London LHR to Stockholm ARN delay compensation

London Heathrow Airport to Stockholm Arlanda Airport is 1,462 km by great circle, United Kingdom to Sweden. Under EU261 that is €250 per passenger, and under UK261 £220, when the rule applies and you arrive 3+ hours late.

1London LHR
2Stockholm ARN
3Great circle 1,462 km
4EU261 band €250

LHR–ARN on the distance scale used by EU261 and UK261, to scale: bands end at 1,500 and 3,500 km.

Great-circle distance

1,462 km

EU261 band

€250

UK261 band

£220

Which rules cover LHR–ARN

London → Stockholm

Whatever the airline, this direction is covered by UK261 (the flight departs from the UK (Article 3(1)(a)), whatever the airline). On an EU airline it is also under EU261. If the airline refuses, the complaint goes to the airline's dispute scheme or the UK CAA for UK261 or Swedish Consumer Agency for EU261 (the flight arrives in Sweden from outside the EU).

Stockholm → London

Whatever the airline, this direction is covered by EU261 (the flight departs from the EU (Article 3(1)(a)), whatever the airline). On an EU airline or a UK airline it is also under UK261. If the airline refuses, the complaint goes to Swedish Consumer Agency for EU261 (the flight leaves Sweden) or the airline's dispute scheme or the UK CAA for UK261.

Because both EU and UK rules can reach this route, a passenger may find two rules covering the same trip. Each excludes people already compensated under the other's law for the same event, so the claim is made once, under whichever the airline accepts — in money terms €250 or £220.

What you could be owed by hours late

Arrival delay at ARN (or LHR on the return), for a delay caused by the airline, per passenger, where each rule applies:

Hours late	EU261	UK261
2 hours	€0	£0
3 h 30 min	€250	£220
4 h 30 min	€250	£220
6 h 30 min	€250	£220
9 h 30 min	€250	£220

At 1,462 km the amount is the same from 3 hours late onwards — there is no extra for longer delays under the EU and UK rules.

How London LHR runs

The UK Civil Aviation Authority's figures for 2025 show 76.7% of flights at London Heathrow Airport running early or no more than 15 minutes late, against 67.3% in 2024, with an average delay of 12.8 minutes (18 in 2024). 4.2% were more than an hour late and 0.49% more than three hours — the length of delay at which UK261 starts — and 6,376 flights (1.32%) were cancelled. These are all flights at the airport, arrivals and departures, not this route alone.

The distance and the band

EU261 and UK261 measure distance "by the great circle route method" between the departure airport and the final destination. From the published coordinates of London Heathrow Airport (51.470748, -0.459909) and Stockholm Arlanda Airport (59.65194, 17.91861) that is 1,462 km. That is only 38 km below the 1,500 km line between two bands, so this route sits close to a boundary: it is the distance between the two airports that counts, not the longer path the aircraft actually flew. Among the 84 routes on this site in the up to 1,500 km band, it is number 5 by length.

Other routes from London Heathrow Airport (EGLL) on this site: New York (5,540 km), Los Angeles (8,760 km), Toronto (5,707 km), Dubai (5,498 km), Boston (5,240 km), Dublin (449 km), Paris (347 km), Frankfurt (654 km), Amsterdam (370 km), Athens (2,427 km), Helsinki (1,848 km), Edinburgh (534 km), Glasgow (555 km), Chicago (6,344 km), Washington (5,902 km), San Francisco (8,616 km), Miami (7,109 km), Dallas (7,627 km), Atlanta (6,761 km), Newark (5,562 km), Seattle (7,702 km), Denver (7,497 km), Houston (7,763 km), Philadelphia (5,690 km), Charlotte (6,409 km), Detroit (6,045 km), Minneapolis (6,443 km), Montréal (5,215 km), Vancouver (7,579 km), Calgary (7,014 km), Halifax (4,585 km), Madrid (1,244 km), Rome (1,444 km), Lisbon (1,564 km), Copenhagen (979 km), Vienna (1,275 km), Prague (1,044 km), Budapest (1,489 km), Milan (936 km), Venice (1,151 km), Brussels (350 km), Munich (941 km), Nice (1,040 km), Warsaw (1,469 km).

Other routes from Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ESSA) on this site: New York (6,292 km), Copenhagen (547 km), Helsinki (399 km).

If LHR–ARN is only one leg of your booking, measure to the final destination instead: a connection that makes you late at the end is compensated over the whole journey's distance.

If the flight is cancelled

Cancelled with less than 14 days' notice and re-routed to arrive 6 hours late, an EU261 passenger is owed €250 here. If the replacement left within the allowed early margin and landed within the re-routing window, nothing is owed; if it landed within 2 hours but outside those windows, the airline may pay half — €125. On a cancellation you may instead take a refund within 7 days.

Help at the airport while you wait

On a flight of this length, meals and refreshments are owed once the departure is 2 hours late under EU261 and UK261, and a hotel with transport if you have to stay overnight — whatever caused the delay. Keep receipts for anything you buy: it is claimed back separately from any compensation.

Claiming on this route

Claim from the operating airline directly — it costs nothing.

UK261: If the airline's final answer is unsatisfactory, or it has not answered within eight weeks, go to the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) body the airline belongs to, or to the CAA's Passenger Advice and Complaints Team if it belongs to none.

EU261: If the airline does not reply within two months, or the reply is unsatisfactory, complain to the national enforcement body of the country where the incident happened.

Claim pages of airlines based in United Kingdom or Sweden (whether they fly this exact route varies by season):

Airport coordinates: OurAirports country file (GB); Wikipedia: Stockholm Arlanda Airport (infobox coordinates). Airport punctuality: UK CAA: 2025 Annual Punctuality Statistics, Summary Analysis (CSV, run 25 February 2026). Complaint bodies: European Commission NEB list. Rules: UK Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 7 (legislation.gov.uk); Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (EUR-Lex). Checked 2026-10-21. General information, not legal advice.