How much compensation for a delayed Aer Lingus flight?
£220 or £520 each, if you land 3 hours or more late
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FreePick your airports and the date you flew. We'll list every flight on that route that day.
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Aer Lingus is about average for the 80 airlines flying at UK airports for 3-hour delays.
- Flights a year
- 52,206
- Landed on time
- 73.4%
- Land 3 hrs or more late
- 365a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
The exact figure depends on how far you were flying, and the checker works it out from your route. About 365 Aer Lingus flights a year cross that line.
The short answer
Getting compensation from Aer Lingus
If your Aer Lingus flight landed 3 hours or more late, or was cancelled with less than 14 days' notice, everyone on the booking may be owed £220, £350 or £520 each from the UK, or €250, €400 or €600 each from the EU, set by distance. It applies when the cause was within Aer Lingus's control, such as a technical fault or a crew shortage. Checking your flight is free and takes seconds.
How long does an Aer Lingus claim take?
Airlines usually reply within a few weeks. If Aer Lingus refuses or does not answer within eight weeks, you can take the claim to the airline's approved dispute resolution scheme, or to the Civil Aviation Authority if it does not use one. Both are free for passengers.
Does a cancelled Aer Lingus flight count?
Yes, if you were told less than 14 days before the flight. You are owed the same as a 3-hour delay unless Aer Lingus offered a replacement flight close to your original times, or the cause was outside its control. You can also choose a full refund instead of a new flight.
How far back can I claim from Aer Lingus?
Up to six years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland. Older flights are worth checking: most passengers never claim.
What if Aer Lingus blames the weather?
Genuinely severe weather is usually outside the airline's control, so fixed compensation is unlikely, but Aer Lingus must still give you food, drink and a hotel if you are stuck overnight. A delay caused by a technical fault or a crew shortage still counts, even on a stormy day.
What it pays
Pick the airport you flew from
Aer Lingus flies from 12 UK airports, so there is no single distance and no single figure. Open the one you flew from and every destination is priced.
Busiest 8 shown. Aer Lingus flies from 4 more UK airports, all listed further down this page.
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Flying soon? We'll watch your flight
If it lands 3 hours or more late we email you what you're owed.
How bad is it
Does Aer Lingus get delayed a lot?
Not especially. It's about average for the 80 airlines flying at UK airports, with about 1 flight in 140 landing 3 or more hours late (0.7%).
That works out at about 365 flights a year crossing the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
When is it worst?
December 2025, when Aer Lingus flights ran an average of 23.1 minutes late.
See all the numbers for Aer Lingus
In the last 12 months, Aer Lingus operated 52,206 flights at UK airports, and 0.7% were 3 or more hours late, the threshold where £220 or £520 each becomes payable.
Flights are landing on time less often than last year: 73.4% ran on time against 75.1% in the twelve months before, and the average delay rose from 13.3 to 14.6 minutes.
| Aer Lingus, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights at UK airports | 52,206 | was 52,777 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 73.4% | ▼ was 75.1% |
| Average delay | 14.6 min | ▲ was 13.3 min |
| 3 hours or more late (the line where they pay) | 0.7% | - |
| Cancelled | 2.1% | - |
| Flights 3 hours or more late (a year) | 365 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures combine arrivals and departures, so this covers both directions of travel.
Aer Lingus' delays, month by month
Worst month: December 2025, averaging 23.1 minutes.
Where it flies
Aer Lingus at each UK airport
| Airport | Flights | Avg delay | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 13,597 | 10.3 min | 0.1% | 78.2% |
| Manchester | 8,439 | 18.1 min | 0.9% | 67.7% |
| Birmingham | 7,775 | 16 min | 0.9% | 71.1% |
| Edinburgh | 6,864 | 17.8 min | 0.8% | 69.5% |
| Glasgow | 4,435 | 15.2 min | 0.8% | 74.4% |
| Leeds Bradford | 3,848 | 13.8 min | 0.7% | 74.9% |
| Southampton | 3,298 | 12 min | 0.4% | 77.0% |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) | 1,269 | 17.1 min | 1.2% | 76.4% |
| Newcastle | 852 | 15.2 min | 1.2% | 73.4% |
| Aberdeen | 706 | 13.5 min | 1.1% | 72.9% |
| East Midlands International | 583 | 13.4 min | 1.0% | 78.0% |
| Exeter | 382 | 17.6 min | 0.5% | 70.2% |
From our own tracking
Recent Aer Lingus flights we logged running late
Every Aer Lingus arrival we logged running 3 or more hours late, or cancelled, at the airports we sweep since August. Newest first, and only flights UK or EU rules cover. A cancelled row carries no figure because what it pays turns on the notice you were given. Amounts are per person on the booking (half on the longest flights that landed 3 to 4 hours late). Airlines can still dispute a claim by proving the cause was outside their control, so check yours for the real answer.
Aer Lingus
Dublin → London Heathrow Airport
6 Oct · 10:20 → 13:31
Aer Lingus
Charleston → London Heathrow Airport
6 Oct · 14:30
Aer Lingus
Cork → London Heathrow Airport
4 Oct · 08:40 → 12:25
Aer Lingus
Limerick city → London Heathrow Airport
4 Oct · 09:05 → 12:33
Aer Lingus
Dublin → London Heathrow Airport
4 Oct · 09:05 → 12:17
Aer Lingus
Limerick city → John F. Kennedy International Airport
1 Oct · 16:55
Aer Lingus
Charleston → London Heathrow Airport
30 Sept · 14:30
Aer Lingus
Manchester → George Best Belfast City Airport
29 Sept · 17:20
Aer Lingus
Manchester → George Best Belfast City Airport
21 Sept · 13:50
Yours in the list? Check it free and we'll tell you what the airline owes you.
How to claim
Claiming from Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus does not pay compensation automatically. Nothing happens until someone claims, and plenty of first claims come back refused when the airline blames something outside its control.
The rules do not change with the airline. What decides your claim is where the flight took off and how late it landed, not whose aircraft it was.
Checked against Aer Lingus's own site on 12 August 2026.
Your rights
What the rules turn on
Where the flight departed decides everything, not the airline's nationality. Anything leaving a UK airport is covered by UK261 whoever operates it, and anything leaving the EU by EU261. A delay of 3 or more hours on arrival pays £220 or £520 each on the distances Aer Lingus flies, when the cause was within the airline's control, which covers technical faults, crew shortages and the knock-on from a late inbound aircraft. It pays nothing when the cause was genuinely extraordinary, though airlines stretch that word further than the case law supports, so a refusal on those grounds is worth testing rather than accepting.
Other 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. Methodology and limitations.