UK261 explained: flight compensation after Brexit
The UK kept EU261 in domestic law. You are owed £220, £350 or £520 per passenger by distance band, on the same three-hour arrival threshold, for flights departing the UK or arriving on a UK carrier.
| Up to 1,500 km | £220 |
| Over 1,500 km within Europe | £350 |
| 1,500–3,500 km | £350 |
| Over 3,500 km | £520 |
Who it covers
- —Any flight departing a UK airport, whichever airline operates it.
- —Flights arriving in the UK only when the operating carrier is UK-licensed.
- —The Civil Aviation Authority enforces it, through its PACT scheme.
Regulation (EC) 261/2004 as retained in UK law
Common questions
How much is UK261 compensation?+
The UK kept EU261 in domestic law. You are owed £220, £350 or £520 per passenger by distance band, on the same three-hour arrival threshold, for flights departing the UK or arriving on a UK carrier.
How long do I have to claim?+
It depends on the country whose courts would hear it: six years in the UK and Ireland, five in France and Spain, three in Germany, two in the Netherlands and Italy, and only one year in Canada. Our checker tells you your exact deadline.
What counts as an extraordinary circumstance?+
Weather, air traffic control strikes, security incidents and medical emergencies usually do. Technical faults do not — the Court of Justice held so in Wallentin-Hermann (C-549/07) — and neither does a strike by the airline's own staff (Krüsemann, C-195/17).
Sixty seconds, free, no account.