# Diverted flight compensation: 3 hours late at your airport

Source: https://airtravelrights.com/uk261/diverted-flight-compensation/

> UK261 measures the 3-hour delay at the airport you booked, not the diversion airport; where both serve one area, the airline pays the transfer.

# UK261 diverted flight: compensation and your transfer

A diversion under [UK261](https://airtravelrights.com/uk261/) pays compensation on the same 3-hour test as any other late arrival, measured at the airport you actually booked, not the one the aircraft used. Where the diversion airport serves the same town, city or region, article 8(3), as the Court of Justice applied it to diversions, puts the cost of your onward transfer on the airline whether or not compensation is also due. On routes over 3,500 km, an arrival between three and four hours late may be paid at £260 rather than £520. Below: how a diversion counts, who pays your transfer, and when the airline can refuse to pay.

## Is a diverted flight treated as a delay or a cancellation?

3 hours late at the airport you booked is what turns a UK diversion into paid compensation, the identical threshold UK261 applies to any flight that simply runs late. A diversion to another airport serving the same town, city or region is not a cancellation, and it counts as a qualifying delay only once that arrival test is met.

Source: UK261 art. 6(3)-(4) (delay compensation, inserted by SI 2023/1370) - legislation.gov.uk; CJEU C-826/19 Austrian Airlines (2021) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.

A flight that lands where it was booked, just late, is a plain delay case. A diversion adds one complication: the aircraft's touchdown at the wrong airport is not the moment UK261 measures, so a short diversion that still gets you to your booked airport inside three hours pays nothing, however dramatic the detour felt.

The Court of Justice drew the line for what a diversion actually is in Austrian Airlines (WZ), C-826/19 (2021): landing at an alternative airport serving the same region is not a cancellation, the carrier bears the onward transfer, and a long delay at arrival still triggers compensation. That ruling postdates the end of the Brexit transition period, so UK courts may treat it as persuasive, not binding.

Put together, a diversion pays UK261 compensation once you reach your booked airport 3 hours or more after the original schedule, the cause is not extraordinary circumstances the airline can prove, and the distance band sets the amount: £220, £350 or £520, with the long-haul exception covered below. Match your route against the [UK261 delay compensation guide](https://airtravelrights.com/uk261/flight-delay-compensation/) for the full table, and let the [compensation calculator](https://airtravelrights.com/compensation-calculator/) pick the band for you.

Note the scheduled arrival time printed on your original ticket before you calculate anything: the diversion airport's timing is not what UK261 measures.

## Who pays to get you to the airport you booked?

Article 8(3) of UK261 names only two transfer points: the airport you booked, or a close-by destination you agree to. Where a town, city or region is served by several airports, the operating carrier bears the cost of getting you there, whether or not compensation is also due.

Source: UK261 art. 8(3) (alternative airport, unamended UK text) - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

This is the practical question a diverted passenger actually has, before any three-hour count matters. Article 8(3) puts the cost of the onward transfer on the operating carrier, not on you. Its condition is geographic: the diversion airport and the booked one must serve the same town, city or region. The article's own words describe a flight the airline offers to an alternative airport; reading it onto a diverted flight comes from Austrian Airlines, C-826/19, a 2021 ruling UK courts may treat as persuasive rather than binding.

Nothing in the UK text makes that duty conditional on why the diversion happened. An airline that blames a closed runway, a security alert or bad weather at your booked airport still owes the transfer; extraordinary circumstances, covered further down, can remove only the compensation payment, never this one.

EU261 carries the identical duty in the same article number for a flight departing an EU airport instead of the UK: the wording the two regulations use for this transfer is word for word the same.

Ask the airline at the diversion airport itself to arrange the onward leg, and keep a receipt only as a backup if it refuses.

## How is the 3-hour delay measured after a diversion?

3 hours or more late at your final destination is UK261's own test, unchanged by a diversion: arrival time is the moment you are permitted to leave the aircraft there, not when the aircraft first touches down at the diversion airport. A stopover of any length at the wrong airport counts toward that clock.

Source: UK261 art. 2(n) (arrival time, definition) - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

Two clocks matter and only one counts. The aircraft's touchdown time at the diversion airport tells you nothing on its own; write down instead the moment you were actually permitted to leave the aircraft at the airport named on your ticket. After a coach or rail transfer there is no aircraft door at the booked airport, and article 2(n) does not say which moment then counts, so record the time you reached its terminal as well. Flown onward on a connecting service instead, the clock keeps running through that leg too.

Long-haul routes carry one extra step. The Civil Aviation Authority's own example, London to New York, over 3,500 km, puts a plain arrival delay of three to four hours at £260 per passenger rather than £520, applying article 7(2)(c)'s reduction to a delay the way the Court of Justice read it in Sturgeon. The article's own word is "may": the cut is the airline's option, not an automatic one, and it disappears from four hours onward. Routes up to 3,500 km carry no such step.

Time-stamp the moment you left the aircraft or reached your booked airport, not the diversion airport's touchdown, before you total the hours.

## Which diversion causes are extraordinary circumstances?

Article 2(o) of UK261 sets two tests for an extraordinary circumstance behind a diversion: a cause not inherent in the airline's normal activity that reasonable measures could not avoid, or an unavoidable air traffic management decision. Either test removes only the compensation payment, and the airline carries the burden of proving it.

Source: UK261 art. 2(o) (extraordinary circumstances, definition), art. 5(3) and art. 6(4) (compensation exemption) - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

An air traffic control order closing your booked airport is the textbook case. In Blanche v EasyJet Airline Company Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 69, the Court of Appeal held that an air traffic management decision causing a long delay to one aircraft on one day is extraordinary whatever its cause, even where it hit many other flights; the airline still has to prove the causal link. The decision binds courts in England and Wales.

A diversion ordered over an unruly passenger sits differently. In TAP Portugal (LE v. TAP), C-74/19 (2020), pre-2021 and so binding UK case law, the Court of Justice held that an unruly passenger can be extraordinary, but the airline must still show it took all reasonable re-routing measures.

A blanket "weather" line is not that proof. Posting on the MoneySavingExpert forum in October 2024, userID 2886956 described a TUI flight from Manchester to Dubrovnik diverted to Rome for bad weather, flown back to Manchester, and landing in Dubrovnik the following night. TUI rejected the claim on extraordinary circumstances; the passenger's report reads: "flight data shows that other planes started landing at DBV at 5:30am the next day, whereas we didn't get there until 11:15pm." That is one passenger's dispute over the cause shown, not a ruling. Care under article 9 stays owed regardless, because articles 5(3) and 6(4) exempt only the article 7 payment.

Ask the airline in writing which specific event it relies on and what it did to avoid the diversion. A one-line refusal citing "weather" or "operational reasons" is an assertion, not the proof articles 5(3) and 6(4) require; the [extraordinary circumstances guide](https://airtravelrights.com/uk261/extraordinary-circumstances/) covers the general test in full.

## How do you claim after a diversion?

Two separate legal bases sit inside one diversion claim: article 7 for the compensation, if your arrival delay reached 3 hours, and article 8(3) for any transfer cost you paid yourself. State your flight number, the scheduled and actual arrival times at your booked airport, and the diversion airport used.

Source: UK261 art. 7, art. 8(3), art. 16(1) (enforcement); Civil Aviation Authority, Alternative Dispute Resolution for air passengers - legislation.gov.uk, caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.

Send the claim to the airline first: UK261 makes the operating carrier responsible for paying both the compensation and the transfer cost, not the Civil Aviation Authority. Cite article 7 and your distance band for the compensation figure, and article 8(3) separately for any transfer expense the airline has not already covered, with dates, times and receipts attached.

Eight weeks of silence, or a final response you disagree with, is when a UK261 complaint can move to AviationADR or CEDR, whichever scheme your airline belongs to, or to the Civil Aviation Authority's own complaints team for an airline in neither. ADR is free.

Keep a copy of everything you send, and set a reminder for eight weeks out before you escalate.

> Diversion not caused by an extraordinary circumstance, and the airline still won't pay? [AirHelp (third-party claim service)](https://airtravelrights.com/partner/airhelp?ref=atr-gd-uk261-diverted-m) takes on UK261 diversion claims, no win no fee, and keeps a fee from any payout; the free ADR route and CAA complaints team stay open either way.

Not your situation? A flight departing an EU airport instead falls under [EU261](https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/), in euros; the [EU261 diversion guide](https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/diverted-flight-compensation/) covers it. Routes to, from or within Canada follow the [Air Passenger Protection Regulations](https://airtravelrights.com/canada-appr/). Unsure which law applies? [Work it out here](https://airtravelrights.com/which-law-covers-my-flight/). Flying in the US? US federal rules differ - see [US DOT rules](https://airtravelrights.com/us-dot/).

General information on UK261 diversions, not legal advice. For your specific case, contact the Civil Aviation Authority, Citizens Advice or a solicitor.

## Sources

- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it forms part of UK law, arts. 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16 - [legislation.gov.uk](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/contents), checked 2026-09-15.
- Civil Aviation Authority, Delays - [caa.co.uk](https://www.caa.co.uk/air-passengers/travel-problems-and-rights/flight-delays-and-cancellations/delays/), checked 2026-09-15.
- Civil Aviation Authority, Alternative Dispute Resolution for air passengers - [caa.co.uk](https://www.caa.co.uk/air-passengers/travel-problems-and-rights/travel-complaints/alternative-dispute-resolution/), checked 2026-09-15.
- Blanche v EasyJet Airline Company Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 69, Court of Appeal (Civil Division) - [caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewca/civ/2019/69).
- CJEU C-826/19, Austrian Airlines (WZ) (2021) - [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62019CJ0826).
- CJEU C-74/19, TAP Portugal (LE v. TAP) (2020) - [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62019CJ0074).
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, art. 8(3) - [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261), checked 2026-09-15.
- Sturgeon, joined cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 (2009), CJEU - [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62007CJ0402).