UK261 vs EU261, and the new EU rules that skip Britain

UK261 is the UK’s copy of the EU’s 2004 flight-compensation law, kept on 31 December 2020 with the amounts turned into pounds: £220, £350 and £520 against the EU’s €250, €400 and €600. For now the two still work the same way: three hours late at your destination for a reason within the airline’s control, and the same care and rerouting. That is ending. The UK has already written its own definitions into law, and the EU’s reform, which will not apply in Britain, adds a 2-hour tarmac limit, a free cabin bag and a 9-month claim deadline, while UK passengers keep up to six years to claim.

Which one covers your flight?

UK261 covers every flight departing the UK, and flights into the UK on a UK or EU airline; EU261 covers every flight departing the EU, and flights into the EU on an EU airline. That is Article 3 in each version, as published on legislation.gov.uk and EUR-Lex. The UK version also covers flights from outside the UK into the EU on a UK airline, unless you received compensation and assistance in the country you left. A flight from Paris to London on an EU or UK airline therefore sits under both laws; you claim once.

What is still the same

The core is identical: the same three distance bands, the same three-hour threshold, the same right to a refund or rerouting, and the same meals and hotel while you wait. Both still pay nothing when the cause was an extraordinary circumstance the airline could not have avoided, and both still pay for being bumped against your will. The UK simply converted the amounts. Our flight rights guide covers both systems alongside Canada, the US and Australia.

Where the UK has already gone its own way

The Aviation (Consumers) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1370), in force on 14 December 2023, wrote the main court rulings into the UK text. The UK regulation now defines extraordinary circumstances in statute, including disruption from an air traffic management decision. It states the three-hour delay right outright, which in the EU still rests on the court’s Sturgeon ruling. It treats a multi-leg flight booked as one unit as a single flight from the first departure. It defines arrival time as the moment passengers are allowed off the aircraft. And it says a claim is time-limited under section 9 of the Limitation Act 1980, which is six years in England and Wales. The explanatory note calls these a restatement of existing case law, so day-to-day results did not change, but the UK now has its own words.

Courts have diverged too. Under the EU Withdrawal Act, EU court rulings made before the end of 2020 still bind UK courts and later ones do not. The UK Supreme Court applied that in Lipton v BA Cityflyer (10 July 2024), holding that a captain falling ill before departure is not an extraordinary circumstance, so the airline had to pay. The EU court reached the same answer for crew illness in TAP Portugal (2023), but in the UK that ruling is persuasive, not binding. The 2021 SAS ruling that an airline’s own staff strike pays is in the same position; see what you are owed in a strike.

What the EU reform changes, and the UK will not get

The reform cleared by the Council on 13 July 2026 rewrites large parts of EU261. None of it reaches UK261. The final text, PE-CONS 39/2/26 REV 2, applies 12 months after it enters into force, which is 20 days after publication in the EU’s Official Journal. Until then both laws run on the 2004 text.

Several of those are new EU rights that UK passengers will not have: the two-hour tarmac limit, the guaranteed personal item, the refund trigger for missed connections, and a named reason for any refusal, explained in what counts as extraordinary circumstances. Others cut the other way: a UK passenger delayed three and a half hours on a long-haul flight keeps £520, keeps an uncapped hotel through a volcano or a strike, and has years rather than months to claim.

Which is better for you?

For money after a long-haul delay, and for time to claim, UK261 will be better; for comfort on the day and clarity about excuses, the reformed EU261 will be. If your flight is covered by both, as on many routes between the UK and the EU, check which gives more: the EU halving for a 3-to-4-hour long-haul delay does not apply on short routes, and the nine-month EU deadline is the one that will catch people out. Claim promptly under either and the difference mostly disappears.

How to claim under each

Claim from the operating airline first, then escalate to the body for the country you departed from.

• UK261: write to the airline; if it refuses, use its approved alternative dispute resolution scheme or, if it has none, the Civil Aviation Authority’s complaints team; then the small claims court.
• EU261: write to the airline; then the national enforcement body or approved dispute resolution body in the EU country you departed from; then the courts of the place of departure or arrival.
• Both: keep the stated reason for the disruption, your boarding passes and every receipt. You do not need a claims company.

Frequently asked questions

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Sources: legislation.gov.uk, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (UK version), Articles 3 and 7, as amended by the Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/278) and the Aviation (Consumers) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1370) and its explanatory note; Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (EU version), EUR-Lex; Lipton and another v BA Cityflyer Ltd [2024] UKSC 24; European Commission, Interpretative Guidelines C/2024/5687; European Parliament and Council, regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, PE-CONS 39/2/26 REV 2 (16 September 2026), Articles 3, 6a, 6b, 7, 9(6) and 11a and Annex I; UK Civil Aviation Authority, delays and cancellations guidance. Read 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

Photos via Pexels: Joanna Zduńczyk (cover), Lina Kivaka, Petrit Nikolli.