Flights between the UK and France: what a delay is worth
Every route the CAA tracks between the UK and France falls in the same distance band (1,500 km or less), so a delay of 3 hours or more pays a flat £220 per passenger under UK261 if the flight left the UK (€250 under EU261 if it left France instead and the airline was a UK or EU carrier). Find your route below.
| Route | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|
| Heathrow → Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Manchester → Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Heathrow → Nice | £220 |
| Edinburgh → Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Gatwick → Nice | £220 |
| Birmingham → Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Gatwick → Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Luton → Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Heathrow → Marseille | £220 |
| Gatwick → Bordeaux | £220 |
| Newcastle → Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Gatwick → Lyon | £220 |
| Bristol → Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Heathrow → Toulouse (Blagnac) | £220 |
| Heathrow → Lyon | £220 |
All 15 tracked UK ↔ France routes, sorted by yearly flight volume. Figures are per passenger under UK261; EU261 pays €250 for the same band.
In the last 12 months, 86,081 flights operated between the UK and France: 68.3% ran within 15 minutes of schedule, and 0.6% were 3 or more hours late, roughly 516 flights' worth of eligible passengers in a year. The CAA's figures don't separate arrivals from departures, so this covers the route both ways.
Punctuality is up on last year: 68.3% of flights ran on time against 66.4% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 19 to 17.5 minutes.
Flights (12mo)
86,081
On time
68.3%
▲ 1.9pts vs last year
Avg delay
17.5 min
▼ 1.5 min vs last year
3h+ delayed
0.6%
Cancelled
1.2%
France, month by month
Worst month: July 2025, averaging 28.9 minutes.
Busiest routes between the UK and France
| UK airport | Destination | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Manchester | Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Heathrow | Nice | £220 |
| Edinburgh | Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Gatwick | Nice | £220 |
| Birmingham | Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Gatwick | Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Luton | Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Heathrow | Marseille | £220 |
| Gatwick | Bordeaux | £220 |
| Newcastle | Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Gatwick | Lyon | £220 |
| Bristol | Paris (Charles de Gaulle) | £220 |
| Heathrow | Toulouse (Blagnac) | £220 |
| Heathrow | Lyon | £220 |
UK airports flying to France
| Airport | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 0.3% | 76.3% |
| Gatwick | 0.7% | 68.5% |
| Manchester | 0.7% | 58.6% |
| Stansted | 0.8% | 65.6% |
| Edinburgh | 0.7% | 64.6% |
| Luton | 1.0% | 66.1% |
| Birmingham | 0.6% | 66.3% |
| Bristol | 0.4% | 67.7% |
| Newcastle | 0.4% | 68.0% |
| Glasgow | 0.1% | 65.3% |
| London City | 0.7% | 51.5% |
| Belfast International | 0.2% | 72.0% |
| Leeds Bradford | 0.8% | 60.7% |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) | 0.1% | 73.3% |
| Southend | 0.4% | 81.4% |
| East Midlands International | 0.9% | 63.6% |
| Bournemouth | 1.8% | 80.8% |
| Southampton | <0.5% | 72.9% |
| Jersey | 1.2% | 77.5% |
| Aberdeen | <0.5% | 78.6% |
| Cardiff Wales | 0.9% | 61.1% |
Airlines flying between the UK and France
| Airline | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| easyJet | 0.6% | 66.4% |
| British Airways | 0.5% | 75.0% |
| Ryanair | 0.6% | 65.9% |
| Air France | 0.5% | 68.6% |
| Vueling Airlines | 0.2% | 82.2% |
| Jet2.com | 1.2% | 55.7% |
| BA CityFlyer | 1.0% | 50.7% |
| TUI Airways | 1.7% | 57.4% |
| Wizz Air | 0.3% | 81.2% |
| Transavia France | <0.5% | 78.1% |
| Titan Airways | 1.6% | 56.6% |
| Volotea | <0.5% | 56.7% |
| Blue Islands | 2.7% | 75.7% |
| Enter Air | <0.5% | 50.7% |
| Finist Air | <0.5% | 88.1% |
| Alba Star | 2.0% | 40.0% |
Your rights on this route
Every flight leaving the UK for France is covered by UK261, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, landing in the UK from France, are covered too if a UK or EU airline operated them; a return flight on a non-UK, non-EU carrier falls outside UK261, though the Montreal Convention and France's own rules may still give you a claim. See the full breakdown on the 3-hour rule. Cancelled instead of delayed? Broadly the same amounts apply under different conditions. See cancelled flight compensation.
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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.