Delay Payout

Distance bands / Up to 1,500 km

17 routes · short-haul

Flights up to 1,500 km

Short flights up to 1,500 km pay the lowest band: €250 under EU261 and £220 under UK261 per passenger, from 3 hours late at the destination. They also get help soonest: meals from a 2-hour departure delay.

1,500 km3,500 km1234
  1. 1Band edge 1,500 km
  2. 2Band edge 3,500 km
  3. 3EU261 €250
  4. 4UK261 £220
AMS–BCN1,241 kmLGW–BCN1,109 kmFCO–ATH1,085 kmORD–ATL976 kmCDG–NCE694 kmYYC–YVR687 kmEDI–AMS666 kmLHR–FRA654 kmYYZ–JFK588 kmLHR–GLA555 kmLHR–EDI534 kmYUL–YYZ507 kmMAD–BCN483 kmLHR–DUB449 kmLHR–AMS370 kmLHR–CDG347 kmFRA–MUC299 km
Great-circle distance of each route in this band, computed from airport coordinates. Bars to scale from zero.
EU261
€250
UK261
£220
Care from
2 h
Half if re-routed within
2 h

What the band pays

What happenedEU261UK261
Arrived 3+ hours late€250£220
Cancelled at short notice or bumped€250£220
…re-routed, landing within 2 hours€125£110

Because short flights are quick to replace, the re-routing window that lets an airline halve the payment is the tightest, 2 hours. A flight cancelled the day before and replaced by one landing 2 hours after the original time can therefore cost the airline €125 rather than €250. Domestic flights inside one EU country or inside the UK sit almost entirely in this band.

Routes in this band

The shortest route here is Frankfurt to Munich at 299 km and the longest is Amsterdam to Barcelona at 1,241 km. 8 of the 17 touch a UK airport, and 11 touch an EU airport; 4 are purely North American, where the band has no effect because neither EU nor UK rules apply.

RouteDistanceRules that can apply
FRA–MUC Frankfurt–Munich299 kmEU261, UK261
LHR–CDG London–Paris347 kmUK261, EU261
LHR–AMS London–Amsterdam370 kmUK261, EU261
LHR–DUB London–Dublin449 kmUK261, EU261
MAD–BCN Madrid–Barcelona483 kmEU261, UK261
YUL–YYZ Montréal–Toronto507 kmAPPR
LHR–EDI London–Edinburgh534 kmUK261
LHR–GLA London–Glasgow555 kmUK261
YYZ–JFK Toronto–New York588 kmAPPR, US DOT
LHR–FRA London–Frankfurt654 kmUK261, EU261
EDI–AMS Edinburgh–Amsterdam666 kmUK261, EU261
YYC–YVR Calgary–Vancouver687 kmAPPR
CDG–NCE Paris–Nice694 kmEU261, UK261
ORD–ATL Chicago–Atlanta976 kmUS DOT
FCO–ATH Rome–Athens1,085 kmEU261, UK261
LGW–BCN London–Barcelona1,109 kmUK261, EU261
AMS–BCN Amsterdam–Barcelona1,241 kmEU261, UK261

Care while you wait

In this band, EU261 and UK261 require meals and refreshments once the departure is 2 hours late, and a hotel plus transport when the new departure is the next day. The duty applies even when the delay is caused by weather or air traffic control, because care is separate from compensation. If the airline does not provide it, buy what is reasonable, keep receipts and claim the cost back with the compensation claim.

Other bands

Source: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (EUR-Lex); UK Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 7 (legislation.gov.uk); distances from airport coordinates (see methodology). Checked 2026-10-20.