01
Identify a covered UK flight
UK261 generally covers flights departing from a UK airport. It can also cover flights arriving in the UK on a UK or EU airline, and flights arriving in the EU on a UK airline. The operating carrier and full route matter.
Do not assume citizenship, ticket currency or the booking website decides coverage.
02
Separate care, transport and compensation
Care addresses the wait. Reimbursement or re-routing addresses the journey. Fixed compensation addresses qualifying inconvenience when the timing and cause tests are met. A passenger may have one right without another.
CAA guidance currently lists fixed UK amounts from £220 per passenger for shorter flights up to £520 for qualifying long-haul delays, with a reduced £260 amount for certain long-haul arrivals between three and four hours late.
03
Extraordinary circumstances affect fixed compensation
The airline must connect the extraordinary event to the disruption and show the delay or cancellation could not have been avoided even if reasonable measures had been taken. Care can remain due even when fixed compensation is not.
04
Keep Montreal baggage rights separate
UK261 does not calculate reimbursement for a delayed suitcase, lost contents or a damaged case. Those losses are assessed under the applicable baggage framework, commonly the Montreal Convention for covered international carriage, with evidence and short written complaint periods.