UK261: Flight Compensation Rights in the UK

What UK261 is

The Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 carried EU261 into UK law on 1 January 2021. The rules on delays, cancellations, denied boarding, care and extraordinary circumstances are identical; the Court of Justice's rulings made before Brexit (Sturgeon, Wallentin-Hermann, van der Lans, Krüsemann) remain binding "retained case law" in UK courts.

Which flights UK261 covers

• Any flight departing from a UK airport, on any airline.
• Any flight arriving in the UK operated by a UK or EU airline (British Airways from New York: yes; American Airlines from New York: no; Lufthansa from Frankfurt: yes — and that flight is also covered by EU261 as an EU departure).

Compensation amounts

Amounts are fixed in pounds and are not adjusted for exchange rates. A flight from London to Madrid on Iberia is covered by both regulations, but you can only be compensated once — usually in the currency of the country where the claim is made.

Differences from EU261

• Currency: pounds, at the amounts above.
• Enforcement: the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) instead of an EU national enforcement body.
• ADR: most UK airlines belong to an approved alternative-dispute-resolution scheme — CEDR (British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Wizz Air UK, TUI) or AviationADR (easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Loganair). Decisions are binding on the airline, free to the passenger, and can be used before court.
• Time limit: six years in England and Wales (Limitation Act 1980), five in Scotland — among the longest in Europe.
• Courts: claims under £10,000 go through the Small Claims Track of the County Court (or Money Claim Online); costs are low and the airline usually settles before a hearing.

Which regulation applies to my flight?

How to claim under UK261

1. Write to the airline with your booking reference, flight details and the amount claimed, quoting "UK261 / Regulation (EC) 261/2004 as retained in UK law".
2. If the airline refuses or does not answer within eight weeks, escalate to its ADR scheme (CEDR or AviationADR) or to the CAA's Passenger Advice and Complaints Team.
3. If ADR fails or the airline is not a member, the County Court — or let us run the whole process on a no-win-no-fee basis.

Airline-specific guidance: British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, TUI, Ryanair, Wizz Air.

Using ADR Before Court

The UK's system differs from most EU countries in one practical way: most airlines belong to an approved alternative-dispute-resolution scheme whose decisions bind the airline. If the airline rejects your claim or does not answer within eight weeks, you can refer the dispute to its scheme free of charge. CEDR covers British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, TUI, Wizz Air UK and others; AviationADR (Consumer Dispute Resolution Ltd) covers easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Loganair and more. Decisions take two to four months. If the airline is not a member — some foreign carriers are not — the CAA's Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT) can review the case, though it cannot compel payment.

Court Claims in the UK

Claims under £10,000 are allocated to the Small Claims Track of the County Court, usually via Money Claim Online. Court fees are modest (from £35 for claims up to £300 to £455 for claims up to £10,000, recoverable if you win), hearings are informal, and legal costs are not normally awarded against the losing side — which is why airlines settle most well-prepared claims before the hearing. The limitation period is six years from the flight date in England and Wales and five years in Scotland (Court of Session / sheriff court simple procedure).

UK261 Cases Worth Knowing

• Huzar v Jet2 (Court of Appeal, 2014): technical faults are not extraordinary circumstances — the UK equivalent of Wallentin-Hermann.
• Dawson v Thomson Airways (Court of Appeal, 2014): the six-year limitation period applies to flight compensation claims in England and Wales.
• Gahan v Emirates (Court of Appeal, 2017): for a connecting booking starting in the UK, a non-EU airline is liable for the delay at the final destination even when the delayed leg was outside Europe.
• Lipton v BA Cityflyer (Supreme Court, 2024): a pilot's illness is not an extraordinary circumstance; retained EU law continues to be interpreted in line with pre-Brexit CJEU rulings.

Package Holidays and UK261

If you booked flights as part of a package, the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 give you rights against the organiser (a replacement holiday, price reduction, refund), while UK261 gives you flight compensation from the operating airline. The two are cumulative, with one limit: you cannot recover the same loss twice. Keep your ATOL certificate and booking confirmation; both claims start from them.