Leeds Bradford Airport: flight delay and cancellation rights
Leeds Bradford Airport is Yorkshire’s main airport; the CAA matched 32,120 flights there in 2025 and, separately, logged 1.2% of flights as cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice. Cancellation is where UK261 gets awkward, because what you are owed turns on how much notice you were given rather than on how late you eventually got there, and it is the operating airline that owes it, never the airport.
Leeds Bradford Airport is Yorkshire’s main airport; the 
CAA matched 32,120 flights there in 2025 and, separately, logged 1.2% of flights as cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice. Cancellation is where 
#Which rules cover delayed flights departing Leeds Bradford Airport?
Article 3(1)(a) of UK261 covers every flight leaving Leeds Bradford Airport, on any airline, whether Jet2, TUI Airways or a smaller charter operator flies it. Leeds Bradford Airport delay compensation always comes from that airline, never the airport. An arrival from abroad only counts under UK261 where a UK or EU-licensed carrier flew it.
Jet2, 
TUI Airways or a smaller charter operator flies it. 
UK or EU-licensed carrier flew it.UK261 reaches Leeds Bradford-bound flights from abroad only where a UK air carrier or a Community carrier operated the flight, and only where you did not already receive benefits or compensation and assistance in the country you left. A carrier holding neither licence type falls outside UK261 on that inbound leg entirely. Jet2 holds a UK operating licence; TUI Airways holds both UK and EU licences through separate group entities, so the specific one named on your booking decides whether euros apply too. If a Community-licensed TUI entity flies you from Leeds Bradford into the EU, EU261 covers that flight in euros too — the exception is when you already received benefits or compensation and assistance in the UK, and on the UK-licensed TUI Airways entity EU261 does not apply at all. Write down the operating airline before you complain. It is never the airport.
EU licences through separate group entities, so the specific one named on your booking decides whether euros apply too. If a Community-licensed Source: UK261 arts. 3(1)(a) and 3(1)(b) — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 3(1)(b) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-18.
#How much is due for a delayed flight from Leeds Bradford Airport?
£220 up to 1,500 km, £350 between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and £520 beyond that: those are the UK261 amounts once a Leeds Bradford departure reaches its final destination three hours or more late, unless unavoidable extraordinary circumstances caused it. Two hours 59 minutes earns nothing. Cancellation compensation depends on notice, not on the length of the delay itself.
Take a Leeds Bradford-Faro cancellation with ten days' notice, inside the fourteen-to-seven-day window. Under article 5(1)(c)(ii), no compensation at all is owed if the airline’s replacement flight departs no more than two hours before your original time and lands less than four hours after it — that exemption is total, not a discount. The CAA’s reduced-amount table only comes into play when the replacement departs more than two hours early: then £350 halves to £175 if that early-departing flight still lands under three hours late, and the full £350 remains due if it lands three hours or more late. Inside seven days, both tolerances tighten: the replacement must depart no more than one hour early and land under two hours late to clear the airline entirely. Article 5(4) puts the burden of proving when it told you on the airline, not on you. Unavoidable extraordinary circumstances remove the fixed payment, never the airline’s duty of care while you wait for a seat home. Beyond 3,500 km, the CAA’s delays page lists £260 for an arrival three to four hours late, since article 7(2) lets the airline apply that reduction at its own option, and £520 for anything later still (a changed departure time).
Source: UK261 art. 5(1)(c)(ii) — legislation.gov.uk; CAA, Delays — caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-18.
#How often do flights at Leeds Bradford Airport actually run late?
67.0% of the 32,120 flights the Civil Aviation Authority matched at Leeds Bradford Airport in 2025 arrived within 15 minutes of schedule. The average delay across the year was 15.0 minutes, longer than Heathrow’s 12.8-minute average across 475,582 matched flights. Separately, 1.2% of flights were cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice. None of this is a UK261 compensation test.
Heathrow’s 12.8-minute average across 475,582 matched flights. Separately, 1.2% of flights were cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice. None of this is a UK261 compensation test.That 67.0% comes from two CAA bands added together: 15 minutes early to 1 minute early (33.3%) plus 0 to 15 minutes late (33.7%), the same arithmetic behind the figure for East Midlands and every page in the airports index. The CAA measures runway and gate times, never the doors-open arrival moment UK261 counts, so a delay band published here is not a legal threshold for anyone’s individual claim. All-cargo, oil rig, air taxi, positioning, private and military flights are excluded from the whole file, and the CAA itself gives no warranty as to accuracy or reliability. Check your own boarding pass and actual arrival time before assuming anything from the airport’s yearly average.
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority, 2025 Annual Punctuality Statistics Summary Analysis — caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-18.
#Where do you complain after a disrupted Leeds Bradford Airport flight?
8 weeks with no reply to a written complaint lets you take a UK261 dispute to free alternative dispute resolution. Which of the CAA’s two approved schemes hears the case depends on the airline, not on Leeds Bradford Airport, and one of its own operators sits outside both approved lists entirely.
If your flight was operated by | Where to escalate after the airline |
|---|---|
TUI Airways, as listed by the CAA | AviationADR |
CEDR | |
Jet2, not listed on any of the three lists | CAA Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT) |
AviationADR
British Airways
CEDRJet2 carries much of Leeds Bradford’s charter traffic, and PACT is the route if it rejects a valid complaint and is still outside an approved scheme; PACT cannot impose a solution on the airline, only take up the case. An ADR decision the airline accepts becomes binding on it, though rejecting the outcome still leaves the courts open — see where this goes when the airline won’t budge. Leeds Bradford sits in England: section 9 of the Limitation Act 1980, applied through UK261 article 3(9), gives you six years from when the claim arose to go to court; Liverpool, also in England, runs on the same clock. Complain to the airline first, in writing, and keep a dated copy of what it told you and when.
England: section 9 of the Limitation Act 1980, applied through UK261 article 3(9), gives you Source: CEDR, Aviation — cedr-assist.com, checked 2026-09-18.
General information, not legal advice. For your specific case: the CAA, Citizens Advice or a solicitor.
Citizens Advice or a solicitor.#Sources
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it forms part of UK law, arts. 2, 3, 5 and 7 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (EU text), art. 3 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
- Civil Aviation Authority, Cancellations - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-18.
- Civil Aviation Authority, Delays - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-18.
- Civil Aviation Authority, Alternative dispute resolution and PACT - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- CEDR, Aviation - cedr-assist.com, checked 2026-09-15.
- Limitation Act 1980, s.9 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- UK Civil Aviation Authority, 2025 Annual Punctuality Statistics Summary Analysis - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-18.