Air India Cancelled Your Flight From the UK? Refund and £520 Compensation Explained

An Air India cancellation on a UK to India route is rarely a small inconvenience. Flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Amritsar are often booked for weddings, family visits and emergencies, and the next available seat can be days away. Most passengers focus on getting rebooked or refunded, but if your flight was leaving the UK, you may be owed a lot more than the price of your ticket.

Right 1: refund or rerouting

If your Air India flight from a UK airport is cancelled, for any reason, you must be offered a choice of:

• A full refund of the unused ticket, paid in money, not just a voucher
• Rerouting to your final destination at the earliest opportunity, which can include another airline if Air India has no seats
• Rerouting at a later date that suits you

This applies even when the cancellation was caused by something outside Air India's control, like airspace closures or severe weather.

Right 2: up to £520 compensation per passenger

Separately, if you were told about the cancellation less than 14 days before departure, and it wasn't caused by extraordinary circumstances, UK261 gives you fixed compensation. London to Delhi is around 6,700km and London to Mumbai around 7,200km, so almost every Air India route from the UK falls in the top band:

• £520 per passenger for flights over 3,500km
• Reduced to £260 if Air India rerouted you and you arrived within 4 hours of your original arrival time

For a family of four flying out for a wedding, that's up to £2,080, on top of any refund or replacement flight. Children with their own seat count as passengers too. See our guide to cancellations with less than 14 days' notice for the full timing rules.

Only flights departing the UK are covered

UK261 covers every flight departing a UK airport, whatever the airline. It only covers flights arriving into the UK if the airline is a UK or EU carrier, and Air India is neither. So a cancelled Heathrow to Delhi flight is covered, but a cancelled Delhi to Heathrow return usually isn't. Our guide to Air India flights from India to the UK explains what you can still do on the way home.

Which reasons count as extraordinary?

Air India doesn't have to pay compensation for genuinely extraordinary events, such as sudden airspace closures, security threats, air traffic control restrictions or severe weather. These do not normally get the airline off the hook:

• Technical faults found during routine checks
• Aircraft shortages or late-running aircraft from an earlier flight
• Crew shortages or crew running out of hours
• Commercial decisions to merge or cut low-demand flights

If Air India blames "operational reasons", that's not an extraordinary circumstance by itself. The airline has to prove the cause was outside its control. Read more in our explainer on extraordinary circumstances.

Taking a refund doesn't cancel your claim

Accepting a refund or a new flight does not mean giving up compensation. Be careful about accepting travel credit or a voucher described as settling all claims, and don't sign anything marked "full and final settlement" unless you understand what you're giving up.

Care while you wait

If you choose rerouting and you're stuck at the airport, Air India must provide meals and refreshments, and a hotel with transfers if you're delayed overnight. If they don't, keep receipts for reasonable costs and claim them back. For delays rather than cancellations, see our Air India delay compensation guide.

How far back can you claim?

You have 6 years to claim in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 5 years in Scotland. A cancellation from a few years ago may still be worth £520 per person.

Start your claim

If Air India cancelled your flight from the UK with less than 14 days' notice, check your flight with Klaimly. We claim for every passenger on your booking and charge a flat 5% fee, only if we win, with no VAT added and nothing to pay upfront. Air India pays your compensation directly to you.