Diverted flight? Your delay clock doesn't stop when the wheels touch down.

A diversion means your flight operated and landed, just not where it was supposed to. That distinction changes how your delay gets measured, and it means diversions are judged differently from a straightforward late arrival or a cancellation.

What actually counts as arrival

The question is never "did the plane land", it's "when did you reach the destination on your ticket". The Court of Justice's ruling in Sturgeon (C-402/07) established that the 3-hour compensation test is measured against passengers' actual arrival, not the airline's schedule on paper, and that principle carries straight across to diversions: your delay keeps running until you're delivered to the airport you were originally booked to arrive at, however you get there. Landing at the diversion airport close to on time proves nothing if you then spend hours reaching where you were actually going.

Onward transfer time counts

If you're diverted to a nearby airport and then bussed or taxied onward, that transfer time is added to the delay, it isn't a separate, uncounted leg of the trip. A flight that touches down at the diversion airport only 90 minutes late, followed by a 2-hour coach transfer to your original destination, is a delay of 3 hours 30 minutes for compensation purposes, in full, the same as if the aircraft itself had landed that late at the right airport. Airlines sometimes stop their own clock at the diversion airport's landing time and hope the transfer hours go unnoticed. Time your own journey door to door, from scheduled arrival to when you actually reach the ticketed destination, and use that figure.

The airline still has to get you there

Diversion or not, the airline has to complete the journey on your ticket: onward transport, or where practical a fresh flight, to the airport you actually booked, or somewhere close enough that you agree to it. While you wait, the same care duty applies as any other delay: food, drink, two calls, and if it runs overnight, a hotel and the transfers to and from it, covered in full on overnight flight delays.

How this differs from a cancellation

Your flight number operated and carried you, at least part of the way, so it wasn't cancelled, and the cancellation-specific rules around notice periods and choosing between a refund or rerouting (see cancelled flight compensation) don't apply. A diversion is instead treated as an unusually long delay on the flight you were already booked on, measured against your real destination as above. If the airline pulled your original flight before departure and put you on a completely different one, that's a cancellation, not a diversion, and the other page's rules are the ones that apply.

The cause still decides whether cash is due

The extraordinary circumstances test applies to why the diversion happened, not to the fact of the diversion itself. A diversion for a medical emergency, a security alert, or genuine severe weather at the original destination is likely to be treated as outside the airline's control. A diversion caused by, say, a fuel-planning error or crew running out of legal hours is the airline's problem. See extraordinary circumstances for which excuses actually hold up.

What you're owed

The same fixed amounts as any other delay, based on the distance of your original booked journey, not the airport you were diverted to.

Per passenger, children included, under Article 7 of Regulation (EC) 261/2004 as retained in UK law. A long-haul diversion that delivers you 3 to 4 hours late pays half this rate, the same carve-out as any other long-haul delay, covered on flight delayed 4 hours.

What to keep

• • Note the time you actually reached your ticketed destination, not the diversion airport's landing time.
• • Keep any coach, taxi or transfer ticket, it's your evidence for the onward leg of the delay.
• • Ask crew or ground staff why the diversion happened, and note exactly what they say.
• • Keep receipts for anything you paid for yourself during the transfer or wait.