

In the rest of the world there are other laws and regulations surrounding air passenger rights, but none as comprehensive as "UK 261" or EC 261. Brazil is close behind, so if you’ve experienced a delay flying into, out of, or within Brazil we could help you claim compensation.

You can receive from £220 to £520 compensation for a delayed flight, under UK regulations.

The amount of compensation is set by a Regulation known as “UK 261” introduced after Brexit to match the EU law EC 261. Both these laws grant passengers compensation based on the distance of your flight, whether you flew outside of the EU, and the length of your delay.

For flight delays in Brazil compensation amounts are not set, but, in previous cases, passengers have received up to £1,500 in compensation. The easiest way to check how much you’re owed is by using our Compensation Check Tool.

To go about getting your delayed flight compensation you can either contact the airline directly to argue your case, or you can use a specialist firm like AirHelp who will handle your claim for you.

You can start with our Compensation Check Tool, which will help you establish if you are owed compensation, as well as telling you how much.

Yes. If your flight was delayed over 3 hours you could legally be owed up to £520 under UK passenger rights laws. AirHelp can handle the whole claim process for you, and we work on a no win, no fee basis — so you have nothing to lose!

It's very hard to predict how long a flight delay claim will take as so many factors can affect it. Sometimes, the process takes a few weeks or months, but if the airline has a lot of other claims that will add on extra time. If claims need to go to court, expect it to be longer than that. But this is why AirHelp exists! We'll handle the entire process from start to finish, including chasing the airline, so you can relax — however long it takes.

You can claim compensation for a delayed flight in the UK exactly the same way you would claim for an EU flight.

Following Brexit, the UK introduced air passenger laws based on the EU regulation EC 261. This means that passengers on all UK flights delayed for more than 3 hours can claim up to £520 compensation.

Want to know if you have a valid claim? Use our quick Compensation Check tool.

You can claim compensation on flight delays over 3 hours. After Brexit, the UK adopted much of EC 261, the EU law on air passenger rights. That means the laws are very similar and affording passengers on UK flights a very similar amount of protection.

It’s important to take note of the time when the plane doors are closed. Then, if the wait feels like it’s getting a bit longer than normal, you can measure how much time you’ve been sitting on the tarmac.

If the wait is too long, there’s something you can do.

Tarmac delays are eligible for compensation just the same way a flight delay is eligible for compensation in Europe. However, if you’re not someone who likes sitting on a busy plane for longer than necessary, it’s a bad situation.

While supplying air conditioning, access to lavatories and water is mandatory, the law doesn’t require giving passengers the option to deplane until the tarmac delay reaches five hours.