How much compensation for a delayed SAS 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.
SAS is better than most of the 81 airlines flying at UK airports for 3-hour delays.
- Flights a year
- 12,915
- Landed on time
- 82.2%
- Land 3 hours or more late
- 13 a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
Every SAS route we hold a distance for falls in the same band, so that is the figure. About 13 SAS flights a year cross that line.
The short answer
Getting compensation from SAS
If your SAS 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 Denmark, Sweden or Norway, when the cause was within SAS's control. SAS is a Scandinavian airline, and flights leaving those countries are covered by the same European rules, so the flight home is covered too.
Is my flight home from Copenhagen, Oslo or Stockholm covered?
Yes. Denmark and Sweden are in the EU and Norway applies the same European rules at its airports, so a late SAS flight to the UK is covered as well as a flight out of the UK.
How much is a late SAS flight worth?
It is set by distance. Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm are all under 1,500 km from London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Aberdeen, so a delay of 3 hours or more pays £220 each from the UK, or about £215 each (€250) from Scandinavia.
What if I missed my connection at Copenhagen, Oslo or Stockholm?
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.
Does a cancelled SAS flight count?
Yes, if you were told less than 2 weeks before the flight. You are owed the same as a long delay unless SAS 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 SAS delay?
A strike by SAS's own staff is not normally treated as outside its control, so it can still pay: in 2021 the EU's top court ruled that a pilots' pay strike at SAS did not excuse the airline. A strike by air traffic controllers usually is outside its control, but SAS must still give you food, drink and a hotel if you are stuck overnight.
What it pays
Pick the airport you flew from
SAS flies from 5 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 SAS get delayed a lot?
No, less than most. It's better than most of the 81 airlines flying at UK airports, with about 1 flight in 1,000 landing 3 hours or more late (0.1%).
That works out at about 13 flights a year crossing the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
When is it worst?
January 2026, when SAS flights ran an average of 13.2 minutes late.
See all the numbers for SAS
In the last 12 months, SAS operated 12,915 flights at UK airports, and 0.1% were 3 hours or more late, the threshold where £220 each becomes payable.
Flights are landing on time less often than last year: 82.2% ran on time against 82.9% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 8.4 to 8.1 minutes.
| SAS, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights at UK airports | 12,915 | was 13,100 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 82.2% | ▼ was 82.9% |
| Average delay | 8.1 min | ▼ was 8.4 min |
| 3 hours or more late (the line where they pay) | 0.1% | - |
| Cancelled | 2.4% | - |
| Flights 3 hours or more late (a year) | 13 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures combine arrivals and departures, so this covers both directions of travel.
SAS's delays, month by month
Worst month: January 2026, averaging 13.2 minutes.
Where it flies
SAS at each UK airport
| Airport | Flights | Avg delay | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 7,736 | 6.6 min | 0.1% | 85.2% |
| Manchester | 3,005 | 12.6 min | 0.2% | 72.9% |
| Aberdeen | 959 | 4.6 min | <0.1% | 87.4% |
| Edinburgh | 652 | 8.1 min | 0.2% | 82.5% |
| Birmingham | 563 | 10.8 min | 0.6% | 79.8% |
From our own tracking
Recent SAS flights we logged running late
Every SAS 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.
SAS
Copenhagen → John F. Kennedy International Airport
10 Oct · due 17:00
SAS
Stockholm Arlanda → Edinburgh Airport
10 Oct · due 18:05
SAS
Copenhagen → Edinburgh Airport
10 Oct · due 18:25
SAS
Stockholm Arlanda → Edinburgh Airport
8 Oct · due 09:30
SAS
Stockholm Arlanda → Edinburgh Airport
6 Oct · due 09:30
SAS
Copenhagen → John F. Kennedy International Airport
6 Oct · due 17:00
SAS
Oslo → London Heathrow Airport
4 Oct · due 09:35, landed 12:36
SAS
Stockholm → London Heathrow Airport
4 Oct · due 08:55
SAS
Stockholm Arlanda → Edinburgh Airport
3 Oct · due 18:05
SAS
Copenhagen → Edinburgh Airport
3 Oct · due 18:25
SAS
Stavanger → Aberdeen International Airport
2 Oct · due 09:40
SAS
Oslo → London Heathrow Airport
1 Oct · due 21:35
SAS
Copenhagen → London Heathrow Airport
29 Sept · due 17:40
SAS
Copenhagen → John F. Kennedy International Airport
26 Sept · due 17:00, landed 21:05
SAS
Oslo → Manchester Airport
25 Sept · due 19:45
Yours in the list? Check it free and we'll tell you what the airline owes you.
The daily log
SAS delays, day by day
How to claim
Claiming from SAS
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 SAS 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.