How often is British Airways delayed at Heathrow?
953 flights a year cross the 3-hour compensation line
Each one worth £220 or £520 per passenger.
In the last 12 months, British Airways operated 238,132 flights at Heathrow, and 0.4% were 3 or more hours late, the threshold where £220 or £520 per passenger becomes payable.
Punctuality is up on last year: 77.2% of flights ran on time against 72.2% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 14.9 to 12.5 minutes.
| British Airways at Heathrow, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights at Heathrow | 238,132 | was 239,767 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 77.2% | ▲ was 72.2% |
| Average delay | 12.5 min | ▼ was 14.9 min |
| 3h+ late (compensation threshold) | 0.4% | - |
| Cancelled | 1.2% | - |
| Flights 3h+ late (a year) | 953 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures combine arrivals and departures, so this covers traffic both ways, not departures alone.
British Airways at Heathrow, month by month
Worst month: July 2025, averaging 19.4 minutes.
British Airways' busiest routes at Heathrow
| Destination | 3h+ % | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | 0.2% | £220 |
| Glasgow | 0.1% | £220 |
| New York (John F Kennedy) | 0.2% | £520 |
| Amsterdam | 0.3% | £220 |
| Barcelona | 0.3% | £220 |
| Geneva | 0.2% | £220 |
| Rome (Fiumicino) | 0.3% | £220 |
| Manchester | 0.2% | £220 |
Your rights on this route
Heathrow is a UK airport, so every flight departing from it is covered by UK261, whichever airline you fly with. Delays of 3 or more hours pay £220 to £520 per passenger depending on how far you were flying, and the table above gives the exact figure for each of these routes. See the full breakdown on the 3-hour rule. If the flight is cancelled instead of delayed, broadly the same amounts apply under different conditions. See cancelled flight compensation.
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British Airways from other airports
Other airlines at Heathrow
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority punctuality statistics, July 2025 to June 2026. Analysis by CheckFlightCompensation; the CAA is credited as the data source as its publication conditions require. Figures cover the 25 largest UK airports.