Flights between the UK and Portugal: what a delay is worth
Portugal isn't one distance from the UK, so what a 3-hour-plus delay pays depends on the route. Find your route below, or check your flight for an exact answer.
| Route | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|
| Heathrow → Lisbon | £350 |
| Gatwick → Faro | £350 |
| Gatwick → Lisbon | £350 |
| Gatwick → Oporto (Portugal) | £220 |
| Manchester → Faro | £350 |
| Stansted → Faro | £350 |
| Manchester → Lisbon | £350 |
| Stansted → Lisbon | £350 |
| Bristol → Faro | £350 |
| Luton → Faro | £350 |
| Stansted → Oporto (Portugal) | £220 |
| Gatwick → Funchal | £350 |
| Luton → Lisbon | £350 |
| Birmingham → Faro | £350 |
| Belfast International → Faro | £350 |
All 15 tracked UK ↔ Portugal routes, sorted by yearly flight volume. Figures are per passenger under UK261; EU261 pays €250 or €400 for the same two bands.
In the last 12 months, 62,453 flights operated between the UK and Portugal: 72.3% ran within 15 minutes of schedule, and 0.4% were 3 or more hours late, roughly 250 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: 72.3% of flights ran on time against 66.8% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 18.8 to 15.2 minutes.
Flights (12mo)
62,453
On time
72.3%
▲ 5.5pts vs last year
Avg delay
15.2 min
▼ 3.6 min vs last year
3h+ delayed
0.4%
Cancelled
0.8%
Portugal, month by month
Worst month: July 2025, averaging 21.2 minutes.
Busiest routes between the UK and Portugal
| UK airport | Destination | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | Lisbon | £350 |
| Gatwick | Faro | £350 |
| Gatwick | Lisbon | £350 |
| Gatwick | Oporto (Portugal) | £220 |
| Manchester | Faro | £350 |
| Stansted | Faro | £350 |
| Manchester | Lisbon | £350 |
| Stansted | Lisbon | £350 |
| Bristol | Faro | £350 |
| Luton | Faro | £350 |
| Stansted | Oporto (Portugal) | £220 |
| Gatwick | Funchal | £350 |
| Luton | Lisbon | £350 |
| Birmingham | Faro | £350 |
| Belfast International | Faro | £350 |
UK airports flying to Portugal
| Airport | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| Gatwick | 0.5% | 69.6% |
| Heathrow | 0.2% | 69.6% |
| Stansted | 0.5% | 72.8% |
| Manchester | 0.6% | 62.7% |
| Luton | 0.2% | 67.7% |
| Bristol | 0.3% | 74.6% |
| Birmingham | 0.7% | 73.1% |
| Edinburgh | 0.4% | 72.1% |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) | 0.2% | 87.7% |
| Belfast International | 0.2% | 87.5% |
| Leeds Bradford | 0.6% | 77.9% |
| East Midlands International | 0.1% | 85.6% |
| Glasgow | 0.5% | 85.0% |
| Newcastle | 0.1% | 85.8% |
| Bournemouth | 0.1% | 80.2% |
| Southend | <0.5% | 75.3% |
| London City | <0.5% | 78.8% |
| Aberdeen | 1.1% | 90.3% |
| Cardiff Wales | 2.4% | 91.8% |
| Teesside International Airport | <0.5% | 73.8% |
| Exeter | <0.5% | 88.1% |
| Southampton | 2.0% | 79.0% |
| Jersey | <0.5% | 78.1% |
Airlines flying between the UK and Portugal
| Airline | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| easyJet | 0.4% | 71.5% |
| Ryanair | 0.4% | 73.6% |
| Jet2.com | 0.4% | 79.4% |
| Air Portugal | 0.2% | 62.3% |
| British Airways | 0.3% | 73.4% |
| Wizz Air | 1.2% | 64.9% |
| TUI Airways | 2.2% | 70.1% |
| BA CityFlyer | <0.5% | 77.2% |
| Europe Airpost | <0.5% | 77.6% |
Your rights on this route
Every flight leaving the UK for Portugal is covered by UK261, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, landing in the UK from Portugal, 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 Portugal'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.
Flying soon? We'll watch your flight
Enter your flight and email. The moment it goes 3+ hours late or gets cancelled, we email you what you're owed and how to claim it. Free, one email, no spam.
Fly to Portugal from
Airlines flying to Portugal
See all countries · See all UK airports · See all airlines
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.