UK261 £Gatwick: flight delay and cancellation rights

Checked 15 Sep 2026·7 min read

£220 to £520 per passenger is due under UK261 when you are denied boarding against your will, or when your flight from Gatwick reaches its final destination three hours or more late or is cancelled outside the article 5(1)(c) notice windows, unless unavoidable extraordinary circumstances caused it. The operating airline pays, not Gatwick Airport.

• UK261 ££220–£520per passenger, 3 h or more late at arrival

#UK261 £Which rules cover delayed flights departing Gatwick?

Article 3(1)(a) of UK261 covers passengers departing from an airport in the United Kingdom, so a flight leaving Gatwick is in scope whichever airline operates it. Under article 3(5), the operating air carrier owes the compensation, never Gatwick Airport itself.

A multi-leg journey booked as a single unit counts as departing from its first leg’s airport (article 3(1A)): changing planes at Gatwick does not make it a Gatwick departure.

The same test is what sends some Gatwick passengers elsewhere. Open the trip at an EU airport and it is EU261's from the outset, priced in euros rather than pounds. Open it in the US and the federal position is that a domestic delay carries no compensation requirement, while a Canadian departure or arrival brings in the Air Passenger Protection Regulations and their own tiered scale. An itinerary that straddles two is what the regime finder exists for. For the Gatwick departures that stay inside UK261, the distance bands fix the figure and an airline that turns you down has a documented escalation path. Gatwick’s punctuality against Luton and the other UK airports is on the index.

Source: UK261 art. 3(1)(a) and 3(1A) (inserted by SI 2023/1370) — legislation.gov.uk; Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 art. 3(5) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

#How much compensation is due for a delayed flight from Gatwick?

£220 up to 1,500 km, £350 between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and £520 beyond: article 7(1) fixes these UK261 amounts in pounds for a Gatwick flight reaching its final destination three hours or more late. Unavoidable extraordinary circumstances remove that payment, never the duty of care.

Arrival is when passengers are permitted to exit the aircraft (article 2(n)). Touch down 2 hours 52 minutes late and wait 10 minutes for the doors: your 3 hours 2 minutes qualifies, while doors opening 2 hours 59 minutes late earn nothing. Over 3,500 km, the CAA puts delay compensation at £260 for arriving between three and four hours late and £520 for more than four; article 7(2) makes that 50% cut the airline’s option (“may”).

UK261 never prices a Gatwick departure in euros. Where a claim site shows €250 to €600 “under EU legislation” for a UK airport, it is quoting the EU text, which reaches a Gatwick flight only through the Community-carrier overlap below. The UK version of article 7(1), substituted by SI 2019/278, has paid in pounds since 31 December 2020, and no conversion rate links the two scales.

Two weeks' notice or more of a cancellation rules out compensation. From two weeks to seven days, nothing is owed only if the replacement leaves no more than 2 hours before and arrives less than 4 hours after your original times; inside seven days, no more than 1 hour before and less than 2 hours after. The airline must prove when it told you, so keep its message (Flight delay compensation uk).

Source: UK261 art. 2(n), 5(1)(c), 5(3)-(4), 6(3)-(4), 7(1) (SI 2019/278) and 7(2) — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 7(1) — eur-lex.europa.eu; CAA, Delays — caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

#How punctual were flights at Gatwick in 2025?

259,345 flights at Gatwick were matched in the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s punctuality statistics for calendar year 2025. Of those, 61.0% operated between 15 minutes early and 15 minutes late, the CAA’s two “on time” bands added together, and the average delay was 16.8 minutes.

Set against Heathrow, Manchester, Stansted, Birmingham and Edinburgh in the same CAA file, Gatwick’s combined on-time share was the second lowest of the six, above only Manchester’s; Heathrow’s was the highest.

None of these figures decides whether Gatwick delays earn you compensation. Punctuality statistics are not compensation eligibility, and a CAA delay band is not a legal threshold. UK261 measures the delay of your own flight at your final destination, from the moment passengers may leave the aircraft, not an airport-wide average. Note when your doors opened and claim on that.

Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority, 2025 Annual Punctuality Statistics Summary Analysis (airport total, calendar year 2025) — caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

#Where do you complain about an airline after a disrupted Gatwick flight?

8 weeks without a reply to your written complaint lets you take a UK261 dispute to ADR. The CAA approves 2 providers, AviationADR and CEDR. Both are free. Where your case goes depends on the airline that operated your flight.

The last row above is the one to watch, because PACT is not an adjudicator. The CAA says it “will advise on whether we think you have a valid complaint” and may take it up with the airline, but it cannot impose a solution — so a passenger on a carrier outside all three lists has no free binding route at all, and the court is what is left to order payment.

PACT will only consider a complaint where the airline belongs to no approved ADR body and either gave no reply within 8 weeks or an unsatisfactory one. It also refuses any case with less than a year left to take legal action, which shuts its own door a year before the limitation period shuts yours.

In England and Wales that period is 6 years (Limitation Act 1980 section 9, applied by article 3(9)), the same at London City as here; Scotland and Northern Ireland run differently, and the time limits page sets both out. Send your written complaint today and keep a copy.

Source: CAA ADR and How the CAA can help pages (airline lists) — caa.co.uk; UK261 art. 3(9), Limitation Act 1980 s.9 — legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

#Do the rules change for flights arriving at Gatwick?

Article 3(1)(b)(i) of UK261 covers passengers flying into Gatwick from a country other than the UK only “if the operating air carrier of the flight concerned is a Community carrier or a UK air carrier”. A flight from another UK airport counts as a departure, on any airline.

Flights into Gatwick: cover by operating airline

UK261’s arrival cover falls away if you already received benefits or compensation, and assistance, in the country you flew from.

A flight from an EU airport into Gatwick is also an EU261 departure under article 3(1)(a), in euros, on any airline. A flight from Gatwick into the EU is covered under article 3(1)(b) only if a Community carrier such as Lufthansa operated it, unless you received benefits or compensation and assistance in the UK. Check the operating carrier on your booking against the CAA licence list.

Source: UK261 art. 2(c), 2(m) and 3(1)(b) — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 3(1) — eur-lex.europa.eu; licence lists: caa.co.uk, transport.ec.europa.eu, easa.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

General information, not legal advice. For your case: the CAA, Citizens Advice or a solicitor.

#Sources

• Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it forms part of UK law, arts. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• The Aviation (Consumers) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1370) - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, art. 3 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• UK Civil Aviation Authority, 2025 Annual Punctuality Statistics Summary Analysis - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• Civil Aviation Authority, Delays - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• Civil Aviation Authority, Alternative Dispute Resolution for air passengers - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• AviationADR, airline and airport members - aviationadr.org.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• CEDR, Aviation - cedr-assist.com, checked 2026-09-15.
• Civil Aviation Authority, How the CAA can help - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• Limitation Act 1980, s.9 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• Civil Aviation Authority, airline licence holders - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• European Commission, EU air carriers holding an active operating licence - transport.ec.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• EASA, third-country operators list - easa.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

#FAQ

Can I claim compensation for flight delays at Gatwick airport?

Yes, if your flight departed Gatwick and reached its final destination three hours or more late, was cancelled outside the notice windows, or you were denied boarding against your will. UK261 sets £220 to £520 per passenger, paid by the operating airline, not Gatwick Airport. For a delay or cancellation, unavoidable extraordinary circumstances remove the payment.

Does Gatwick pay compensation for delays?

No, and its punctuality record changes nothing. Gatwick ran 61.0% of its 2025 flights inside the CAA's two on-time bands, on an average delay of 16.8 minutes, but that is a statistic, not a test. The operating airline owes £220 to £520 when arrival is three hours or more late, unless it proves extraordinary circumstances.

Who do I claim from after a Gatwick delay?

The airline that operated the flight, never the airport. Jet2 and Loganair appear on none of the three CAA-recognised lists, so for them the CAA's PACT team can raise your complaint but cannot order payment: court is the only route left that binds the airline.

I only changed planes at Gatwick: is that a Gatwick departure?

No. Article 3(1A) treats a journey booked as a single unit as departing from its first leg's airport, so transiting Gatwick does not make it one. If that booking opened at an EU airport, EU261 governs it in euros; if it opened outside both the UK and the EU, check the operating carrier's licence.