How much compensation for a delayed Air France flight?
£220 each, if you land 3 hours or more late
Check your flight
FreePick your airports and the date you flew. We'll list every flight on that route that day.
A few quick questions. No personal details needed.
Air France is about average for the 81 airlines flying at UK airports for 3-hour delays.
- Flights a year
- 13,645
- Landed on time
- 69.3%
- Land 3 hours or more late
- 68 a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
Every Air France route we hold a distance for falls in the same band, so that is the figure. About 68 Air France flights a year cross that line.
The short answer
Getting compensation from Air France
If your Air France flight landed 3 hours or more late, or was cancelled with less than 2 weeks' notice, everyone on the booking may be owed £220 each from the UK, or about £215 each (€250) from France, when the cause was within Air France's control. Its UK flights go to Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Air France is a French airline, so flights into the UK are covered too.
What if I missed my connection in Paris?
If the whole trip was one booking that started in the UK, what counts is how late you reached your final destination. On a long flight over 3,500 km, 4 hours or more late pays £520 each, and 3 to 4 hours pays half, £260 each, even if the delay began on the first flight.
Is my flight home from Paris covered?
Yes. Air France is a French airline, so a late flight from Paris to the UK is covered as well as a flight out of the UK. Paris is under 1,500 km from every UK airport it serves, so it pays about £215 each (€250) for a delay of 3 hours or more.
Does a cancelled Air France flight count?
Yes, if you were told less than 2 weeks before the flight. You are owed the same as a long delay unless Air France offered a replacement close to your original times, or the cause was outside its control. You can also choose a full refund instead of a new flight.
What if a strike caused my Air France delay?
A strike by French air traffic controllers is usually outside the airline's control, so fixed compensation is unlikely, but Air France must still give you food, drink and a hotel if you are stuck overnight. A strike by the airline's own staff is not normally treated as outside its control, so it can still pay.
How far back can I claim from Air France?
For a flight from the UK, up to six years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland. A flight from another country follows that country's own time limit, which may be shorter. Older flights are worth checking: most passengers never claim.
What it pays
Pick the airport you flew from
Air France flies from 6 of the UK airports we cover, so there is no single distance and no single figure. Open the one you flew from to see its busiest routes priced.
Watch my flight
Flying soon? We'll watch your flight
If it lands 3 hours or more late we email you what you're owed.
How bad is it
Does Air France get delayed a lot?
Not especially. It's about average for the 81 airlines flying at UK airports, with about 1 flight in 200 landing 3 hours or more late (0.5%).
That works out at about 68 flights a year crossing the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
When is it worst?
January 2026, when Air France flights ran an average of 23.8 minutes late.
See all the numbers for Air France
In the last 12 months, Air France operated 13,645 flights at UK airports, and 0.5% were 3 hours or more late, the threshold where £220 each becomes payable.
Flights are landing on time less often than last year: 69.3% ran on time against 72.2% in the twelve months before, and the average delay rose from 14.4 to 15.8 minutes.
| Air France, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights at UK airports | 13,645 | was 13,219 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 69.3% | ▼ was 72.2% |
| Average delay | 15.8 min | ▲ was 14.4 min |
| 3 hours or more late (the line where they pay) | 0.5% | - |
| Cancelled | 1.3% | - |
| Flights 3 hours or more late (a year) | 68 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures combine arrivals and departures, so this covers both directions of travel.
Air France's delays, month by month
Worst month: January 2026, averaging 23.8 minutes.
Where it flies
Air France at each UK airport
| Airport | Flights | Avg delay | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 4,689 | 12.5 min | 0.2% | 75.3% |
| Manchester | 2,458 | 23 min | 1.1% | 56.6% |
| Birmingham | 2,381 | 15.9 min | 0.3% | 68.7% |
| Edinburgh | 1,925 | 15.9 min | 0.6% | 70.0% |
| Newcastle | 1,696 | 14.6 min | 0.3% | 70.6% |
| Gatwick | 481 | 15.1 min | <0.1% | 71.0% |
From our own tracking
Recent Air France flights we logged running late
Every Air France flight we logged running 3 hours or more late, or cancelled, at the airports we sweep since August. Newest first, and only flights UK or EU rules cover. A cancelled row carries no figure because what it pays turns on the notice you were given. Amounts are per person on the booking (half on the longest flights that landed 3 to 4 hours late). Airlines can still dispute a claim by proving the cause was outside their control, so check yours for the real answer. We earn a fee if you claim through a Claim link.
Air France
Paris → John F. Kennedy International Airport
12 Oct · due 10:45
Air France
Paris → London Heathrow Airport
6 Oct · due 07:55
Air France
Paris → London Heathrow Airport
4 Oct · due 07:55, landed 11:11
Air France
Paris → London Gatwick Airport
29 Sept · due 09:40
Air France
Paris → London Heathrow Airport
29 Sept · due 16:35
Air France
Paris → Newark Liberty International Airport
22 Sept · due 14:45, landed 17:48
Air France
Paris → Manchester Airport
19 Sept · due 10:00
Air France
Paris → John F. Kennedy International Airport
17 Sept · due 12:55, landed 16:43
Air France
Paris → Edinburgh Airport
8 Sept · due 16:30
Air France
Paris → London Heathrow Airport
8 Sept · due 16:35
Air France
Paris → Birmingham Airport
8 Sept · due 17:50
Air France
Paris → Newark Liberty International Airport
25 Aug · due 14:45
Air France
Paris → John F. Kennedy International Airport
20 Aug · due 12:40
Air France
Paris → London Heathrow Airport
18 Aug · due 16:35
Air France
Paris → Newark Liberty International Airport
16 Aug · due 14:45
Yours in the list? Check it free and we'll tell you what the airline owes you.
The daily log
Air France delays, day by day
How to claim
Claiming from Air France
Airlines rarely pay compensation on their own. Nothing happens until someone claims, and plenty of first claims come back refused when the airline blames something outside its control.
The rules do not change with the airline. What decides your claim is where the flight took off and how late it landed, not whose aircraft it was.
Your rights
What the rules turn on
Where the flight leaves from matters most. Anything leaving a UK airport is covered by the UK rules whoever operates it, and anything leaving the EU by the EU's. A flight into the UK or the EU is covered too when a UK or EU airline flies it. A delay of 3 hours or more on arrival pays £220 each on the distances Air France flies, when the cause was within the airline's control, which covers technical faults, crew shortages and the knock-on from a late inbound aircraft. It pays nothing when the cause was genuinely extraordinary, though airlines stretch that word further than the case law supports, so a refusal on those grounds is worth testing rather than accepting.
Other airlines
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority punctuality statistics, August 2025 to July 2026. Analysis by CheckFlightCompensation; the CAA is credited as the data source as its publication conditions require. Figures cover the 25 largest UK airports. Methodology and limitations.