Flight delay compensation calculator (UK, EU, Canada, US)

Checked 15 Sep 2026·Works without JavaScript

This flight delay compensation calculator — an eligibility checker for UK261, EU261, Canada’s APPR and US DOT at once — runs on your route, airline, delay and cause, and shows what each pays. Regime detection uses departure and arrival country plus the airline; you do not need your flight number. Below: what each input does, how a UK261 or EU261 amount is worked out, why a US result usually shows no delay compensation, and which claim deadline applies.

#What does the calculator check before it shows an amount?

4 rulebooks run on what you enter above: departure, final destination, flight distance, the operating airline or its licence country, Canada’s airline size, disruption type, arrival delay, cancellation notice, an early replacement flight, cause, Canada refund, US fare and where you would claim. Only distance, arrival delay, notice days and fare get asked again.

Leave the cause unset and Canada’s APPR presumes it is within the airline’s control; leave the operating airline unverified on an inbound flight and the result shows “may apply” instead of a firm amount.

UK261 covers every flight leaving a UK airport. It also covers a flight into the UK on a UK or EU airline, and a flight into the EU from outside the UK on a UK airline. EU261 covers every flight leaving an EU, EEA or Swiss airport, and a flight into the EU only on an EU-licensed (Community) airline. Canada’s APPR covers any flight to, from or within Canada, connecting itineraries included.

Pick the airline that actually operated your flight, not the brand you booked with: group carriers split by legal entity, and easyJet UK Limited (a UK air carrier) answers an inbound-flight question differently from easyJet Europe Airline GmbH (a Community carrier).

Under UK261 article 3(1A), a connecting itinerary booked as one unit counts as one flight departing from the first leg’s airport. Under EU261, the compensation band follows the total distance from first departure to final destination even if only the last leg ran late (Flightright v Eurowings, C-939/19, order of 2020).

Arrival time is the moment a door opens, not touchdown: Germanwings (C-452/13, 2014) for EU261, article 2(n) for UK261. US denied-boarding compensation covers a nonstop flight segment departing the US on an aircraft with 30 or more seats.

This calculator only knows what you enter: it cannot see the real cause of a disruption or which entity operated your flight. Read those from your booking and the airline’s disruption message before you rely on the result. See how we verify.

#How is a UK261 or EU261 amount worked out?

£220-£520 under UK261 and €250-€600 under EU261, as a per passenger total: route distance sets the band once the arrival delay reaches three hours, or a cancellation or denied boarding qualifies. Each amount stays in its own currency (UK261 £, EU261 €), and the calculator never converts between them.

EU261 has one exception UK261 lacks: an intra-Community flight over 3,500 km pays €400, not €600.

Source: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it forms part of UK law, art. 7(1) (as substituted by SI 2019/278) — legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

Source: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, art. 7(1)(a)-(c) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

Article 7(2) of both regulations lets the airline cut the amount by 50%, at its option, when a re-routed flight lands no more than 2, 3 or 4 hours late by band. Under UK261, landing exactly 2h00m, 3h00m or 4h00m late is disputed: “does not exceed” allows the cut, the CAA’s cancellation table pays in full. The calculator shows both readings.

A plain delay has one cut: over 3,500 km, arriving 3 hours to under 4 hours late (Sturgeon, C-402/07 and C-432/07, 2009, para 63). Under UK261 the airline may then pay £260, not £520. Under EU261 it may pay €300, not €600; an intra-Community flight stays at €400. Exactly 4h00m is disputed under UK261 only: Sturgeon’s “less than four hours” gives £520, the CAA’s delays page gives £260 “between three and four hours late” and £520 for “more than four hours late”. EU261 at 4h00m shows €600.

UK261 pays in cash, by electronic bank transfer, bank order or bank cheque; a travel voucher only with your signed agreement (article 7(3)).

Write to the airline first, citing the article and the amount. If it refuses or stays silent, UK261 escalates to a free ADR scheme or the CAA’s Passenger Advice and Complaints Team for non-members. EU261 escalates to the national enforcement body of the departure country, or the arrival country for a flight from outside the EU. Next steps: airline refused compensation; claim letters: UK261 or EU261.

Rather not chase the airline and ADR yourself? AirHelp (third-party claim service) takes on a UK261 or EU261 claim, no win no fee, and keeps a fee from any payout; the free DIY and ADR routes stay open.

Do it yourself · freeClaim with the airline yourself

• Write to the airline and keep the reference
• Refused: the regulator for your route, free
• You keep all of the compensation

Check your flight in the calculator →

Hand it overAirHelp takes the claim, no win no fee

• They deal with the airline 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

Save the result and its source links before you write to the airline.

#APPR C$How does carrier size change a Canada APPR result?

APPR C$400-C$1,000 from a large airline (2,000,000+ worldwide passengers in each of the last two years) or C$125-C$500 from a small one, for a cause within the airline’s control, once you were told 14 days or less before departure. No verified list sorts carriers by size, so the calculator asks you directly.

A cause outside the airline’s control pays nothing, only re-booking or a refund: weather that makes safe operation impossible, an air traffic control instruction, a security threat. A cause required for safety, such as a pilot’s safety decision, also pays no compensation; scheduled maintenance does not count as safety. Only a cause within the airline’s control, told 14 days or less ahead, reaches the table below: 3-under-6 hours, 6-under-9 hours, or 9 hours and more. A refund instead of re-booking fixes the payment at C$400 large or C$125 small, whatever the delay. Denied boarding pays C$900-C$2,400 regardless of size, one scale for every carrier. Not sure of your airline’s size? Leave it “not sure” and the calculator shows both figures.

Source: Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150), s.19(1) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.

Source: Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150), s.20(1) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.

See Canada APPR flight delay compensation for the care and re-booking rules, and how to file with the airline.

#Why does a US result show no delay compensation?

$0 in required compensation for a delay or cancellation: US federal law sets none. DOT withdrew its passenger-compensation rulemaking as of 17 Nov 2025 (90 FR 51230). The only payout the law requires is denied-boarding compensation for an oversold flight: 200% of your fare up to $1,075, or 400% up to $2,150, only when boarding was the problem.

A cancellation, or a significant change, triggers a refund of the fare, taxes and fees if you decline the alternative offered: 7 business days for a credit card, 20 calendar days for cash, cheque, debit card or any other method. “Significant” means a departure 3 hours or more earlier (domestic) or 6 hours or more (international), or an arrival delayed by the same margins, a different airport, an extra connection or a downgrade. The DOT refund branch lists the cancellation and all seven 14 CFR 260.2 changes, including two for passengers with a disability; it marks the ones your answers settle and leaves the rest for you to check.

See US DOT: delayed and canceled flight rights for the refund process and complaint form in full.

On a domestic oversold flight, an alternate arriving more than 1 hour and less than 2 hours late pays 200% of your fare, up to $1,075. 2 hours or more, or no alternate at all, pays 400%, up to $2,150. On an international departure from the US, that same 200% tier runs to under 4 hours instead of under 2.

Source: 14 CFR 250.5(a)-(b) — ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.

The tier depends on when the alternate flight arrives against your original scheduled arrival; with no alternate offered, the 400% tier applies.

Departing an EU or UK airport still runs EU261 or UK261 alongside these US rules, on any carrier — departure coverage never depends on licence. The reverse fails: a US airline arriving in the EU or UK from outside is covered by neither, since inbound coverage needs a Community or UK carrier.

#When does the calculator answer “not eligible”?

14 days or more of cancellation notice removes UK261 and EU261 compensation whatever the cause, under article 5(1)(c)(i) of both. Extraordinary circumstances, Canada’s outside-control category, and an arrival delay under three hours all produce the same “not eligible” result, for different legal reasons.

UK261 and EU261 share article 5(1)(c): told 14 days or more before departure, no compensation is owed, whatever the reason. Told between 14 and 7 days, compensation is still avoided if the replacement flight leaves no more than 2 hours before the original departure and lands less than 4 hours after the original arrival. Told under 7 days, that window tightens to 1 hour before and 2 hours after.

The extraordinary circumstances check decides the rest, and the airline must prove them: UK261 article 2(o) defines these as not inherent in the airline’s normal activity, beyond its actual control, and unavoidable with all reasonable measures, or an unavoidable air traffic management decision. Care stays owed under both regimes even so; under UK261 a refund or re-routing also stays owed. Only article 7 compensation is removed.

Canada’s APPR adds one more block: no compensation if you have already been paid for the same disruption under another regime, since APPR will not pay twice for one event. US denied-boarding compensation drops to $0 if you broke the ticketing or check-in rules, a smaller aircraft was substituted for operational or safety reasons, or a weight or balance limit applied on an aircraft of 60 seats or fewer. It also drops to $0 if you were seated elsewhere on the same flight at no extra charge, or the alternate arrived within an hour of schedule.

#Which claim deadlines does the result show, and why is Scotland not calculated?

6 years is the limit to bring a UK261 court claim in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, and also Ireland’s limit for an EU261 claim there. Canada gives 1 year to ask the airline itself. Scotland shows a 5-year figure with an open-point warning, not a firm answer.

UK261 article 3(9) points claims to the Limitation Act 1980, which gives 6 years in England and Wales; in Northern Ireland the Limitation (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 also gives 6 years, so either route lands on the same figure. Scotland differs — article 3(9) names an England-and-Wales statute, while the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 gives Scottish obligations a 5-year cut-off, and no Scottish court has ruled which one governs a UK261 claim. The calculator will not guess: a Scotland result shows both facts and this caveat. File within 5 years if Scotland is where you would sue.

Regulation 261/2004 sets no EU-wide time limit; national limitation law decides. Pick Ireland as your forum and the result shows 6 years under the Statute of Limitations 1957; any other EU country shows “not calculated”. Canada’s clock runs differently: 1 year to put your APPR claim to the airline itself, which must then respond within 30 days before you can escalate to the Canadian Transportation Agency. The calculator does not compute Montreal Convention claims; those expire 2 years after the date the flight arrived or should have arrived (article 35).

This flight delay compensation calculator gives general information across the UK, EU, Canada and the US, not legal advice. For your specific case, contact the CAA (UK), your national enforcement body or the European Consumer Centre network (EU/EEA), the Canadian Transportation Agency (Canada), the US Department of Transportation (US) or a solicitor.

#Sources

• Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, arts. 3, 5, 6, 7 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it forms part of UK law, arts. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 (as amended by SI 2019/278 and SI 2023/1370) - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• Civil Aviation Authority, Delays and Cancellations - caa.co.uk/delays ; caa.co.uk/cancellations, checked 2026-09-15.
• Limitation Act 1980, s.9 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• Limitation (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, art. 4 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, s.6 and sch. 1 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
• Statute of Limitations 1957, s.11(1) (Ireland) - revisedacts.lawreform.ie, checked 2026-09-15.
• Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150), ss. 1, 10-14, 17-20 - laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
• Canada Transportation Act, s.86.11 - laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
• 14 CFR Part 250 (denied boarding) and Part 260 (refunds) - ecfr.gov/250 ; ecfr.gov/260, checked 2026-09-15.
• US Department of Transportation, Fly Rights - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
• DOT, Airline Passenger Rights Withdrawal (90 FR 51230) - federalregister.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
• Montreal Convention 1999, art. 35 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
• Sturgeon, joined cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 (2009), CJEU - eur-lex.europa.eu.
• Germanwings (Henning), C-452/13 (2014), CJEU - eur-lex.europa.eu.
• Flightright v Eurowings (order), C-939/19 (2020), CJEU - eur-lex.europa.eu.

#FAQ

How much compensation will I get for a delayed flight?

£220-£520 under UK261, €250-€600 under EU261, and C$400-C$1,000 (large airline) or C$125-C$500 (small airline) under Canada's APPR, once the arrival delay reaches three hours. Each regime drops that payment where the cause was outside the airline's control: extraordinary circumstances under EU261 and UK261, a within-control test under the APPR. The US has no federal delay-compensation law.

Why will the calculator not give a firm claim deadline for Scotland?

Nothing has settled it. Article 3(9) of UK261 points to the Limitation Act 1980, an England-and-Wales statute giving six years, while the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 cuts Scottish obligations off at five, and no Scottish court has ruled which governs. A Scotland result shows both figures and the caveat.

Does the calculator work for flights in Canada and the US?

Yes: pick Canada or the United States as departure or arrival and the calculator runs Canada's APPR (C$125-C$2,400 by cause, size and delay) or US DOT rules - no delay compensation, a refund only after a cancellation or significant change, up to $2,150 for denied boarding. It also checks UK261 or EU261 if the flight touches the UK or EU.