Yes, if EU or UK rules cover the flight and you arrived three or more hours late, unless the airline shows extraordinary circumstances. You claim from the airline directly and do not need a claims company.
Mind My Money works through the airline's claim with you and shows you what it will send first.
This is for anyone whose flight arrived hours late and who wants to know whether money is owed and how to ask for it without paying a claims company a share. Everything below is from the EU's, the UK regulator's and the US Department of Transportation's own pages, read on 19 September 2026, and each is linked so you can check it.
EU rules cover a flight within the EU on any airline, a flight leaving the EU on any airline, and a flight arriving in the EU from outside it if the airline is an EU airline. The EU's summary is on Your Europe.
UK rules, known as UK261, are the same rules kept in UK law. They cover flights leaving a UK airport, and flights arriving in the UK on a UK or EU airline. The UK regulator's page is the Civil Aviation Authority's page on delays.
In the United States there is no equivalent for domestic flights. The Department of Transportation says it plainly: “for domestic itineraries airlines are not required to compensate passengers when flights are delayed or canceled.” What an airline does for delayed passengers there is its own policy, and a cancelled flight entitles you to a refund if you choose not to travel.
What counts is how late you reached your final destination, not how late the first flight left. Under both EU and UK rules, arriving three hours or more late is where compensation starts. A flight that left four hours late and made up time in the air to land two and a half hours late does not qualify.
So the number you need is your real arrival time. Write it down on the day if you can, and keep your boarding passes and the booking confirmation, because the airline's form will ask for the booking reference.
| Flight distance | EU rules | UK rules |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | €250 | £220 |
| 1,500 to 3,500 km | €400 | £350 |
| Over 3,500 km | €600 | £520, or £260 if you were 3–4 hours late |
Under EU rules a flight of more than 1,500 km within the EU is in the €400 band whatever its length. And if the airline offered you another flight and you arrived late on that, the EU page says the compensation “may be reduced by 50%”.
The amount is per passenger, so a family of four on a short flight three hours late is four claims of €250.
The airline owes nothing if the delay came from extraordinary circumstances. The EU's own examples are air traffic management decisions, political instability, bad weather and security risks. It is just as clear about what does not count: “most technical problems” with the aircraft, and strikes by the airline's own staff.
If the airline gives a reason you think does not fit, you can ask it what the cause was, and the route below is where that disagreement goes.
Neither regulator says you need a claims company, and a claims company takes a share of what you are paid. The route above is open to you directly.
Separately from compensation, while you are waiting the UK rules say the airline has to give you food and drink for long delays, two phone calls or emails, and a hotel with transport if the delay runs overnight. If it did not and you paid yourself, keep the receipts and claim those costs too.
Mind My Money goes through your spending on your own computer, and flights are in there with everything else. Where a claim like this is worth making, it works through it with you: it finds the booking in your email, fills in the airline's form with your details, and shows you exactly what it is about to send before anything goes. It is not an expert in aviation law, and the rules above are what it follows.
Runs on your own computer. Pay what you decide, including nothing.