How Long Do You Have to Claim Flight Compensation in the UK? (It's Longer Than You Think)
Most people assume a flight compensation claim has expired long before it actually has. In the UK, you have up to 6 years, not weeks or months.
One of the most common reasons people never claim for a flight that was delayed years ago is a simple wrong assumption: that too much time has passed. It hasn't. The UK time limit for flight compensation claims is far longer than most passengers realise, and old disrupted flights are very often still claimable today.
The real UK time limit
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, you have 6 years from the date of the flight to bring a claim, under the standard limitation period for contract claims. In Scotland, the limit is 5 years. There is no shorter cut-off imposed by UK261 itself, the limitation period comes from ordinary contract law, and it applies however long ago the disruption happened, provided you're still within that window.
Why the confusion exists
Part of the confusion comes from EU261, which is a separate but related regulation. Some EU member states apply a much shorter national limitation period, and airlines sometimes quote generic "time limit" language in rejection emails that doesn't actually reflect UK law. If your flight departed a UK airport, or arrived in the UK on a UK or EU airline, UK261 and the 6-year English/Welsh/Northern Irish limit (or 5-year Scottish limit) is what actually applies, not a shorter EU country's rule.
What this means in practice
A flight delayed or cancelled in 2020, 2021, or 2022 is very likely still within the claim window today. The clock starts from the date of the flight itself, not from when you first noticed the delay was compensable, not from when you first contacted the airline, and not reset by an earlier rejected claim. If you were told years ago that your claim had "expired" or was "too old," it's worth checking the actual date against the 6-year (or 5-year Scottish) limit rather than taking that rejection at face value.
Don't wait until the deadline to check
While the window is long, flight records, especially detailed delay data from smaller regional or historical flights, can become harder to verify the older a claim gets. It's still worth checking eligibility as soon as you think of an old disrupted flight, rather than leaving it until close to the 6-year mark, since gathering the flight data needed to prove your claim only gets easier the sooner you start.
How much can you claim?
- £220 for flights under 1,500km delayed 3+ hours
- £350 for flights 1,500-3,500km delayed 3+ hours
- £520 for flights over 3,500km delayed 4+ hours
How to claim
Klaimly checks eligibility on any UK-qualifying flight going back the full 6 years (5 in Scotland), and handles it end to end for a flat 5% fee, only if we win. No VAT, no minimum fee, and nothing to pay unless your claim succeeds.