UK261 £Heathrow: flight delay and cancellation rights

Checked 15 Sep 2026·7 min read

£220, £350 or £520 per passenger is owed under UK261 when a flight departing Heathrow arrives three hours or more late or is cancelled outside the article 5(1)(c) notice windows, unless unavoidable extraordinary circumstances caused it, or you are denied boarding against your will. The operating airline pays that Heathrow delay compensation, not the airport.

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

#UK261 £Which rules cover delayed flights departing Heathrow?

Article 3(1)(a) of UK261 covers passengers departing from an airport in the United Kingdom, so a flight leaving any Heathrow terminal is in scope whichever airline operates it. The operating air carrier owes the compensation; Heathrow Airport is never the party you claim from.

A journey booked as a single unit is treated as departing from the first leg’s point of departure (article 3(1A)), so a booking that starts at Heathrow and changes planes abroad is a Heathrow departure throughout. The same holds for a booking that starts at Southampton or any other UK airport.

That first-leg rule is also what keeps most Heathrow itineraries out of the other regimes. EU261 takes over only when the trip itself opens at an EU airport; a Canadian sector answers to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations; and an onward leg inside the US meets federal rules that require no compensation for a domestic delay at all. Run a booking that crosses two of them through the which-law test before you write to anyone. Once UK261 is settled, the amount by distance is fixed, a refusal has its own route, and Heathrow’s delay and cancellation FAQs describe what the airport does rather than what the airline owes. Punctuality for every other UK airport is on the index.

Source: UK261 art. 3(1)(a) and 3(1A) (SI 2023/1370) — legislation.gov.uk; Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 art. 3(5) — eur-lex.europa.eu; Heathrow link: Google UK results, 14 September 2026 — heathrow.com, checked 2026-09-15.

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

£220 up to 1,500 km, £350 between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and £520 beyond: those are the article 7(1) amounts, in pounds, when a flight from Heathrow reaches its final destination three hours or more late. Unavoidable extraordinary circumstances remove the payment, not the duty of care.

Heathrow delays count at arrival, when passengers are permitted to exit the aircraft (article 2(n)). Over 3,500 km, the CAA gives £260 for arriving between three and four hours late and £520 for more than four hours; article 7(2) says the airline “may” make that 50% cut.

If a comparison page quotes €600 “under EU legislation” for a long-haul Heathrow delay, check the currency before the figure. Unless a Community carrier flew you into the EU, the amount comes from UK261 article 7(1), substituted by SI 2019/278 with effect from 31 December 2020, sets £520 for that band: pounds and euros are two separate legal scales here, not an exchange rate.

Cancellation runs on notice: two weeks' notice or more means no compensation. Between two weeks and seven days, the airline owes nothing only if it offers a replacement leaving no more than 2 hours before and arriving 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 screenshot the cancellation message (EU261).

Source: UK261 arts. 2(n), 5(1)(c), 5(3)-(4), 6(3)-(4) (SI 2023/1370), 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 Heathrow in 2025?

66.3% of Heathrow flights were on time in 2025 by the CAA’s own test: from 15 minutes early to 15 minutes late against the planned gate time. That covers the 475,582 flights the CAA matched to a planned time, with an average delay of 12.8 minutes. Separately, 1.3% of flights were cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice.

Source: CAA, UK flight punctuality statistics 2025, annual summary - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

Against Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, Birmingham and Edinburgh in the same file, Heathrow had the highest on-time rate and the shortest average delay, but also the highest cancelled rate. Across all 25 airports the file covers, one London airport beat it on delay: London City averaged 11.9 minutes against Heathrow’s 12.8, the shortest of any London airport in the file.

CAA punctuality statistics are not compensation eligibility. A delay band is not a legal threshold. These figures pool every airline over a whole year. UK261 delay compensation looks only at your own flight. It must reach your final destination three hours or more late. A punctual year at Heathrow does not change your claim. Claim on your flight’s own times, not on these averages.

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

8 weeks without a response to your written complaint lets you take a UK261 dispute to ADR. The CAA approves 2 providers, AviationADR and CEDR, both free. After a Heathrow disruption, which one hears your case depends on the airline that operated your flight.

Read that table against your boarding pass rather than your booking confirmation. Article 3(5) puts the duty on the operating air carrier, so a flight sold under one airline’s code and flown by another follows the operator’s scheme, not the seller’s — and on a Heathrow itinerary with a connection, the leg that went wrong may not have been flown by the airline you bought from.

PACT can take up a valid complaint but has no legal power to impose a solution on an airline. It is only likely to consider yours if the airline belongs to no approved ADR body and gave no reply within 8 weeks or an unsatisfactory one, and not with less than a year left to take legal action.

If you sue in England and Wales, the limit is 6 years (Limitation Act 1980, section 9, applied by article 3(9)); the time limits page covers the rest of the UK. Send your written complaint today.

Source: CAA, Alternative Dispute Resolution and How the CAA can help — caa.co.uk; AviationADR members — aviationadr.org.uk; CEDR, Aviation — cedr-assist.com; UK261 art. 3(9) and Limitation Act 1980 s.9 — legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

#Do the rules change for flights arriving at Heathrow?

UK261 covers a flight into Heathrow 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”, under article 3(1)(b)(i). A flight from another UK airport is covered as a departure instead.

Flights into Heathrow: cover by operating airline

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

EU261 adds euros on two kinds of Heathrow flight: any flight into Heathrow from an EU airport, on any airline, and a flight from Heathrow into the EU operated by a Community carrier such as Lufthansa, unless you received benefits or compensation and assistance in the UK. On British Airways or another UK air carrier, EU261 does not apply. Check the operator named on your booking against the CAA airline licence holders 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 specific 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.
• 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.
• CAA, UK flight punctuality statistics 2025, annual summary (CSV) - 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

Does Heathrow pay compensation for delays?

No. Heathrow held the best on-time share of six busy UK airports in the CAA's 2025 file, 66.3%, and also their highest rate of cancellations announced less than 24 hours before departure, 1.3%; neither figure decides a claim. The operating air carrier owes the £220, £350 or £520, and proven extraordinary circumstances remove that payment.

Who do I claim from after a Heathrow delay?

Read the boarding pass, not the booking confirmation. Article 3(5) puts the claim on the operating air carrier, so a flight sold under one airline's code and flown by another follows the operator's scheme: CEDR for British Airways and BA CityFlyer, AviationADR for the carriers the CAA lists there.

I missed my connection after a Heathrow departure: which flight do I claim on?

Neither leg on its own. Article 3(1A) treats a single booking as departing from its first leg, so a trip that starts at Heathrow stays a UK261 departure throughout, and the delay that counts is the one at your final destination, not the hours lost at the connecting airport.