Under UK and EU law the airline owes fixed compensation, per passenger, when it is responsible for a delay of 3 hours or more at arrival, a cancellation at under 14 days' notice, or refusing you a seat you had booked. Checking is free. Hand it to a claim company and it keeps 35% of the payout (45% if it goes to court) and nothing if the claim fails, or claim it yourself for free.
Check the flight here, hand it over if you would rather not chase the airline yourself, and wait for the money. Or do it yourself with the free guide.
Airports, date and what went wrong. The check tells you the distance band and the amount per passenger, and whether the disruption is the kind the law pays for.
If you hand the claim over, the company writes to the airline, answers the "extraordinary circumstances" reply with the case law, and takes it to court if the airline still refuses. You sign one form.
The airline pays the company, which keeps 35% of the payout (45% if it had to go to court) and transfers the rest to you. No win, no fee. Claim directly from the airline and you keep 100%.
UK261 (the UK's version of EU Regulation 261/2004) covers more than most passengers realise, and excludes less than the airlines claim.
Situations that qualify for £220 to £520 per passenger. Guides: delays, cancellations, denied boarding.
"Extraordinary circumstances" the airline can prove, and flights outside the rules.
Airlines call things "extraordinary" that are not. The difference is £220 to £520 per passenger, so get a second opinion before you accept a refusal.
UK261 pays a fixed amount per passenger set by the distance of the flight, not by the price of your ticket. Everyone with a paid seat gets the same, children included.
UK261 covers flights leaving a UK airport on any airline, flights arriving in the UK on a UK or EU airline, and flights arriving in the EU on a UK airline. EU261 covers flights leaving an EU airport and flights arriving in the EU on an EU airline. A family of four on a cancelled Orlando flight is owed £2,080. If a cancelled or overbooked flight is replaced by one that gets you there within 2, 3 or 4 hours of the original time (by band), the amount is halved to £110, £175 or £260.
Every airline has its own claim form, login rules and dispute body. Each guide gives the direct route, what the airline tends to say, and where the case goes if it says no.
The rules are the same at every UK airport: any flight leaving one is covered, whichever airline operates it. Pick yours to start the free check.
Illustrative examples of typical claim outcomes. They do not describe named individuals. "Paid" is what is left after a claim company's 35% fee; claim it yourself and you keep the full amount.
"BA claimed 'extraordinary circumstances' for a 4-hour delay that was actually a mechanical fault on their own 777. The claim company pushed back with the CAA's own data. Paid in nine weeks."
"Family trip to Alicante, Ryanair cancelled the outbound 2 days before. Got the refund straight away but didn't realise we could claim £350 each on top. Total £1,400 back — paid for half the next holiday."
"6-hour delay on BA out of Dubai on the way home. Didn't think it would qualify because Dubai isn't in the UK or EU — but because it was a UK airline landing at Heathrow, it does. Paid in 5 weeks."
You can claim directly with the airline for free, and many claims succeed on the first form. But when an airline says "we're treating this as extraordinary circumstances", goes silent for 8 weeks, or asks for documents it never mentioned, most passengers give up, which is the outcome the airline is counting on.
A claim company exists for the claims that need a second push. It knows the case law (technical faults, crew sickness and the airline's own strikes are not extraordinary), it writes the letters, and it carries the cost and the risk of court if the airline still refuses. In return it keeps 35% of the payout, or 45% if it goes to court, and nothing if the claim fails.
Part of the CompareFlights network. FlightCare explains the law from the regulation, the CAA's guidance and the court decisions, and shows you both routes: doing it yourself and what each claim company keeps.
Checked against the regulation, the CAA's guidance and the court decisions on 26 October 2026.
Six years from the date of the flight in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, five years in Scotland. A flight from early 2021 is still claimable in England today. If you use the dispute scheme you must go within 12 months of the airline's final reply.
No. It is a fixed amount set by the flight distance: £220, £350 or £520 per passenger under UK261. A £19.99 Ryanair seat to Dublin and a £400 one both pay £220. Refunds of the fare are separate and additional when a flight is cancelled.
Yes. A refund or re-routing is your entitlement for the cancelled flight itself; compensation is for the disruption. Accepting one does not waive the other unless you signed something that says so. Volunteering to give up your seat on an overbooked flight does waive the fixed compensation, because you negotiated your own deal.
If a claim company takes the case it keeps 35% of the compensation when the claim succeeds, 45% if it has to go to court, plus your bank's transfer fee, and nothing if the claim fails. On a £520 claim you keep £338, or £286 after a court case. Claim directly from the airline and you keep the whole £520. What each claim company keeps.
No. The airline's form is free, the dispute scheme is free, and the court route costs a fee from £35 that you may recover. A company is a convenience: it keeps 30% to 50% of the money in return for doing the chasing and carrying the court risk. If the airline has already refused with a weak reason, that is the moment a company earns its fee.
Yes. The flight part of a package is covered the same way. You claim from the operating airline, not the tour operator. TUI's flights are claimed on TUI's own form, Jet2holidays flights on Jet2's.
Yes, within the time limit: 6 years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 5 in Scotland. Old claims are harder because boarding passes and emails go missing, so gather what you have. The airline still has to prove any extraordinary circumstance it relies on.
Flights before 1 January 2021 fall under EU261, and most are now outside the six-year limit. From a flight date in 2021 onwards, UK departures and UK-airline arrivals are UK261 with the amounts in pounds above.
If your flight was delayed, cancelled or overbooked in the last 6 years, start the free check. If a claim company takes it on, it keeps 35% of the payout, or 45% if it has to go to court, and you pay your bank's transfer fee. Nothing if the claim fails. Or claim it yourself for free.
Start the free check →No card · no signup to check · no win, no fee