Flights between Heathrow and Chicago (O'Hare): what a delay is worth
Leaving Heathrow
£520 per passenger, UK261
Leaving Chicago (O'Hare)
£520 per passenger, UK261
Chicago (O'Hare) is outside the UK and EU, so coming back this only applies if a UK or EU airline operated the flight.
Either figure is payable only when the delay was within the airline's control. A technical fault, a crew shortage or a late inbound aircraft all count; genuinely extraordinary circumstances such as severe weather or an air traffic control restriction do not.
Heathrow and Chicago (O'Hare) are 6,344 km apart (Over 3,500 km), and that distance is all that decides the amount. Which figure applies depends only on which end of the route you departed from, not which way you were travelling.
In the last 12 months, 5,761 flights operated between Heathrow and Chicago (O'Hare), and 1.5% were 3 or more hours late, the threshold where £520 per passenger becomes payable under UK261 (€600 under EU261).
Punctuality is up on last year: 72.3% of flights ran on time against 69.7% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 27.2 to 20.7 minutes.
| Heathrow to Chicago (O'Hare), last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights on this route | 5,761 | was 5,703 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 72.3% | ▲ was 69.7% |
| Average delay | 20.7 min | ▼ was 27.2 min |
| 3h+ late (compensation threshold) | 1.5% | - |
| Cancelled | 1.8% | - |
| Flights 3h+ late (a year) | 86 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures don't separate arrivals from departures, so this covers the route both ways.
Heathrow to Chicago (O'Hare), month by month
Worst month: August 2025, averaging 32.1 minutes.
Airlines flying this route
| Airline | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 2.0% | 76.7% |
| American Airlines | 1.7% | 70.0% |
| British Airways | 0.7% | 69.4% |
Your rights on this route
Every flight leaving Heathrow for Chicago (O'Hare) is covered by UK261, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, leaving Chicago (O'Hare) for Heathrow, are covered too if a UK or EU airline operated them; a flight that way on a non-UK, non-EU carrier falls outside UK261, though the Montreal Convention 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 somewhere else in United States? See every route between the UK and United States.
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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.