Checked 26 October 2026

Ryanair flight delay and cancellation compensation: how to claim

If you reached your destination 3 hours or more late, or Ryanair cancelled with less than 14 days' notice, you are owed £220 or £350 per passenger unless Ryanair can prove an extraordinary circumstance. The claim form is on Ryanair's own site and opens once you log in to your myRyanair account, with an identity check.

Which Ryanair flights are covered

Ryanair is an Irish airline, so it counts as an EU airline. That means every Ryanair flight to or from the UK is covered by the rules.

• Leaving a UK airport: UK261 applies.
• Leaving an EU airport for the UK: EU261 applies.
• Arriving in the UK from outside the EU: UK261 applies, because Ryanair is an EU airline.

For a delay, what counts is when you reached your final destination, not when the plane left. "Arrival" means when at least one aircraft door opens. The delay must be 3 hours or more, and the cause must not be an extraordinary circumstance.

How much Ryanair pays

The amount is fixed by flight distance and is paid per passenger, including children with a paid seat. Infants travelling free are excluded. Here are Ryanair examples for each band.

So the £260 reduction that applies to flights over 3,500 km does not come up on Ryanair. On flights leaving the EU under EU261 the amounts are €250 and €400.

Compensation is separate from care. Whatever the cause, you are owed meals and refreshments once the wait reaches the stated length for your distance, two phone calls or emails, and a hotel with transport if you must stay overnight. Delays of 5 hours or more also let you choose a full refund within 7 days instead of travelling.

How to claim from Ryanair

1. Collect your details. You need the booking reference, flight number, date, boarding passes and the reason Ryanair gave for the delay or cancellation.
2. Log in to myRyanair. The Ryanair EU261 compensation form opens only after you log in to your myRyanair account.
3. Verify your identity. Ryanair requires identity verification for the claim. Have the document ready before you start.
4. Submit compensation and expenses separately. Ryanair treats them as two requests. Claim your meals, hotel and transport receipts in their own request.
5. Keep the confirmation. Save the claim reference and every reply. You will need them if you have to take the claim further.

Ryanair's help centre has a category for cancelled, delayed and rescheduled flights if you want its own wording. You have 6 years from the flight date in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 5 years in Scotland.

If Ryanair says no

Ryanair can refuse if it proves the delay or cancellation came from an extraordinary circumstance, and that it took all reasonable measures. Circumstances usually accepted include:

• severe weather;
• air traffic control restrictions or strikes;
• airport closures or runway problems;
• security risks and political instability;
• strikes by third parties, such as ground-handling staff the airline does not employ;
• bird strikes (Pešková, 2017);
• a medical emergency or a disruptive passenger on that flight.

These are not accepted: technical faults from the normal running of an aircraft (Huzar v Jet2.com [2014] EWCA Civ 791), the airline's own staff striking, crew sickness (Lipton v BA CityFlyer [2024] UKSC 24), crew shortages and rostering, and "operational reasons" with nothing more.

If you are unhappy with the decision, Ryanair points you to your local ADR body, which in the UK is AviationADR (aviationadr.org.uk). It is free to you. You must have complained to Ryanair first. You can go to AviationADR if Ryanair has not replied within 8 weeks, or within 12 months of its final reply. A decision binds Ryanair if you accept it. If you reject it, you can still go to court.

The county court route is Money Claim Online, on the small claims track for claims up to £10,000. The fee is £35 for a claim up to £300 and £50 for a claim up to £500, and you can claim it back if you win. The step-by-step guide to claiming yourself covers each stage.

Claiming yourself or using a company

Claiming yourself costs nothing and you keep the full amount. Ryanair's form works for a single passenger, and the steps above are the whole process. The guide to claiming yourself explains what to send and when to escalate.

A claim company takes a share of the compensation in return for doing the paperwork. Ryanair's help centre says a claim company "may deduct up to 50%" and that claim companies must register with Ryanair. That is Ryanair's statement. Our comparison of claim companies shows each company's published fee.

Related guides

• Flight delay compensation
• Cancelled flight compensation
• Denied boarding compensation
• How to claim it yourself
• Claim companies compared
• All airlines