Heathrow passenger rights: what UK261 owes you when a flight is delayed or cancelled

UK261 is the framework that sets your rights when a flight is delayed, cancelled, downgraded, or denied boarding. It is the UK version of EU Regulation 261/2004, retained in UK law by the Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The Civil Aviation Authority enforces it.

UK261 applies to any flight departing a UK airport, regardless of which airline operates it. A flight from Heathrow on Emirates, Qatar Airways, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, or any other non-UK carrier is covered for the outbound leg in exactly the same way as a British Airways or Virgin Atlantic flight. It also applies to flights arriving in the UK when the operating carrier is a UK or EU airline. A return to Heathrow on a non-UK and non-EU carrier (Qatar Airways from Doha, American Airlines from JFK) is not covered by UK261, though the older EC261 may still apply on EU-registered carriers landing here from EU airports, and the airline's own terms sometimes provide a partial fallback.

The compensation right does not depend on ticket price. A passenger on a £200 economy fare and a passenger on a £6,000 business fare get the same fixed compensation under UK261 if both flights are delayed past the same threshold. The right to care and the right to a refund work the same way across cabin classes.

Compensation is fixed by distance and, on long-haul, by length of delay. The CAA scale:

• Under 1,500 km: £220 for a delay of three hours or more at arrival
• 1,500 to 3,500 km: £350 for a delay of three hours or more
• Over 3,500 km, three to four hours late: £260
• Over 3,500 km, more than four hours late: £520

Two details catch people out. First, the three-hour threshold is measured at the final destination, not the departure airport. A flight that pushes back from the gate two hours late but lands inside the three-hour arrival window does not qualify. A flight that pushes back on time but lands four hours late does. The clock that counts is the gap between scheduled and actual arrival at the final destination on the booking.

Second, distance is calculated to that same final destination on the booking, not the leg that was delayed. For a Heathrow to Singapore booking that connects through Frankfurt, the distance band is the Heathrow to Singapore great-circle distance (over 3,500 km, long-haul), regardless of which of the two legs was actually delayed. The same logic applies to connecting flights on the same ticket where the delay starts on the short hop.

The right is the same regardless of the operating airline's nationality or where the booking was made. Heathrow departures covers what to do at the airport before and during a disruption; Heathrow arrivals covers the equivalent on the inbound side. For the practical view on how UK261 fits into a booking decision in the first place, see the booking decision page.

If the airline cancels, you have a choice of three remedies on every cancellation, no matter the cause:

• A full refund of the unused parts of the ticket, payable within seven days.
• An alternative flight to the destination at the earliest opportunity, at the airline's expense.
• Re-routing on a later date that suits you, subject to seat availability.

The airline must offer the choice. It cannot impose a refund on a passenger who wants to be re-booked, and it cannot impose a re-booking on a passenger who wants to walk away.

On top of those rights, fixed compensation may apply depending on how much notice you got and how the replacement flight compares to the original. The CAA bands:

• More than 14 days' notice: no fixed compensation. The refund and re-route rights still apply.
• Seven to 14 days' notice: compensation if the replacement flight departs more than two hours before the original AND arrives more than four hours later than the original would have done. Inside those windows, no compensation.
• Less than seven days' notice: compensation if the replacement departs more than one hour before the original AND arrives more than two hours later. Tighter windows because the disruption is more sudden.

The compensation amount, where it applies, follows the same distance bands as a delay (£220, £350, £260, or £520). Where the replacement flight gets you to the destination cleanly inside the relevant window, the airline does not owe compensation even though the original was cancelled.

Cancellations caused by extraordinary circumstances remove the compensation right but never the refund or re-route right. Source: the CAA cancellations page.

The airline must provide care while a delay runs on, and the threshold for care kicks in earlier than the threshold for compensation. The CAA thresholds:

• Two hours on short-haul flights (under 1,500 km)
• Three hours on medium-haul (1,500 to 3,500 km)
• Four hours on long-haul (over 3,500 km)

Care covers food and drink reasonable to the length of the wait, two phone calls or equivalent (email, messaging, the practical translation in 2026 is access to charge a phone and make contact), and a hotel room with transport between the airport and the hotel if the delay runs overnight. A delay that crosses the four-hour mark on long-haul does not yet trigger compensation, but it does trigger care.

If the airline arranges care directly (vouchers handed out at the gate, a hotel booked through its desk), take it. If the airline does not arrange care and you have to buy your own food, drink, or hotel room, keep every receipt. The airline must reimburse reasonable costs after the fact; the receipts are how you evidence them. Reasonable means a hotel near the airport at a normal rate, not a suite in a London five-star, and a sandwich or a meal, not a tasting menu.

The right to care also applies during cancellations while you wait for the replacement flight, and during long delays caused by extraordinary circumstances. The compensation right is removed by extraordinary circumstances; the care right is not.

If the airline downgrades you (booked business, sat in economy; booked first, sat in business; booked premium economy, sat in standard economy), it must refund part of the price you paid for the downgraded leg. The CAA percentages:

• 30% of the leg's price on flights under 1,500 km
• 50% on flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km
• 75% on flights over 3,500 km

The base is the price paid for the affected leg, not the whole booking. On a Heathrow to New York return where the outbound is downgraded but the inbound flies as booked, the refund is 75% of the outbound leg's fare, not 75% of the round trip. Where the fare is a single combined figure with no leg breakdown, the airline calculates the per-leg value pro-rata by distance.

The airline must pay within seven days of the downgrade. The refund goes back to the original payment method. A voucher or a future-credit offer does not satisfy the obligation unless the passenger agrees to it specifically.

If a delay reaches five hours, you have the right to walk away. At that point you can refuse the flight altogether and claim back the unused parts of the ticket, including the return on a round trip where the outbound has not yet flown. This right sits on top of any compensation owed. Compensation rules apply to passengers who travel; the five-hour refund applies to passengers who decide not to.

The right is most useful when the delay turns a same-day trip into a wasted day, or when missing the original arrival window removes the reason for the trip altogether (a meeting that cannot reschedule, a connection on a separate ticket that will not be held).

Airlines refuse compensation claims more often on extraordinary circumstances grounds than for any other reason. Some of those refusals are honest; some are wrong. The CAA's framing: extraordinary circumstances are causes outside the airline's control that could not reasonably have been anticipated, even with all reasonable measures taken.

Causes that the CAA and the courts have accepted as extraordinary:

• Severe weather that grounds the aircraft (freak storms, snowfall that closes the airport, hurricane-force wind, ash clouds).
• Air traffic control strikes, including industrial action by air traffic controllers in a country the flight overflies.
• Strikes by airport staff, ground handlers, border force, or other parties unrelated to the airline itself.
• Security incidents, bomb threats, or police closures of the airport.
• Lightning strikes on the aircraft, confirmed by case law as extraordinary even though the aircraft has to land for inspection.
• Hidden manufacturing defects discovered late, in the narrow form set by the Court of Justice (not routine wear).

Causes that the courts and the CAA do not accept, even though airlines often refuse with this label:

• Routine technical faults the airline should have caught in maintenance.
• Early failure of an aircraft component, except for the narrow manufacturing-defect category above.
• Airline staff sickness or crew shortages within the airline's own roster.
• Knock-on delays from earlier flights operated by the same airline. The reasoning: rotational delays are part of running a network and the airline carries that risk.
• A strike by the airline's own staff. Wildcat action by the airline's own pilots or cabin crew is not extraordinary; an unrelated third-party strike usually is.
• Weather that was forecast well in advance and that other airlines flew through. The bar is genuine severity, not routine wind or rain.

If a refusal cites extraordinary circumstances and the cause was clearly within the airline's control (a maintenance fault on an aircraft the airline has owned for years, the airline's own crew not turning up), the refusal is challengeable. The CAA's "Am I entitled to compensation" guidance is the public reference. The text of the underlying law sits at the 2019 UK statutory instrument that retained EU Regulation 261/2004 in UK law.

The first stop is the airline. The CAA does not handle first-instance claims; only the airline can pay you. Every major carrier has an online claim form, usually inside the customer relations section of its website. What to include in the claim:

• The booking reference and the flight number.
• The scheduled and actual departure and arrival times.
• The reason the airline gave for the disruption, if any.
• The basis you are claiming on (delay over three hours, cancellation under 14 days' notice, downgrade, denied boarding).
• Bank details for the payment.
• Copies of the boarding pass or e-ticket, and receipts for any care costs you are claiming back.

Submit the claim in writing rather than at the desk during the disruption. Airlines pay out faster on a written, evidenced claim than on a verbal request in the middle of an operational meltdown.

The airline has eight weeks to respond. If it rejects the claim or fails to respond within that window, you can escalate. Two routes:

• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Two CAA-approved ADR providers cover UK airlines: AviationADR (run by CDRL) and the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). Decisions are binding on the airline and free for the consumer. Check which one (if either) your airline has signed up to; most major UK and EU airlines operating from Heathrow have signed up to one or the other.
• The CAA's Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT). If the airline has not signed up to an ADR provider, PACT takes the case. PACT cannot bind the airline the way ADR can, but its view often unblocks a claim, and a PACT case strengthens any later court action.

The small claims court is the final option if both the airline and the ADR or PACT route fail. Court claims under UK261 fall under the standard contract limitation period: six years from the flight date in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland; five years in Scotland. Claim-management companies that take a percentage of the payout are rarely worth using; the airline route and the ADR escalation are both free, and most claims that pay out do so without external help.

If the disruption was on a flight booked as part of a package holiday, the Package Travel Regulations add a second layer of protection on top of UK261. The tour operator is liable for the trip as a whole, not just the airline for the flight. For an introduction to the booking side, the booking decision page covers the framework; the misdirected-enquiry routes on the contact page direct claims that arrive at the site to the right place.

Rail disruption that makes you miss the flight is a different regime. UK261 covers the flight itself, not the journey to the airport, so the airline is not liable when the train is late. The three Heathrow rail services run their own delay schemes covering the rail fare only:

• Heathrow Express: its own Delay Compensation Scheme, separate from the national Delay Repay. 50% of the fare back at 16 to 29 minutes late, 100% at 30 minutes or more. 15 minutes or less is not covered. Claim through heathrowexpress.com within 28 days.
• Elizabeth Line: TfL's service delay refund. Threshold 30 minutes. Claim within 28 days through the contactless and Oyster account or by phoning 0343 222 1234 for paper tickets.
• Piccadilly Line: TfL's tighter 15-minute threshold, in line with the rest of the London Underground. Same 28-day claim window.

None of these schemes pay for the missed flight, only for the rail fare. The airline's own goodwill response varies; most carriers will rebook a missed-flight passenger onto the next available service at a discounted change fee, but they are not obliged to. Travel insurance with missed-departure cover is the cleaner fallback when the policy was in place before the trip started. The wider train disruption compensation page has the per-operator detail and the cross-mode comparison.