How much compensation for a delayed Ryanair flight?
£220 or £350 each, if you land 3 hours or more late
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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.
Ryanair is about average for the 80 airlines flying at UK airports for 3-hour delays.
- Flights a year
- 348,181
- Landed on time
- 71.1%
- Land 3 hrs or more late
- 1,741a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
The exact figure depends on how far you were flying, and the checker works it out from your route. About 1,741 Ryanair flights a year cross that line.
The short answer
Getting compensation from Ryanair
If your Ryanair flight landed 3 hours or more late, or was cancelled with less than 14 days' notice, everyone on the booking may be owed £220 or £350 each from the UK, or €250 or €400 each from the EU, set by distance. It applies when the cause was within Ryanair's control. Checking your flight is free and takes seconds.
How long does a Ryanair claim take?
Airlines usually reply within a few weeks. If Ryanair refuses or does not answer within eight weeks, you can take the claim to the airline's approved dispute resolution scheme, or to the Civil Aviation Authority if it does not use one. Both are free for passengers.
Does a cancelled Ryanair flight count?
Yes, if you were told less than 14 days before the flight. You are owed the same as a 3-hour delay unless Ryanair offered a replacement flight close to your original times, or the cause was outside its control. You can also choose a full refund instead of a new flight.
How far back can I claim from Ryanair?
Up to six years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland. Older flights are worth checking: most passengers never claim.
What if Ryanair blames the weather?
Genuinely severe weather is usually outside the airline's control, so fixed compensation is unlikely, but Ryanair must still give you food, drink and a hotel if you are stuck overnight. A delay caused by a technical fault or a crew shortage still counts, even on a stormy day.
What it pays
Pick the airport you flew from
Ryanair flies from 18 UK airports, so there is no single distance and no single figure. Open the one you flew from and every destination is priced.
Busiest 8 shown. Ryanair flies from 10 more UK airports, all listed further down this page.
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 Ryanair get delayed a lot?
Not especially. It's about average for the 80 airlines flying at UK airports, with about 1 flight in 200 landing 3 or more hours late (0.5%).
That works out at about 1,741 flights a year crossing the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
When is it worst?
July 2025, when Ryanair flights ran an average of 24.9 minutes late.
See all the numbers for Ryanair
In the last 12 months, Ryanair operated 348,181 flights at UK airports, and 0.5% were 3 or more hours late, the threshold where £220 or £350 each becomes payable.
Flights are landing on time more often than last year: 71.1% ran on time against 67.4% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 18.7 to 16.3 minutes.
| Ryanair, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights at UK airports | 348,181 | was 330,739 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 71.1% | ▲ was 67.4% |
| Average delay | 16.3 min | ▼ was 18.7 min |
| 3 hours or more late (the line where they pay) | 0.5% | - |
| Cancelled | 0.2% | - |
| Flights 3 hours or more late (a year) | 1,741 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures combine arrivals and departures, so this covers both directions of travel.
Ryanair's delays, month by month
Worst month: July 2025, averaging 24.9 minutes.
Where it flies
Ryanair at each UK airport
| Airport | Flights | Avg delay | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stansted | 143,628 | 16.6 min | 0.5% | 70.4% |
| Manchester | 51,379 | 18.3 min | 0.6% | 67.9% |
| Edinburgh | 30,224 | 17.4 min | 0.5% | 67.8% |
| Birmingham | 21,775 | 17.5 min | 0.5% | 68.7% |
| Luton | 15,101 | 16.8 min | 0.5% | 70.6% |
| Bristol | 14,824 | 14.4 min | 0.5% | 74.8% |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) | 14,148 | 10.5 min | 0.4% | 80.9% |
| East Midlands International | 10,602 | 14.8 min | 0.5% | 74.3% |
| Leeds Bradford | 9,522 | 14 min | 0.6% | 76.5% |
| Gatwick | 8,273 | 14.7 min | 0.4% | 73.1% |
| Belfast International | 7,819 | 13.5 min | 0.6% | 79.1% |
| Newcastle | 7,172 | 12.4 min | 0.4% | 77.8% |
| Bournemouth | 5,458 | 17.3 min | 0.4% | 68.8% |
| Glasgow | 4,184 | 12.4 min | 0.3% | 77.0% |
| Cardiff Wales | 1,535 | 13.3 min | 0.5% | 74.9% |
| Aberdeen | 929 | 9.4 min | 0.6% | 86.2% |
| Exeter | 804 | 18.7 min | 1.6% | 69.6% |
| Teesside International Airport | 804 | 13.8 min | 0.6% | 74.9% |
From our own tracking
Recent Ryanair flights we logged running late
Every Ryanair arrival we logged running 3 or more hours 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.
Ryanair
Berlin → London Stansted Airport
7 Oct · 07:40 → 14:10
Ryanair
Malmö → London Stansted Airport
7 Oct · 11:15 → 14:21
Ryanair
Alicante → Newcastle International Airport
6 Oct · 00:15 → 07:46
Ryanair
Barcelona → London Stansted Airport
5 Oct · 11:55 → 15:49
Ryanair
Barcelona → Manchester Airport
5 Oct · 13:20 → 16:58
Ryanair
Ibiza Town → Newcastle International Airport
5 Oct · 00:10 → 03:20
Yours in the list? Check it free and we'll tell you what the airline owes you.
How to claim
Claiming from Ryanair
Ryanair does not pay compensation automatically. 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.
Checked against Ryanair's own site on 12 August 2026.
Your rights
What the rules turn on
Where the flight departed decides everything, not the airline's nationality. Anything leaving a UK airport is covered by UK261 whoever operates it, and anything leaving the EU by EU261. A delay of 3 or more hours on arrival pays £220 or £350 each on the distances Ryanair 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, 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. Methodology and limitations.