UK261 compensation
UK261 gives passengers £220, £350 or £520 when a flight arrives three or more hours late, is cancelled at short notice, or boarding is denied. It is EU261 kept in UK law after Brexit, with the amounts redenominated into sterling.
Check your own flight against UK261 →Who it covers
- Any flight departing from a UK airport, whoever operates it.
- Any flight arriving in the UK operated by a UK or EU carrier.
- A flight from the EU to the UK on an EU carrier can fall under both UK261 and EU261. You claim once, under whichever pays more — the calculator works out which.
What it pays
| Distance or situation | Per passenger |
|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | £220 |
| 1,500–3,500 km, and any UK domestic flight over 1,500 km | £350 |
| Over 3,500 km between the UK and elsewhere | £520 |
What triggers it
Delay
Arrival three hours or more late at the final destination.
Cancellation
Due unless you were given at least fourteen days' notice or re-routed inside the permitted windows.
Denied boarding
Refused a seat against your will despite a confirmed booking and timely check-in.
Duty of care — separate from compensation
From two hours, the airline owes meals and refreshments, communications, and a hotel with transport where an overnight stay becomes necessary — regardless of the cause, and with no time limit.
When the airline may pay half
The airline may pay half where it re-routed you and you arrived within two, three or four hours of the original arrival time, depending on the distance band.
The refusals airlines send, and what answers them
“Extraordinary circumstances”
UK courts still follow the Court of Justice case law decided before the end of 2020, so Wallentin-Hermann and Sturgeon continue to bind. A routine technical fault is not extraordinary here either.
Silence
Escalate to the Civil Aviation Authority, or to the airline's approved ADR body if it belongs to one — AviationADR and CEDR both handle UK261 disputes and their decisions bind the airline that signed up to them.
A voucher instead of money
The same rule as EU261: vouchers only with your written agreement. You can decline.
Enforcement
The Civil Aviation Authority enforces UK261. Many airlines also belong to an approved alternative dispute resolution scheme, which is usually faster than court and costs the passenger nothing.
How long you have
Six years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Five years in Scotland.
Primary sources
Read the law itself rather than anyone's summary of it, this one included. Every link below was checked on 12 September 2026.
- The Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 — legislation.gov.uk
- Sturgeon and others, C-402/07 — the arrival-delay ruling UK courts still follow
The other statutes
- EU261 compensation — EU261
- Israeli Aviation Services Law — the Aviation Services Law
- US flight delay rules — US DOT rules
- Canada APPR compensation — the APPR