TUI Airways delay and cancellation compensation

Checked 15 Sep 2026·10 min read · 4 tables

£220 to £520 per passenger under UK261, or €250 to €600 under EU261: that is TUI flight delay compensation once your flight arrives 3 hours or more late at its final destination, unless the operating airline proves extraordinary circumstances. On flights into the UK or the EU, the TUI company that flew you decides the law.

• UK261 ££220–£520per passenger, 3 h or more late at arrival
• EU261 €€250–€600per passenger, 3 h or more late at arrival
• Claim serviceNo win, no feeHand the claim over →

Key facts: TUI Airways

Source: UK261 arts. 3(9) and 7 — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 7 — eur-lex.europa.eu; CAA licence and ADR pages — caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

#UK261 £How much does TUI Airways pay under UK261 for a delay of 3 hours or more?

£220, £350 or £520 per passenger is what TUI Airways owes under UK261 when your flight reaches its final destination 3 hours or more late. The band follows the great-circle distance, not the price of your holiday. Flights under EU261 pay €250, €400 or €600 instead.

Source: UK261 arts. 2(n), 6(3)-(4), 7(1)-(2) — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 7(1)-(2) — eur-lex.europa.eu; CAA, Delays — caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

Distance picks your row. Over 3,500 km, the CAA gives £260 for arriving between three and four hours late and £520 for more than four, without settling exactly 4 hours 0 minutes. Article 7(2) says “may”, so the cut is the airline’s option. EU261’s option is €300, never between two EU airports.

UK261 counts arrival when passengers are permitted to leave the aircraft. 2 hours 59 minutes late earns nothing; from 3 hours 0 minutes, compensation is due.

Care runs on the departure delay instead. Meals and two calls or emails start at 2 hours on routes up to 1,500 km, at 3 hours on 1,500-3,500 km routes and at 4 hours beyond. A new departure the next day adds a hotel and transfers, and from 5 hours you may give up the flight for a refund under articles 6(1), 8 and 9.

Note when the doors opened, then check your band in the compensation calculator or the UK261 delay guide.

#Which TUI Airways company operated your flight, and which law covers it?

5 TUI companies appear on official airline licence lists, 1 in the UK and 4 in the EU. On flights into the UK or the EU, the company that operated your flight decides the law. Departures from UK or EU airports are covered whatever the company.

Which rules apply to your TUI Airways flight

Source: UK261 art. 3(1)(a)-(b) — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 3(1)(a)-(b) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

Where a row gives both regimes, the arrival regime falls away if you already received benefits or compensation and assistance in the country you left. Take a flight from a UK airport into the EU, operated by a TUI EU company. If you received compensation and assistance in the UK, EU261 no longer applies when you land.

TUI companies and their licence status

Source: CAA licence holders — caa.co.uk; EC licence list (ACOL data 19/05/2026) — transport.ec.europa.eu; LBA list (10 Aug 2026) — lba.de, checked 2026-09-15.

The licence lists do not map TUI routes to companies: check the operating carrier on your booking.

A package holiday leaves the flight claim with the airline. EU261 article 3(5) makes the operating air carrier the one that owes, and TUI’s claim-form page carried this line in Google UK results on 14 September 2026: “Any compensation due will be payable by the airline you were scheduled to fly with.” The Package Travel Regulations sit outside UK261 and this card; the organiser’s side is covered in package holiday cancellations and delays.

Not your situation? Canada: Air Passenger Protection Regulations; baggage: Montreal Convention. Flying in the US? US federal rules differ: US DOT rules. Unsure? Which law covers my flight.

#How do you claim compensation from TUI Airways directly?

2 TUI pages in Google UK results on 14 September 2026 cover delay claims: the TUI Flight delay claim form and a claim FAQ. Give each passenger’s name, the flight number, the date and the time you left the aircraft, then state the regime and the amount yourself.

Source: Google UK results, 14 September 2026; UK261 arts. 7 and 9 — legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

Write the figure in, for example “UK261, article 7(1), £350 per passenger” on a 1,500-3,500 km route, and attach meal and hotel receipts. Save the submission with its date: 8 weeks without a reply opens AviationADR on a flight involving a UK airport.

A cancellation with 14 days' notice or more earns no compensation, though a TUI refund within 7 days or re-routing stays your choice. Between 14 and 7 days' notice, compensation falls away only if the replacement leaves no more than 2 hours early and lands less than 4 hours late. Inside 7 days, the window shrinks to 1 hour early and 2 hours late. The airline must prove when it told you.

Re-routing after a cancellation brings a second, separate cut. Under UK261 article 7(2), the airline may halve the amount if your new arrival “does not exceed” the original scheduled arrival by 2 hours up to 1,500 km, 3 hours on 1,500-3,500 km routes or 4 hours beyond, so the cut still applies at exactly 2, 3 or 4 hours. The CAA’s cancellation table pays £220, £350 or £520 from those marks and £110, £175 or £260 only below them. Log the re-routed arrival to the minute.

#Where are TUI Airways' claim pages?

Google UK results on 14 September 2026 listed the Flight delay claim form and the claim FAQ, both on tui.co.uk. Open both again on the day you file.

#Which TUI Airways refusal reasons hold up?

3 hours 12 minutes late out of Gatwick, and the refusal a passenger pasted to MoneySavingExpert in September 2024 named “several reasons” while listing one: ATC restrictions. Article 6(4) of UK261 drops the payment only where an extraordinary cause is proved and could not have been avoided.

Source: UK261 arts. 2(o), 5(3) and 6(4) — legislation.gov.uk; judgments — caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

TUI Airways has to put in writing which cause delayed your flight and what it did to avoid that cause: the burden is the airline’s, not yours. A valid refusal removes the fixed compensation only, while meals, a hotel, re-routing and a refund stay owed.

In Jet2.com Ltd v Huzar [2014] EWCA Civ 791, the Court of Appeal held that an unforeseeable technical fault is inherent in normal airline activity, so not extraordinary. In Lipton and another v BA Cityflyer Ltd [2024] UKSC 24, the UK Supreme Court held unanimously that a captain’s illness was not extraordinary either, whatever the timing or cause. Both decisions bind lower courts in England and Wales.

The Gatwick letter, quoted on the MoneySavingExpert forum, told the passenger only that “our delay handling logs show that your flight was delayed”; a reply gives the reason it stated, “several reasons namely disruption caused by ATC restrictions”.

An air traffic management decision can meet the test of UK261, but the letter has to say which decision, on which day, and how long it held the aircraft.

#If TUI Airways rejects your claim

Ask in writing for every cause, the minutes each one added and the measures taken, then check the reply against the extraordinary circumstances guide and the refused-claim steps.

#How does AviationADR handle a TUI Airways complaint?

8 weeks without a reply to your written complaint, or a final refusal, lets you take TUI Airways to AviationADR, whose members on the CAA list include “TUI Airways”. File within 12 months of the airline’s final response or last written communication; the scheme is free, and a decision you accept binds the airline.

Source: CAA ADR page (no update date shown) — caa.co.uk; AviationADR members page — aviationadr.org.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

Neither list names a legal company, so whether the listing reaches TUI’s EU companies is not stated. AviationADR takes member-airline complaints when the flight involves a UK airport, so a complaint about a TUI Airways flight departing a UK airport can go there after 8 weeks or a refusal. The CAA adds that ADR covers incidents from the last 6 years, or 5 if you live in Scotland.

An EU261 complaint follows the airport, not the TUI company’s licence. It can go to the national enforcement body of the EU country the flight left or, for a flight into the EU from outside it, the country where it landed. The Commission list, updated 27 August 2026, names the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt for Germany, the Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport for the Netherlands, SPF Mobilité & Transport for Belgium and Konsumentverket for Sweden. EU261 sets no deadline of its own; each country’s limitation law decides.

Mark the 8-week date, then compare the ADR scheme guide and the ADR map.

AirHelp (third-party claim service) works no win no fee and keeps a fee from any payout; TUI’s claim form and AviationADR stay free.

Do it yourself · freeClaim with the airline, then ADR

• Write to the airline and keep the reference
• Refused, or no answer in 8 weeks: its ADR scheme or the CAA, free
• You keep all of the compensation

Use the claim letter template →

Hand it overAirHelp takes the claim, no win no fee

• They deal with TUI Airways for you
• AirHelp's fee is 35% of the compensation, VAT included, and nothing if the claim fails.

Start with AirHelp →Third-party claim service

#How long do you have to claim against TUI Airways?

6 years from the flight date is the UK261 court deadline against TUI Airways in England and Wales, through article 3(9) and section 9 of the Limitation Act 1980. Northern Ireland’s statute also allows 6 years. For Scotland, the deadline is unresolved.

Source: UK261 art. 3(9); Limitation Act 1980 s.9; Limitation (NI) Order 1989 art. 4; Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 s.6 — legislation.gov.uk; BGB §§195, 199(1) — gesetze-im-internet.de; BW Boek 8 art. 8:1835 — wetten.overheid.nl, checked 2026-09-15/18.

In Dawson v Thomson Airways Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 845, the Court of Appeal held that the Montreal Convention’s 2-year time bar does not apply to delay compensation; since 14 December 2023 article 3(9) has written the six-year rule into UK261.

In Scotland, the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 sets 5 years. No Scottish court has yet decided whether that rule or article 3(9) governs a UK261 claim. Suing there? File inside 5 years.

Which clock runs follows the same rule as the complaint — the airport you left. A claim over a German departure runs 3 years under §195 of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, counted by §199(1) from the end of the year it arose rather than from the flight. A Dutch departure runs 2, under article 8:1835 of Book 8 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek, from the day after arrival. Neither moves with the TUI company’s licence.

A family of 4 arriving 3 hours 10 minutes late on a 1,500-3,500 km route can claim £1,400 under UK261. In England and Wales that is a small claims track case with an £80 issue fee (CPR r.26.9; gov.uk court fees); further fees may apply later.

Compare TUI flight delay compensation with Jet2, easyJet and Condor; payout times: data page.

General information, not legal advice. For your specific case, contact the CAA or Citizens Advice.

TUI Airways complaints in the CAA figures

3,016 Reg 261 complaints about TUI Airways reached AviationADR in the CAA's 2025/26 figures (April 2025 to March 2026), an estimated 259 per million passengers, and 22.5% of cases were upheld. These are complaints the ADR body or the CAA received, not delays.

TUI Airways: complaints, April 2025 to March 2026

CAA figure	FY26
Handled by	AviationADR
Reg 261 complaints	3,016
All complaints opened	3,104
Per million passengers (CAA estimate)	259
Uphold rate	22.5%

1. Wizz Air629
2. Air France / KLM419
3. Ryanair283
4. EgyptAir273
5. TUI Airways259
6. Turkish Airlines197
7. TAP Air Portugal169
8. easyJet154
9. Air Canada129
10. Virgin Atlantic112

Source: CAA, Passenger Complaints Data FY26 (Q2 2025 – Q1 2026), data correct as of 3 June 2026 — caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-22. The CAA calls the per-million figure "an indicative estimated value only".

#Sources

• UK261, Limitation Act 1980 s.9, Limitation (NI) Order 1989 art. 4, Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 s.6
• EU261
• CAA - licences, delays, cancellations, ADR
• AviationADR members
• European Commission - licences, NEB list
• LBA licence list
• Court fees, gov.uk, CPR Part 26
• Judgments: Huzar v Jet2, Lipton v BA Cityflyer, Dawson v Thomson Airways

#FAQ

How long does your flight have to be delayed for compensation in TUI?

3 hours or more at your final destination is the line under both UK261 and EU261; under UK261, arrival is when passengers are permitted to leave the aircraft. The operating TUI company then owes £220, £350 or £520 under UK261, or €250, €400 or €600 under EU261, unless it proves extraordinary circumstances.

How much compensation can you get from TUI?

£220 up to 1,500 km, £350 for 1,500-3,500 km and £520 beyond is the UK261 scale per passenger; EU261 pays €250, €400 or €600. Over 3,500 km, the CAA gives £260 for arriving between three and four hours late, a cut that article 7(2) leaves as the airline's option.

How do I claim compensation from TUI Airways?

8 weeks without a reply to your written claim, or a refusal, opens AviationADR, free, on a flight involving a UK airport. Send that claim first, for example through TUI's Flight delay claim form, listed in Google UK results on 14 September 2026, with each passenger's name, the flight number, the date and the time you left the aircraft.

Is TUI Airways a member of an ADR scheme?

1 ADR scheme lists TUI Airways: the CAA list, checked on 15 September 2026, names the TUI Airways brand as an AviationADR member without naming a legal company. After a refusal, or 8 weeks of silence, file free within 12 months of the final response or last written communication. A decision you accept binds the airline.

How long do I have to claim against TUI Airways?

6 years from the flight date applies to a UK261 claim in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland's 1973 Act sets 5, untested. Leave from an EU airport and that country decides: 3 years in Germany, counted from the end of the year the claim arose, 2 in the Netherlands.