Flights between the UK and Spain: what a delay is worth
Spain 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 → Madrid | £220 |
| Gatwick → Barcelona | £220 |
| Gatwick → Malaga | £350 |
| Heathrow → Barcelona | £220 |
| Gatwick → Alicante | £220 |
| Manchester → Alicante | £350 |
| Manchester → Tenerife South (Reina Sofia) | £350 |
| Gatwick → Palma de Mallorca | £220 |
| Manchester → Palma de Mallorca | £350 |
| Gatwick → Tenerife South (Reina Sofia) | £350 |
| Gatwick → Madrid | £220 |
| Manchester → Barcelona | £220 |
| Manchester → Malaga | £350 |
| Bristol → Alicante | £220 |
| Stansted → Alicante | £350 |
All 15 tracked UK ↔ Spain 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, 296,180 flights operated between the UK and Spain: 71.2% ran within 15 minutes of schedule, and 0.5% were 3 or more hours late, roughly 1,481 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: 71.2% of flights ran on time against 68.9% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 17.8 to 16.3 minutes.
Flights (12mo)
296,180
On time
71.2%
▲ 2.3pts vs last year
Avg delay
16.3 min
▼ 1.5 min vs last year
3h+ delayed
0.5%
Cancelled
0.3%
Spain, month by month
Worst month: July 2025, averaging 24.2 minutes.
Busiest routes between the UK and Spain
| UK airport | Destination | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | Madrid | £220 |
| Gatwick | Barcelona | £220 |
| Gatwick | Malaga | £350 |
| Heathrow | Barcelona | £220 |
| Gatwick | Alicante | £220 |
| Manchester | Alicante | £350 |
| Manchester | Tenerife South (Reina Sofia) | £350 |
| Gatwick | Palma de Mallorca | £220 |
| Manchester | Palma de Mallorca | £350 |
| Gatwick | Tenerife South (Reina Sofia) | £350 |
| Gatwick | Madrid | £220 |
| Manchester | Barcelona | £220 |
| Manchester | Malaga | £350 |
| Bristol | Alicante | £220 |
| Stansted | Alicante | £350 |
UK airports flying to Spain
| Airport | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| Gatwick | 0.6% | 70.6% |
| Manchester | 0.5% | 62.3% |
| Stansted | 0.5% | 69.8% |
| Heathrow | 0.3% | 76.8% |
| Bristol | 0.5% | 73.9% |
| Birmingham | 0.6% | 68.2% |
| Luton | 0.5% | 70.6% |
| Edinburgh | 0.4% | 68.7% |
| East Midlands International | 0.5% | 77.3% |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) | 0.3% | 81.9% |
| Leeds Bradford | 0.6% | 73.5% |
| Newcastle | 0.4% | 72.6% |
| Glasgow | 0.7% | 73.4% |
| Belfast International | 0.9% | 75.7% |
| Bournemouth | 0.3% | 72.0% |
| London City | 0.9% | 63.8% |
| Cardiff Wales | 0.5% | 71.5% |
| Southend | 0.3% | 80.8% |
| Exeter | 0.8% | 73.4% |
| Aberdeen | 0.7% | 74.5% |
| Teesside International Airport | 0.9% | 70.0% |
| Southampton | 1.8% | 67.9% |
| Belfast City (George Best) | 1.5% | 77.9% |
| Jersey | 4.0% | 52.0% |
| Isle of Man | 1.0% | 43.2% |
Airlines flying between the UK and Spain
| Airline | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | 0.5% | 71.1% |
| easyJet | 0.5% | 71.9% |
| Jet2.com | 0.5% | 71.9% |
| TUI Airways | 0.7% | 60.9% |
| British Airways | 0.6% | 72.4% |
| Vueling Airlines | 0.4% | 75.0% |
| Iberia | 0.2% | 78.7% |
| BA CityFlyer | 1.0% | 62.4% |
| Wizz Air | 0.5% | 76.5% |
| Iberia Express | <0.5% | 81.5% |
| Air Europa | 0.2% | 77.2% |
| Smartwings | 3.8% | 48.1% |
| Evelop | <0.5% | 68.1% |
Your rights on this route
Every flight leaving the UK for Spain is covered by UK261, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, landing in the UK from Spain, 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 Spain'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.