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UK261 rules (flights departing the UK, or arriving into the UK on UK/EU carriers): compensation applies from 3 hours' delay AT ARRIVAL, when the cause is within the airline's control. "Extraordinary circumstances" (severe weather, ATC restrictions, strikes outside the airline) pay nothing: technical faults and crew shortages usually DO pay. Claims go free direct to the airline: no claims firm needed.
What The Flight Compensation Calculator Works Out
- Compensation per passenger: UK261 pays fixed sums that owe nothing to the ticket price: GBP 220 for flights under 1,500 km, GBP 350 for 1,500 to 3,500 km (most of holiday Europe) and GBP 520 for long haul, halved to GBP 260 when a long-haul arrival is 3 to 4 hours late. The trigger is 3 hours' delay measured at arrival, doors open, not departure, so a GBP 30 budget fare can legally yield a GBP 350 claim.
- Conditions: payable when the cause was within the airline's control. Routine technical faults, crew shortages and the airline's own staff disputes generally count; severe weather, air traffic control restrictions, security alerts and strikes external to the airline genuinely pay nothing. The airline's first "extraordinary circumstances" email is an opening position, not a verdict.
- Plus, regardless: the duty of care applies whatever the cause: meals and drinks, two communications and a hotel if stranded overnight, from 2 hours' delay on short flights, 3 on medium and 4 on long haul.
- What happened (advanced): cancellations with under 14 days' notice and denied boarding from overselling route into the same tariff whatever the delay, but the sum is halved if the airline reroutes you to arrive under 2, 3 or 4 hours late (by band). Cancellations notified 7 to 14 days out pay nothing if the replacement departs no more than 2 hours early and arrives under 4 hours late (1 and 2 hours with less than 7 days' notice).
- Rules that apply (advanced): UK261 covers flights departing the UK, and flights arriving in the UK on UK or EU airlines; EU261 covers flights departing the EU on any airline, paying EUR 250, EUR 400 and EUR 600. A flight from Spain to the UK on a non-UK, non-EU airline is covered by EU261 only.
- Total for the booking (advanced): compensation is per passenger, not per booking, so a family of four in the medium band is owed GBP 1,400.
- Expenses to reclaim (advanced): your receipts for meals, hotel and transport, claimable on top of the fixed sum and even when the cash compensation is refused for extraordinary circumstances.
- Lost to a claims firm (advanced): what a typical 25% to 40% cut would take. The claim is free: use the airline's own form, cite UK261 with the flight number and delay, and escalate to the ADR scheme or the CAA when rebuffed. Claims can be made up to 6 years back (5 in Scotland), so old boarding passes keep their value.
- Band table (advanced): the full sum, your case and the booking total for every distance band, with the hours after which the duty of care starts. Flight-tracking sites preserve the delay evidence when memories blur.
Official guidance: Civil Aviation Authority.