Flight delayed 4 hours? There's no partial rate left to argue about.

Compensation starts at 3 hours (see flight delayed 3 hours for the full rules). At 4 hours, one loophole airlines use on long-haul flights disappears completely. This page is about that loophole, and what else escalates once you're this far past the threshold.

The long-haul half-rate, and why it stops at 4 hours

For short and medium-haul flights, crossing 3 hours pays the full published rate straight away, there is no halfway step. Long-haul is different. On flights covering more than 3,500 km (e.g. London to New York, Dubai, Bangkok), landing between 3 and 4 hours late only pays half the top rate. Only once the delay passes 4 hours does the full amount become due.

Concretely: on a UK-departing long-haul flight, landing 3 to 4 hours late pays £260, half of the £520 owed once you're past 4 hours. On EU departures the same flight is €300 halved versus €600 in full. Airlines sometimes quote the halved figure by default even once a passenger is clearly past 4 hours, on the assumption nobody checks their actual arrival time against the clock. Check yours before you accept a number.

What you're owed at the full rate

Per passenger, children included, under Article 7 of Regulation (EC) 261/2004 as retained in UK law. Short and medium-haul flights pay this in full from 3 hours; long-haul pays it in full from 4 hours, with the halved rate above applying to the hour in between.

Care keeps escalating too

The care duty that started at 2, 3 or 4 hours depending on your flight's distance (see flight delayed 2 hours for exactly where that line sits) is in full effect by now: food and drink refreshed if the wait drags on, and if it tips into an overnight stay, a hotel plus the transfers to and from it, covered in full on overnight flight delays. That obligation doesn't change even if the airline later disputes cash compensation, care is unconditional, compensation is not.

What can still block the payout

The delay still has to be within the airline's control. Technical faults, crew shortages and the inbound aircraft running late all count as theirs. Genuine severe weather, air traffic control restrictions and airport strikes don't. See extraordinary circumstances for which excuses actually hold up and which have lost in court.

What to do at 4 hours

• • Note your actual arrival time, doors open, not the figure on the departure board.
• • Keep your boarding pass and booking reference, you'll need the flight number and date to claim.
• • Ask gate or cabin crew to state the cause of the delay, and note exactly what they say.
• • At 4 hours you're clearly over the line either way, so there's no reason to wait: claiming directly has the letter to send.