London LHR delay compensation

Rules on a departure

UK261

Destinations here

45

Longest route

LAX · 8,760 km

On time, 2025

76.7%

Which rules cover a flight at LHR

Leaving LHR. UK261 applies to every departure on this site's routes from here, whichever airline is operating. EU261 reaches some of them as well, depending on where the flight is going or who operates it.

Arriving at LHR. Coming the other way the rules do not line up with the airport, so this is by route: EU261 covers 20 of the 45, whatever the airline; US DOT covers 17 of the 45, whatever the airline; APPR covers 5 of the 45, whatever the airline; UK261 covers 2 of the 45, whatever the airline, and 43 more only on an EU airline or a UK airline; nothing else reaches an arrival here.

The trap on an inbound flight is that EU261 and UK261 follow the airline when the flight is arriving from outside, while they follow the airport on the way out — so a return leg can be uncovered when the outbound one was covered, or covered for a reason that has nothing to do with LHR. A claim is judged on the flight you were actually on. Each route page below sets out both directions.

What that pays, by distance from LHR

Under the EU and UK rules the amount is set by the great-circle distance to the final destination, not by the fare. From LHR the routes here fall into 3 bands: 23 over 3,500 km, 3 1,500 to 3,500 km, 19 up to 1,500 km. Compensation starts once you arrive 3 hours late at the final destination. On a flight over 3,500 km, the first hour band is reduced: £260 under UK261 for 3 to 4 hours late, the full amount from 4 hours.

Amounts are per passenger for a delay the airline is responsible for, read off the rule's own table at this distance. Where two are shown, the first is for arriving 3 to 4 hours late and the second from 4 hours — the reduction the EU and UK rules apply over 3,500 km. This column is the flight out of LHR; the return can be covered by something else, and each route page sets out both directions.

How LHR runs

The UK Civil Aviation Authority publishes punctuality for every reporting UK airport. At London Heathrow Airport in 2025, 76.7% of flights were on time — the CAA counts early or up to 15 minutes late as on time — against 67.3% the year before. The average delay was 12.8 minutes (18 in 2024), and 1.32% of flights were cancelled.

The tail is the part that bears on a claim: 0.49% of flights at LHR ran more than three hours late. Three hours is the threshold the EU and UK rules pay from, but they measure it on arrival at the final destination, while this figure counts arrivals and departures together across the whole year — so read it as how often this airport runs badly late, not as the share of flights that would have a claim.

If the airline says no

A flight out of LHR falls to the UK's own enforcement arrangements rather than an EU body: UK261 is the same text in UK law, and the UK261 page names the route a refused claim takes. An EU national body has no say over a departure from the UK. Whichever body it is, it is the second step: write to the operating airline first, keep the reply, and claim for free — the fee comparison shows what a claim company would take out of the same payment.

Sources: coordinates from OurAirports country file (GB), checked 2026-10-20; UK CAA: 2025 Annual Punctuality Statistics, Summary Analysis (CSV, run 25 February 2026); amounts and thresholds from Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, its UK version, SOR/2019-150 and 14 CFR Part 260, checked 2026-10-20. General information, not legal advice.