Flight delay threshold: 2-hour, 3-hour and significant-delay rules by regime
Checked 13 min read · 4 tables
How long your delay has to be, not how long you have to claim, is what this page answers — the claim deadline is at flight compensation time limits. The 3 hour delay rule under UK261 and EU261 fixes compensation at 3 hours. Canada’s APPR pays in three bands from 3 hours, and US federal law sets no delay compensation threshold, only a refund trigger at 3 or 6 hours. Below: the four-regime table and the arrival-time rule that decides which side of the line you’re on.
Canada’s APPR pays in three bands from 3 hours, and 
US federal law sets no delay compensation threshold, only a refund trigger at 3 or 6 hours. Below: the four-regime table and the arrival-time rule that decides which side of the line you’re on.#What is the 3-hour delay rule under UK261 and EU261?
3 hours or more at your final destination is the compensation line under both UK261 and EU261, for a delay rather than a cancellation. UK261 wrote the rule into statute at article 6(3), in force since 14 December 2023. EU261 carries no equivalent article; the same 3-hour line rests only on Sturgeon, joined cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 (2009).
Source: UK261 art. 6(3)-(4) (inserted by SI 2023/1370) — legislation.gov.uk; Sturgeon, C-402/07 and C-432/07 (2009), operative part point 2 — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004’s own text never names a delay compensation threshold, though article 6 does set delay thresholds for other rights: care at 2, 3 or 4 hours by distance, a refund option at 5 hours. Article 4 covers denied boarding, article 5 cancellation, article 7 the amounts. The CJEU filled the compensation gap in Sturgeon: reach your final destination three hours or more late and you can claim article 7 compensation on the same terms as a cancellation, subject to the same extraordinary-circumstances defence.
The outcome lines up either way: three distance bands each pay a fixed sum once your delay reaches three hours, in pounds under UK261 and euros under EU261. A 50% reduction can apply to the longest band, covered further down. Amounts sit on the UK261 delay compensation page.
Compensation is only one of four thresholds that matter, regime by regime:
Delay thresholds by regime
Regime | Compensation | Care | Refund option | Tarmac |
|---|---|---|---|---|
UK261 | 3 hours at arrival, art. 6(3) | 2 / 3 / 4 hours, split at 1,500 km / 3,500 km, art. 6(1) | 5 hours or more, art. 8(1)(a) | No rule in force |
EU261 | 3 hours at arrival, Sturgeon | 2 / 3 / 4 hours; intra-Community over 1,500 km stays at 3 hours, art. 6(1) | 5 hours or more, art. 8(1)(a) | No rule in force |
Canada APPR | 3 / 6 / 9 hours, within the carrier's control and not required for safety, s. 19(1) | After 2 hours, categories 2-3 only if told under 12 hours before departure, s. 14 | 3 hours or more: alternate arrangements or a refund, ss. 17-18 | 3 hours, unless take-off is likely within 3 h 45 min, s. 9 |
US DOT | None, DOT Fly Rights | No general duty; tarmac food and water only, 259.4(c)(4) | 3 hours domestic / 6 hours international, 14 CFR 260.2 | 3 hours domestic / 4 hours international, 259.4(c) |
Source: UK261 and EU261 arts. 6, 7(1), 8(1)(a); Sturgeon, C-402/07 and C-432/07 (2009) — legislation.gov.uk, eur-lex.europa.eu; Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150) ss. 9, 14, 19 — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; 14 CFR 259.4(c), 260.2 — ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
Where you fly from and to, and which airline operates the flight, decide your row — work it out at which law covers my flight.
#When does the delay clock stop: touchdown, gate or doors open?
3 hours is counted up to the moment a door opens, not to touchdown, under UK261, EU261 and Canada’s APPR alike. UK261 defines arrival as the time you may exit the aircraft, article 2(n). Canada’s APPR uses the same test, section 1(2). EU261 has no matching article; Germanwings, C-452/13 (2014), supplies the same rule by case law.
Source: UK261 art. 2(n) — legislation.gov.uk; Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150) s.1(2) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; Germanwings, C-452/13 (2014), operative part — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
Taxiing time counts against your delay, not the airline’s touchdown record. A flight touching down 2 hours 50 minutes late that keeps its doors shut for another 15 minutes arrives 3 hours 5 minutes late at the door: over the line. The clock stops there, not at touchdown or on-block time (chocks in at the gate). A door-open time of 2 hours 59 minutes still misses it by one minute.
The definitions diverge in one respect. UK261’s wording is now a UK statute, changed by the 2023 instrument that codified the delay rule itself; EU261 still relies on a court’s reading of “arrival,” not a definition article. Canada’s wording reads almost identically, in a different instrument: the Air Passenger Protection Regulations spell out the same “door open” test, needing no case law.
UK statute, changed by the 2023 instrument that codified the delay rule itself; EU261 still relies on a court’s reading of “arrival,” not a definition article. US DOT never had to fight this battle: federal law sets no delay compensation, so no dollar figure rides on the exact minute a door opens. Its refund test at 14 CFR 260.2 compares your actual arrival with the original scheduled arrival.
Regime | What "arrival" means | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
UK261 | The time you are permitted to exit the aircraft | Art. 2(n) |
EU261 | At least one aircraft door opens; set by case law, not a statutory text | Germanwings, C-452/13 (2014) |
Canada APPR | The time one of the aircraft doors is opened after landing to allow passengers to leave | s. 1(2) |
US DOT | Refund test compares your actual arrival with the scheduled arrival | 14 CFR 260.2 |
Source: UK261 art. 2(n) — legislation.gov.uk; Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150) s.1(2) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; Germanwings, C-452/13 (2014) — eur-lex.europa.eu; 14 CFR 260.2 — ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
All three definitions point to the same physical event, worded three different ways. Note the door-open time yourself, from a message or your own watch, before you rely on an airline’s disruption email.
#What is the 2-hour rule for flights?
2 hours is when free care, not cash, starts under UK261 and EU261 on routes up to 1,500 km; compensation stays fixed at 3 hours regardless of distance. Canada’s APPR owes care after 2 hours only if your disruption is within the carrier’s control and you were told under 12 hours before departure.
Source: UK261 art. 6(1) — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 6(1)(a)-(c) — eur-lex.europa.eu; APPR s.14(1) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; 14 CFR 259.4(c)(4) — ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
The confusion behind the 2 hour rule runs both ways. UK261 ties its right to care thresholds, 2, 3 and 4 hours, to distance: 2 hours up to 1,500 km, 3 on 1,500-3,500 km, 4 beyond. EU261 uses the same bands, but every intra-Community route over 1,500 km stays in the 3-hour band however far it flies. Compensation ignores that ladder and sits at a flat 3 hours either way. Reading “2 hours” and expecting cash means reading the care rule, not the one that pays.
One more threshold sits between care and compensation. At 5 hours or more of departure delay, you can choose a refund of your ticket instead of travelling, under article 8(1)(a), paid within 7 days.
Canada drops the distance ladder, but adds two conditions. After two hours past the original departure time, APPR section 14 owes food, drink and a way to communicate, in categories 2 and 3 only, if you were told under 12 hours before departure. Compensation is measured at arrival, on a separate clock.
US tarmac rules use two hours for a different purpose. Food and water must reach you within two hours of a tarmac delay starting, whether or not the flight ever takes off — a service obligation tied to the aircraft sitting still, not a refund.
Regime | What happens at 2 hours | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
UK261 | Care begins, on routes up to 1,500 km only; compensation is unaffected | Art. 6(1)(a) |
EU261 | Same as UK261, except intra-Community routes over 1,500 km wait for the 3-hour care line instead | Art. 6(1)(a)-(b) |
Canada APPR | Care begins, only in categories 2-3 and only if you were told under 12 hours before departure | s. 14 |
US DOT (tarmac) | Food and water become mandatory during a tarmac delay | 14 CFR 259.4(c)(4) |
Source: UK261 art. 6(1) — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 6(1)(a)-(b) — eur-lex.europa.eu; APPR s.14 — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; 14 CFR 259.4(c)(4) — ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
None of these rows moves a compensation figure; only UK261 and EU261 ever tie a 2-hour figure to distance at all.
#How long must a flight in Canada be delayed for APPR compensation?
3 hours is where Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations start paying, in three bands that rise with the delay and depend on carrier size. A large carrier pays C$400, C$700 or C$1,000; a small carrier pays C$125, C$250 or C$500 for the same three bands.
Source: Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150) s.19(1)(a)-(b) (compensation), s.1(2) (carrier size) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
Carrier size decides which column applies under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, and the test is fixed by regulation, not judgment. A large carrier transported two million passengers or more worldwide in each of the two preceding calendar years. Anything smaller counts as small, unless it carries passengers on a large carrier’s behalf under a commercial agreement, when the large-carrier scale applies anyway.
Arrival delay | Large carrier | Small carrier |
|---|---|---|
3 to under 6 hours | C$400 | C$125 |
6 to under 9 hours | C$700 | C$250 |
9 hours or more | C$1,000 | C$500 |
Source: Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150) s.19(1)(a)-(b) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
Two conditions sit ahead of the table. Your disruption must fall within “the carrier’s control” — not “outside the carrier’s control,” such as weather making safe operation impossible or an air traffic control instruction. It also must not be “required for safety purposes,” which covers a pilot’s own safety call but excludes scheduled maintenance. Because scheduled maintenance is not “required for safety purposes,” a delay it causes can still be compensable if you were told 14 days or less before departure. The Canada Transportation Act presumes a disputed cause is within the carrier’s control and not required for safety, unless the carrier proves otherwise.
A refund instead of rebooking changes the number, not the bar. Choosing a refund fixes your compensation at C$400 for a large carrier or C$125 for a small one, whatever the actual delay length. Request compensation before the first anniversary of the disruption; the carrier then has 30 days to pay or explain why it will not.
#Is there a delay threshold in US rules?
3 hours late on a domestic flight, or 6 hours on an international one, is the federal line for a delayed arrival, and it unlocks a fare refund if you turn down the alternative, not compensation. The Department of Transportation says it plainly: “for domestic itineraries airlines are not required to compensate passengers whose flights are delayed or canceled.”
Source: DOT, Fly Rights — transportation.gov; 14 CFR 260.2 “Significantly delayed or changed flight” — ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
On domestic trips, compensation is required by law only when you are bumped from an oversold flight. Denied boarding, not delay, is the one event with a federal dollar figure attached, and it runs on a different mechanism entirely. A significant delay on its own, however long it runs, never triggers a fixed payment under US federal law — only the refund test below.
The DOT significant change test lists seven kinds of change. They include a departure 3 hours earlier (domestic) or 6 hours earlier (international), an arrival delayed the same margin, a changed airport, an extra connection or a downgrade. None pays you extra — each only lets you decline the alternative and get your fare back, in 7 business days by credit card or 20 calendar days otherwise.
If you’re flying internationally, Fly Rights from the US Department of Transportation points you to one more avenue: article 19 of the Montreal Convention may let you recover expenses by claiming with the airline, payable only for damage you can prove, not a fixed sum. Airlines also publish delay commitments on the DOT’s customer service dashboard; on the detail page last updated 11 September 2025, cash compensation for a controllable delay reads “No” for all nine carriers listed.
#When does a long-haul arrival 3 to 4 hours late pay only 50%?
50% is the only cut a plain delay allows under UK261 and EU261, and it is the airline’s option: article 7(2) says “may.” It lands on flights over 3,500 km arriving 3 to under 4 hours late: £260 instead of £520 under UK261, or €300 instead of €600 under EU261. Intra-Community flights over 1,500 km stay at €400.
Source: UK261 art. 7(2) — legislation.gov.uk; Civil Aviation Authority, Delays — caa.co.uk/delays; Civil Aviation Authority, Cancellations — caa.co.uk/cancellations; Sturgeon, C-402/07 and C-432/07 (2009), para 63 — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
Civil Aviation Authority, Delays — caa.co.uk/delays; Sturgeon extended the 50% cut from re-routed passengers to a delay on your own aircraft, but only in the longest band, over 3,500 km. Its words draw the line at “less than four hours”: arrive 3 up to just under 4 hours late and the airline may pay half; reach 4 hours exactly, or more, and the full amount is due. The CAA’s delays page gives £260 “between three and four hours late” and £520 “more than four hours late”, wording that leaves exactly 4 hours open. Shorter and medium bands never reach this reduction — they fall under article 7(2)(a) or (b), which Sturgeon’s wording excludes.
A different 50% cut applies to a re-routed replacement flight after a cancellation, under article 7(2) itself: the airline may halve the amount if your new flight lands no more than 2, 3 or 4 hours after the original schedule, by band. Under UK261 that legal text allows the cut at the exact boundary minute, “does not exceed”; the CAA’s cancellation table disagrees: it pays in full from “two or more hours late” and halves it only below that mark — the opposite direction from the delay case above.
Keep the two apart: one runs on your own delayed aircraft, the other on someone else’s replacement flight. Check which one you had, and note your arrival time to the minute, before you accept either cut.
#Which time limits apply to tarmac delays?
3 hours is the US domestic tarmac limit: the airline must give you a chance to leave the aircraft before a tarmac delay exceeds it; international flights get 4 hours. Canada’s rule reads almost the same, 3 hours after the doors close for take-off or after landing, with a narrow exception if departure is likely within 3 hours 45 minutes.
Source: 14 CFR 259.4(c)(1)-(3) — ecfr.gov; Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150) s.9(1)-(2), (4) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
Both tarmac limits carry safety, security and air-traffic-control exceptions. The US clock covers any carrier operating an aircraft of 30 or more seats to or from a US airport, and once a tarmac delay passes 30 minutes, the airline must issue you a status notice.
Canada adds one exception of its own. If take-off is likely less than 3 hours 45 minutes after the doors closed or after landing, the carrier can keep you aboard past the plain 3-hour mark. That depends on it still providing lavatories, ventilation, communication and food and drink. Once that window runs out, you must get the chance to disembark, subject to the same safety, security, ATC and customs exceptions throughout this rule.
Neither UK261 nor EU261 sets a tarmac deplaning threshold in force today; both leave you on care obligations measured from scheduled departure, not wheels-down, however long the aircraft sits. For everything else these two regimes cover, run the flight delay compensation calculator.
How long your delay must run under the 3 hour delay rule, how long airlines take to pay, and how long you have to file a claim are three separate questions. This page answers the first, how long airlines take to pay the second, and flight compensation time limits the third.
This comparison is general information, 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.
EU/EEA), the 
Canadian Transportation Agency (#Sources
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it forms part of UK law, arts. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (as amended by SI 2019/278 and SI 2023/1370) - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, arts. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
- Civil Aviation Authority, Delays - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- Civil Aviation Authority, Cancellations - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150), ss. 1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17-20 - laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
- Canada Transportation Act, s.85.07 - laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
- 14 CFR Part 259 (tarmac) and Part 260 (refunds) - ecfr.gov/259 ; ecfr.gov/260, checked 2026-09-15.
- US Department of Transportation, Fly Rights - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- US Department of Transportation, Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- Montreal Convention 1999, art. 19 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
- Sturgeon, joined cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 (2009), CJEU - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
- Germanwings (Henning), C-452/13 (2014), CJEU - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.