UK261 explained: who it covers, what it pays and how to claim in the UK

What UK261 is

When the UK left the EU, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 was kept in UK law as “retained” (now “assimilated”) legislation and amended by the Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which converted the euro amounts to pounds and moved enforcement to the Civil Aviation Authority. Passengers, airlines and dispute schemes call it UK261. It applies to flights from 1 January 2021; earlier flights fall under EU261 as it then applied to the UK.

The substance is the same Regulation: the same three disruptions, the same distance bands, the same duty of care, the same extraordinary-circumstances exemption. What differs is the currency, the enforcement route and — slowly — the case law.

Who UK261 applies to

Three consequences follow. Manchester to Dubai on Emirates is covered; Dubai to Manchester on Emirates is not. London to Paris on British Airways is UK261; Paris to London on British Airways is EU261. New York to London is covered on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic — a UK airline — and on Aer Lingus or Lufthansa, an EU airline, but not on Delta or United.

UK airlines and non-UK airlines. The airline’s licence matters only for inbound flights. On a departure from the UK every operating airline is bound, whatever its nationality; on an arrival into the UK only UK- and EU-licensed airlines are. The airline that counts is the one that operated the flight — the name on the boarding pass — not the one that sold the ticket.

Missed connections. On one booking, the journey is treated as a whole: a London–Doha–Sydney ticket is a UK departure, so a missed connection in Doha that lands you in Sydney four hours late is covered for the whole distance (Folkerts, C-11/11). On separate tickets, each flight is judged alone.

UK261 and EU261

They are two copies of the same text, applied by two legal orders. A flight is covered by one of them, decided by where it departed; where both could apply (a UK airline flying London–Amsterdam, covered outbound by UK261 and inbound by EU261 on the return), each direction has its own regime and a passenger is compensated once per flight.

Judgments of the Court of Justice delivered before 31 December 2020 — Sturgeon on delays, Wallentin-Hermann on technical faults, Krüsemann on wildcat strikes, Folkerts on connections — are retained case law that UK courts follow. Judgments after that date, such as Airhelp v SAS (2021) on lawful pilot strikes, are not binding in the UK but are persuasive; UK ADR bodies have generally followed them. The full EU rules are on the EU261 page; the practical differences for a claim are on the claim letter page.

Delays

Compensation is due when you reach your final destination 3 hours or more after the scheduled arrival time — measured when the aircraft door opens, not at touchdown, and never by the departure delay. The amount is the distance band below; on flights over 3,500 km the airline may halve it (£260 instead of £520) when the arrival delay is under 4 hours. From 5 hours you may also give up the trip and take a full refund. The 3-hour delay page has the worked examples.

Cancellations

Compensation is due when the airline told you less than 14 days before departure, unless the alternative flight it offered departed at most 2 hours early and arrived less than 4 hours late (told 7–14 days ahead), or at most 1 hour early and less than 2 hours late (told less than 7 days ahead). A flight moved to the next day never meets those windows. Whatever the notice, you choose between a full refund within 7 days and re-routing at the earliest opportunity or on a later date. Cancellation rules.

Denied boarding and overbooking

If you had a confirmed booking, checked in on time and were refused boarding against your will — overbooking, a smaller aircraft, a rebooking after an earlier disruption — the airline owes the fixed amount immediately, plus refund or re-routing and care. There is no extraordinary-circumstances defence for denied boarding. Volunteers who give up their seat get what they negotiate. Refusal for genuine safety, security, health or document reasons is not denied boarding. What counts as denied boarding.

Extraordinary circumstances

The only defence to fixed compensation for a delay or cancellation: the airline must prove that an event outside its control — severe weather, an air-traffic-control restriction, an airport closure, a security incident, a strike by airport or ATC staff — caused the disruption and that no reasonable measure could have avoided it. Technical faults, crew shortages, IT failures and strikes by the airline’s own staff are not extraordinary under retained case law; the CAA’s guidance says the same. The defence never removes refund, re-routing or care. The full test, cause by cause.

Amounts and distance bands

The band is set by the great-circle distance from the first departure airport to the final destination. UK261 removed the EU’s intra-Community cap, so every flight over 3,500 km pays £520 — London to Sydney included. Compensation is per passenger with a paid seat, children included, and does not depend on the fare.

Re-routing, reimbursement and care

Three rights exist beside compensation and survive an extraordinary circumstance:

• Refund or re-routing (Article 8) for a cancellation, denied boarding, or a delay of 5 hours or more — your choice, the refund in money within 7 days.
• Care (Article 9): meals and refreshments once the wait passes 2 hours (up to 1,500 km), 3 hours (1,500–3,500 km) or 4 hours (longer flights); two calls or e-mails; a hotel and transport when the wait runs overnight. If the airline provides none, keep the receipts and claim reasonable costs.
• Downgrade reimbursement (Article 10): 30 %, 50 % or 75 % of the fare when you are moved to a lower class.

Claim deadlines

UK261 sets no deadline; the general limitation rules do. A court claim must be started within six years of the flight in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Limitation Act 1980) and five years in Scotland (Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973). An airline’s own terms cannot shorten that, and its ADR scheme accepts cases well inside it. Flights from before 2021 remain claimable within those periods. Time limits by country.

How to claim under UK261

1. Write to the operating airline: flight number, date, booking reference, passengers, what happened in hours or days, the article that applies and the amount. Most airlines have a compensation form; paste the letter into it and keep the case reference. The UK261 claim letter template has the wording; the generator writes it from your flight.
2. Give the airline eight weeks. A refusal must name the specific cause; “operational reasons” is not one.
3. Escalate to the airline’s approved ADR scheme — CEDR (British Airways, Cathay Pacific, SAS) or AviationADR (Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, TUI Airways, Virgin Atlantic and most others; Jet2 is in neither, so the CAA’s PACT team) — after its final answer or eight weeks of silence. Decisions bind the airline and the service is free for passengers. For airlines outside any scheme, the CAA’s Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT) reviews the case but cannot order payment.
4. The county court small-claims track (up to £10,000 in England and Wales) remains open within the limitation period, whether or not you used ADR.

Compensation must be paid in cash, by bank transfer or cheque; a voucher only with your written agreement.

Practical examples

Edinburgh → London City on BA CityFlyer, arrived 3 h 10 late, “crew out of hours”. 530 km, £220 each. Crew duty limits are the airline’s planning; not extraordinary.

Manchester → Orlando on Virgin Atlantic, arrived 3 h 45 late. 6,900 km, over 3,500 km and under 4 hours late: the airline may pay £260 instead of £520. At 4 h 00 the full £520 is due.

London → Málaga on easyJet, cancelled at the gate, “ATC restrictions over France”. UK261 applies (UK departure). If easyJet proves the restriction affected this flight and no other aircraft or slot was available, no £220 is due — but the hotel, meals and the choice of refund or re-routing are.

New York → London on American Airlines, delayed 6 hours. Not covered: a non-UK, non-EU airline flying into the UK. The Montreal Convention may cover documented losses.

Dublin → London on Ryanair, delayed 4 hours. Not UK261 — an EU departure — but EU261: €250, claimable in Ireland within six years.