Missed connection after a flight delay: who helps?

Summary

If your flight leaves late and you miss a connection that was on the same booking, who helps is the airline that operated the delayed leg, or the airline named on the ticket if they are the contracting carrier. Care (food, and a hotel if you are stuck overnight) depends on the length of the delay and the distance. Compensation is a separate fixed sum, and only if you reach your final destination at least three hours late and the airline cannot show extraordinary circumstances. The Civil Aviation Authority sets the bands. Under 1,500 km the figure is £220. Between 1,500 km and 3,500 km it is £350. Over 3,500 km it is £260 if you arrive three to four hours late, and £520 if you arrive more than four hours late. For a connecting booking, distance is from the first airport to the last airport, and lateness is arrival at that last airport. A late arrival only at the hub does not, by itself, trigger compensation. If you bought the onward flight as a separate ticket, UK261 does not treat the whole trip as one journey. Each ticket stands alone. Citizens Advice explains the claim. The CAA does not pay you. After the airline’s final response, or eight weeks of silence, you use the ADR scheme the airline belongs to, or the CAA Passenger Advice and Complaints Team if it has no ADR. This is not denied boarding because the airline oversold the flight. Overselling has its own compensation table. Use that page if you were bumped. Use this page if the aircraft ran late and the connection failed.

Key information

• Keep boarding passes, the booking that shows the flights were one itinerary, receipts for food and the extra hotel, and the airline’s delay reason.
• Care is not the same as compensation. You can be entitled to food while you wait even when compensation is later refused because of weather or air traffic control.
• If the delay at departure reaches five hours and you decide not to travel, you can claim a refund of the unused flights on that booking. Taking the refund can affect the compensation conversation. Read the CAA page before you choose.
• Extraordinary circumstances are the airline’s argument to refuse compensation. Technical faults are not automatically extraordinary. Weather and some air traffic restrictions often are. You do not have to accept the first label they use. Ask for the final response.
• A claims company is optional. The airline, then ADR or the CAA, is free. A company that takes a cut does not unlock a different law.
• the airline: The airline takes the care request on the day and the compensation claim afterwards, usually on a web form. They can reroute you, refund unused sectors, and pay the fixed sum if the tests are met. They will not pay compensation for a self made connection on a second booking. They will not treat a late arrival in the middle of the trip as the test if your final airport arrival was still on time. Claim here first: the CAA says compensation is not automatic.
• Citizens Advice and the CAA: Citizens Advice will walk through the bands and the “whose fault” point on if your flight is delayed or cancelled. They will not submit the airline form. The CAA explains rights on delays. Its Passenger Advice and Complaints Team looks at the complaint only when the airline is not in ADR, and only after you have complained to the airline. The CAA does not order a payment the way a court does. An ADR body can.
• Airline: Provides care, rerouting or a refund, and pays compensation if the tests are met They will not: Does not have to pay where extraordinary circumstances apply, or where a separate ticket caused the miss. Reach: The claim form on the airline site.
• Citizens Advice: Explains bands, evidence and the airline first rule They will not: Does not claim for you. Reach: Delayed or cancelled flights.
• ADR scheme named by the airline: Reviews the complaint after eight weeks or deadlock They will not: Does not open before you have claimed, and is not the same scheme for every airline. Reach: The scheme in the airline final response.
• CAA: Explains the rules and can take a complaint where the airline has no ADR They will not: Does not pay compensation itself as if it were the airline. Reach: CAA delays.

Practical guidance

• On the day: ask the airline for care, rerouting to the final destination, and written confirmation of the delay. Keep receipts if you pay for food yourself.
• After you land: one claim to the airline for compensation, and a separate claim if they ask you to split expenses. Attach the itinerary and the arrival time at the last airport.
• Eight weeks, or a final response that says no: open the ADR named in that letter. If the letter names no scheme, use the CAA route described on the delays page.
• Card chargeback is a weak fit for a UK261 compensation sum. It is more relevant if you paid for a flight you did not get and the airline will not refund. Do not use it as a substitute for the airline claim.

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