# Flight Delayed 3 Hours: How Much Compensation?

> €250, €400 or €600 under EU261 and £220, £350 or £520 under UK261 once you land three or more hours late at your final destination. Set by distance.

- Canonical: https://flightclaimletters.pages.dev/guides/flight-delayed-3-hours-compensation/
- Section: Your situation, explained (https://flightclaimletters.pages.dev/guides/#explainers)
- Published: 6 Sept 2026 · Figures checked: 6 Sept 2026 · 5 min read
- Source site: flightclaimletters — https://flightclaimletters.pages.dev/ · General information, not legal advice.

A three-hour delay is worth €250, €400 or €600 under EU261, or £220, £350 or £520 under UK261. The three hours are counted on arrival at your final destination, not at departure, and the amount is set by great-circle distance, not by your fare. The airline escapes only by proving extraordinary circumstances.

## The amount, by distance

| Great-circle distance to your final destination | EU261 | UK261 |
|---|---|---|
| 1,500 km or less | €250 | £220 |
| Intra-EU over 1,500 km, or any other flight 1,500–3,500 km | €400 | £350 |
| Over 3,500 km | €600 | £520 |

Under [Article 7(1)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2004/261/oj/eng) an intra-EU flight is capped at €400 however long it is. The [UK version of Article 7](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/article/7) drops the intra-Community wording and simply pays £350 between 1,500 and 3,500 km. There is one threshold, at three hours: a five-hour delay pays the same as a three-hour one.

## Three hours, measured on arrival

The clock is the gap between your scheduled arrival time and the moment the aircraft actually reaches the stand. A flight that pushes back four hours late and makes up time in the air owes nothing if it lands two hours and fifty minutes late. A flight that leaves on time and lands three hours late owes the full amount.

On a single booking with a connection, only the arrival at the end of the journey counts — the delay on the first leg is irrelevant if you still make the last flight on time. That is what [connecting flights and the final destination](/guides/connecting-flights-final-destination/) covers.

> **Record the actual arrival time on the day.** Airlines settle on the scheduled arrival and their own on-block time, and the difference between 2 h 55 and 3 h 05 is the whole claim. Photograph the arrivals board, the aircraft door time or the crew announcement, and keep the boarding pass.

## Where the three-hour rule comes from

Article 7 names cancellation and denied boarding. It does not mention delay. The right to the same fixed sum after a long delay comes from the Court of Justice in *Sturgeon and Böck* ([C-402/07 and C-432/07](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A62007CJ0402), 19 November 2009), which held that passengers who "reach their final destination three hours or more after the arrival time originally scheduled" may be treated like passengers of a cancelled flight. The airlines challenged it and lost in *Nelson and TUI Travel* ([C-581/10 and C-629/10](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A62010CJ0581), 23 October 2012), where the Grand Chamber held that lost time is an inconvenience rather than damage under the Montreal Convention, so the fixed sum is valid. If an airline tells you Article 7 does not cover delays, those are the two case numbers to put in your reply. For a UK261 claim you can also point to the statute: [Article 6(3) of the retained Regulation](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/article/6), inserted on 14 December 2023 by S.I. 2023/1370, states the three-hour rule in so many words.

## Three hours or four on a long flight

Article 7(2) lets the airline halve the payment when it re-routes you and you still arrive within two, three or four hours of the original arrival, by band. The Court in *Sturgeon* ([paragraph 63](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A62007CJ0402)) puts it plainly for the top band: where the delay at arrival is less than four hours on a journey of more than 3,500 km involving an airport outside the EU, the compensation may be reduced by 50 %, giving €300.

So on a long-haul flight the practical ladder is: under three hours, nothing; three to four hours, €300 is arguable; four hours or more, €600. Ask the airline which limb of Article 7(2) it relies on and what re-routed arrival time it is using.

## What beats the claim

Only extraordinary circumstances, and the airline has to prove them under Article 5(3) — a specific cause, plus evidence that all reasonable measures were taken. Weather that grounds the aircraft usually qualifies; a routine technical fault usually does not. Get the reason in writing, then check it against [extraordinary circumstances](/guides/extraordinary-circumstances/). Even when compensation is excused, meals, calls and a hotel are not: those are owed under Article 9 whatever the cause.

Once you have the arrival time and the band, send the [delay compensation letter](/guides/delay-compensation-letter/).

## Is the delay measured at departure or arrival?

At arrival, at your final destination. *Sturgeon* fixed the trigger as reaching the final destination three hours or more after the originally scheduled arrival time. Departure delay is only evidence; it decides nothing on its own.

## Does a cheap ticket mean less money?

No. Article 7 sets one sum per distance band for every passenger on the aircraft, whatever they paid. A €25 fare on a 2,400 km route carries the same €400 as a flexible business fare on the same flight.

## What if I was 2 hours 55 minutes late?

Then Article 7 pays nothing, and the honest answer is to stop there rather than round up. You may still be owed the cost of meals or a hotel if you waited long enough at the airport, and any fee for a service you paid for and did not get — see the [expenses letter](/guides/expense-reimbursement-letter/).