Flight delay compensation: how UK261 works and how to claim

If your flight arrives three or more hours late, is cancelled at short notice, or you are bumped, you may be owed a fixed sum per passenger regardless of the ticket price. The rules are known as UK261. This guide explains which flights are covered, how much you get, what airlines can legitimately refuse, and how to claim without giving a cut to a claims firm.

Which flights are covered

UK261 applies to:

• Any flight departing from a UK airport, on any airline.
• Any flight arriving at a UK airport on a UK or EU airline.

A flight from New York to London on a US carrier is not covered; the same route on a UK airline is. The EU has near-identical rules for flights from EU airports, so most European trips are protected both ways.

How much

Distance is measured as the crow flies between departure and final destination, including connections on one booking. The delay is measured when the aircraft door opens at the final destination, not on take-off.

Cancellations: if the airline told you less than 14 days before departure, the same amounts apply unless the replacement flight it offered got you there within a few hours of the original time. You can also choose a full refund instead of rerouting.

Children pay the same fare and get the same compensation. Infants on a free ticket do not.

Extraordinary circumstances

The airline does not have to pay if the delay was caused by something outside its control that could not have been avoided with reasonable measures. Accepted examples include severe weather, air traffic control restrictions, airport closures, security alerts and strikes by airport or air traffic staff.

Not accepted, after a series of court rulings:

• Technical faults with the aircraft. These are treated as part of running an airline.
• Strikes by the airline's own staff.
• Crew running out of legal hours because of an earlier delay the airline caused.
• Bad weather on an earlier rotation of the aircraft, in most cases.

Ask the airline for the specific reason in writing. "Operational reasons" is not a reason.

Care and assistance

Separately from compensation, and regardless of cause, the airline must provide meals, refreshments and, if needed, a hotel and transfers once a delay passes two hours on short flights, three on medium and four on long. If it does not, keep receipts for reasonable spending and claim them back.

How to claim

1. Keep boarding passes, booking confirmation and any messages from the airline.
2. Note the actual arrival time. Flight tracking sites hold historic data if you did not.
3. Use the airline's own compensation form. Every UK and EU airline has one. State the flight number, date, delay length and the amount you are claiming.
4. Give them 8 weeks.
5. If refused or ignored, check which alternative dispute resolution scheme the airline belongs to and lodge a complaint there. It is free or costs a small fee refunded if you win.
6. If the airline is not in a scheme, the Civil Aviation Authority's complaints service can review it, though its findings are not binding.
7. The final route is the small claims court. You have six years in England and Wales, five in Scotland.

Watch out for

• Claims firms taking a quarter or more of the payout for filling in a form you can fill in yourself.
• Vouchers. Airlines may offer vouchers worth more than the cash. You are entitled to cash and can insist.
• Package holidays. You still claim from the airline, not the tour operator, for delay compensation.
• Missed connections on separate bookings. Only a single booking counts as one journey.
• Weather on a sunny day. Check whether other airlines flew the same route on time.

Information only, not personal advice.