Flight delayed 3 hours? That's the line where the airline starts owing you money.

Under UK and EU law, 3 hours is not just an unusually bad delay. It is the legal threshold where fixed cash compensation kicks in: £220 to £520 per passenger on UK departures, €250 to €600 on EU ones. Here is what you're entitled to at each stage of a delay, in order.

At 2 hours: care, whatever the cause

From 2 hours (short-haul; 3 to 4 hours for longer flights) the airline owes you food, drinks and two calls or emails, even when the delay is genuinely not their fault. Stuck overnight? They owe you a hotel and the transfers to it. If nobody at the gate offers this, buy reasonable food and drink yourself, keep every receipt, and bill the airline afterwards. They cannot refuse reasonable receipts just because they never handed out vouchers.

At 3 hours: compensation, if the cause was theirs

Arrive at your destination 3 or more hours late and the airline owes you fixed compensation, provided the cause was within its control. Technical faults, crew shortages, the inbound plane running late, overbooking and the airline's own staff striking all count as within its control. Severe weather, air traffic control restrictions and airport strikes do not.

Two details airlines rely on you not knowing. First, it is the arrival that counts, measured when the doors open, not when you took off. A flight that departs 3 hours late but arrives 2 hours 55 late pays nothing; one that departs 2 hours late and arrives 3 hours 5 late pays in full. Second, the amount is per passenger, children included, so a family of four on a long-haul delay is owed over £2,000.

One carve-out: long-haul flights arriving between 3 and 4 hours late pay half the top rate. From 4 hours it is the full amount.

At 5 hours: your money back, no questions

Once a delay passes 5 hours you can abandon the trip entirely and demand a full refund of the unused ticket within 7 days, plus a flight back to your starting point if you're mid journey. This applies whatever caused the delay, even extraordinary circumstances. If you still fly and land 5+ hours late for a reason within the airline's control, the compensation above applies on top.

What to do while you're still at the airport

• • Ask the gate staff to state the reason for the delay, and note exactly what they say. Airlines often firm up a vague "operational reasons" into "weather" later. Your contemporaneous note is evidence.
• • Photograph the departure board showing the delay.
• • Keep boarding passes and booking confirmation. You'll need the flight number and date to claim, even years later.
• • Keep receipts for food, drink and hotels. That's a separate expenses claim on top of compensation.
• • Note your actual arrival time, doors open. Flight-tracking sites record it too, which is how disputes over "2h55 or 3h05" get settled.

Old delays still pay

You can claim up to 6 years back in England and Wales and 5 years in Scotland. Most passengers never claim, which is exactly why airlines quietly budget for the few who do. A delayed holiday flight from three summers ago is still worth checking.