How much compensation for a delayed Delta Air Lines flight?
£520 each, if you land 4 hours or more late (£260 each at 3 to 4 hours)
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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.
Delta Air Lines is worse than most of the 81 airlines flying at UK airports for 3-hour delays.
- Flights a year
- 8,381
- Landed on time
- 79.7%
- Land 3 hours or more late
- 75 a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
Every Delta Air Lines route we hold a distance for falls in the same band, so that is the figure. About 75 Delta Air Lines flights a year cross that line.
The short answer
Getting compensation from Delta Air Lines
If your Delta Air Lines flight from the UK landed 3 hours or more late, or was cancelled with less than 2 weeks' notice, everyone on the booking may be owed up to £520 each when the cause was within the airline's control. Delta Air Lines is a US airline, so only flights leaving the UK or the EU are covered, not flights from the US into the UK.
Is my flight from the US to London covered?
No. UK and EU rules only cover an airline from outside Europe on flights leaving the UK or the EU. A late Delta Air Lines flight into the UK does not pay fixed compensation.
How much is a late Delta Air Lines flight from the UK worth?
Flights from London and Edinburgh to the US are long-haul, so a delay of 4 hours or more pays £520 each, and a delay of 3 to 4 hours pays half, £260 each. Children count as passengers too.
What if I missed my connection in the US?
If the whole trip was one booking that started in the UK or the EU, what counts is how late you reached your final destination. Land 3 hours or more late there and you may be owed up to £520 each, even if the delay began on the second flight.
Does a cancelled Delta Air Lines flight count?
Yes, if you were told less than 2 weeks before the flight. You are owed the same as a long delay unless Delta Air Lines 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 my Delta Air Lines ticket was flown by another airline?
The airline that actually operates the plane is the one that counts, not the name on the ticket. If a UK or EU airline flew it, a flight into the UK is covered too. The booking confirmation or boarding pass usually says who operates the flight.
What it pays
Pick the airport you flew from
Delta Air Lines flies from 2 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 Delta Air Lines get delayed a lot?
Yes, more than most. It's worse than most of the 81 airlines flying at UK airports, with about 1 flight in 110 landing 3 hours or more late (0.9%).
That works out at about 75 flights a year crossing the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
When is it worst?
December 2025, when Delta Air Lines flights ran an average of 19.5 minutes late.
See all the numbers for Delta Air Lines
In the last 12 months, Delta Air Lines operated 8,381 flights at UK airports, and 0.9% were 3 hours or more late, the threshold where £260 each becomes payable, rising to £520 each from 4 hours late.
Flights are landing on time more often than last year: 79.7% ran on time against 76.7% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 15.1 to 12.8 minutes.
| Delta Air Lines, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights at UK airports | 8,381 | was 8,517 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 79.7% | ▲ was 76.7% |
| Average delay | 12.8 min | ▼ was 15.1 min |
| 3 hours or more late (the line where they pay) | 0.9% | - |
| Cancelled | 1.4% | - |
| Flights 3 hours or more late (a year) | 75 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures combine arrivals and departures, so this covers both directions of travel.
Delta Air Lines' delays, month by month
Worst month: December 2025, averaging 19.5 minutes.
Where it flies
Delta Air Lines at each UK airport
From our own tracking
Recent Delta Air Lines flights we logged running late
Every Delta Air Lines 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.
Delta Air Lines
Copenhagen → John F. Kennedy International Airport
14 Oct · due 11:45, landed 14:48
Delta Air Lines
Naples → John F. Kennedy International Airport
12 Oct · due 14:29, landed 20:37
Delta Air Lines
Rome → John F. Kennedy International Airport
11 Oct · due 14:07, landed 18:10
Delta Air Lines
Frankfurt → John F. Kennedy International Airport
11 Oct · due 14:44, landed 18:28
Delta Air Lines
Copenhagen → John F. Kennedy International Airport
11 Oct · due 11:45, landed 14:49
Delta Air Lines
London → John F. Kennedy International Airport
7 Oct · due 19:40, landed 02:40
Delta Air Lines
Dublin → John F. Kennedy International Airport
7 Oct · due 15:55, landed 21:26
Delta Air Lines
London → John F. Kennedy International Airport
6 Oct · due 14:59, landed 20:48
Delta Air Lines
Barcelona → John F. Kennedy International Airport
5 Oct · due 13:45, landed 19:43
Delta Air Lines
London → John F. Kennedy International Airport
5 Oct · due 21:02, landed 02:31
Delta Air Lines
Milan → John F. Kennedy International Airport
5 Oct · due 17:45
Delta Air Lines
Barcelona → John F. Kennedy International Airport
4 Oct · due 13:45, landed 19:26
Delta Air Lines
London → John F. Kennedy International Airport
4 Oct · due 15:00, landed 20:34
Delta Air Lines
Nice → John F. Kennedy International Airport
3 Oct · due 17:15, landed 23:36
Delta Air Lines
London → John F. Kennedy International Airport
3 Oct · due 15:00, landed 21:16
Yours in the list? Check it free and we'll tell you what the airline owes you.
The daily log
Delta Air Lines delays, day by day
- 11 October 2026: 3 flights late or cancelled
- 5 October 2026: 3 flights late or cancelled
- 29 September 2026: 4 flights late or cancelled
- 28 September 2026: 4 flights late or cancelled
- 27 September 2026: 3 flights late or cancelled
- 26 September 2026: 6 flights late or cancelled
- 25 September 2026: 3 flights late or cancelled
- 24 September 2026: 3 flights late or cancelled
- 23 September 2026: 5 flights late or cancelled
- 28 August 2026: 4 flights late or cancelled
How to claim
Claiming from Delta Air Lines
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 4 hours or more on arrival pays £520 each (£260 each at 3 to 4 hours) on the distances Delta Air Lines 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.