Flight delay and cancellation compensation at London Heathrow

Your rights when a flight from London Heathrow is disrupted

A departure from Heathrow that leaves you arriving at your final destination three or more hours late can carry a fixed cash payment, entirely separate from any refund or re-routing the airline arranges. The amount is set by the distance flown, not by what you paid: £220 for journeys up to 1,500 km, £350 between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and £520 above 3,500 km under UK261. Where EU261 governs the flight instead, the equivalent bands are €250, €400 and €600. Cancellations announced with less than fourteen days' notice, and denied boarding after an involuntary bump, are treated the same way, provided the underlying cause sat within the airline's control.

Which rules apply at London Heathrow

Heathrow is a UK airport, so UK261 — the retained version of Regulation 261/2004 — covers every departure from it, whichever airline you fly and wherever you are heading. In the other direction, a flight arriving into the UK is covered only when the operating carrier is a UK or EU/EEA airline. If your Heathrow departure is bound for the EU/EEA on an EU carrier, EU261 can apply alongside; you claim once, under whichever framework fits, never twice. A non-UK, non-EU airline flying you into Heathrow from outside Europe falls outside both regulations, and that is the single most common reason a return-leg claim fails.

What to do at the airport

Ask the airline's desk for the reason for the disruption and the expected new arrival time, in writing if you can get it. Arrival time at your final destination is what decides eligibility, so note when the aircraft doors actually opened rather than when it touched down. Once the wait passes two hours on short routes, three on medium ones and four on long-haul, the carrier owes duty of care: meals, refreshments, a means of communication, and a hotel with transfers if you are held overnight. That duty applies even when the cause is outside the airline's control. Keep boarding passes and receipts, and photograph the departure board showing the delay.

Common causes of disruption

Heathrow is a major hub operating with little spare runway capacity, so problems propagate quickly through the day: a late inbound aircraft, a crew running out of hours or a morning slot restriction can still be shaping evening departures. Winter fog and low-visibility procedures, summer thunderstorms across the south-east, and air traffic flow restrictions elsewhere in European airspace are all regular contributors. Technical faults, crew shortages, scheduling decisions and most airline IT failures are treated as within the carrier's control and therefore compensable.

Claiming for a flight from London Heathrow

Start with a free eligibility check: give us the flight and we confirm which regulation governs it and which band applies. If the airline refuses on extraordinary circumstances grounds, the burden of proof rests on them, and a bare assertion of bad weather without supporting evidence is often successfully challenged. Claims can usually be brought long after the flight, though time limits vary by jurisdiction, so old boarding passes are worth digging out. We charge one fixed success fee of €39, payable only once money actually reaches you. No win, no fee.