Flights between Heathrow and Houston: what a delay is worth
Leaving Heathrow
£520 per passenger, UK261
Leaving Houston
£520 per passenger, UK261
Houston 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 Houston are 7,787 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, 2,692 flights operated between Heathrow and Houston, and 1.0% 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: 71.1% of flights ran on time against 65.3% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 21.5 to 17.1 minutes.
| Heathrow to Houston, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights on this route | 2,692 | was 2,676 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 71.1% | ▲ was 65.3% |
| Average delay | 17.1 min | ▼ was 21.5 min |
| 3h+ late (compensation threshold) | 1.0% | - |
| Cancelled | 1.3% | - |
| Flights 3h+ late (a year) | 27 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures don't separate arrivals from departures, so this covers the route both ways.
Heathrow to Houston, month by month
Worst month: July 2025, averaging 22.6 minutes.
Airlines flying this route
| Airline | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 0.9% | 70.6% |
| British Airways | 1.2% | 71.7% |
Your rights on this route
Every flight leaving Heathrow for Houston is covered by UK261, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, leaving Houston 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.