How much compensation for a delayed Virgin Atlantic flight?
£520 each, if you land 3 hours or more late
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Virgin Atlantic is about average for the 80 airlines flying at UK airports for 3-hour delays.
- Flights a year
- 25,313
- Landed on time
- 81.7%
- Land 3 hrs or more late
- 76a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
Every Virgin Atlantic route we hold a distance for falls in the same band, so that is the figure. About 76 Virgin Atlantic flights a year cross that line.
What it pays
Pick the airport you flew from
Virgin Atlantic flies from 2 UK airports, so there is no single distance and no single figure. Open the one you flew from and every destination is priced.
Watch my flight
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 Virgin Atlantic get delayed a lot?
Not especially. It's about average for the 80 airlines flying at UK airports, with about 1 flight in 330 landing 3 or more hours late (0.3%).
That works out at about 76 flights a year crossing the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
When is it worst?
December 2025, when Virgin Atlantic flights ran an average of 12.9 minutes late.
See all the numbers for Virgin Atlantic
In the last 12 months, Virgin Atlantic operated 25,313 flights at UK airports, and 0.3% were 3 or more hours late, the threshold where £520 each becomes payable.
Flights are landing on time more often than last year: 81.7% ran on time against 74.0% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 13.8 to 10.2 minutes.
| Virgin Atlantic, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights at UK airports | 25,313 | was 25,048 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 81.7% | ▲ was 74.0% |
| Average delay | 10.2 min | ▼ was 13.8 min |
| 3 hours or more late (the line where they pay) | 0.3% | - |
| Cancelled | 1.6% | - |
| Flights 3 hours or more late (a year) | 76 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures combine arrivals and departures, so this covers both directions of travel.
Virgin Atlantic's delays, month by month
Worst month: December 2025, averaging 12.9 minutes.
Where it flies
Virgin Atlantic at each UK airport
| Airport | Flights | Avg delay | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 22,767 | 10.2 min | 0.3% | 81.7% |
| Manchester | 2,415 | 9.9 min | 0.3% | 82.4% |
From our own tracking
Recent Virgin Atlantic flights we logged running late
Every Virgin Atlantic 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.
Virgin Atlantic
Los Angeles → London Heathrow Airport
7 Oct · 10:15
Virgin Atlantic
New Delhi → London Heathrow Airport
7 Oct · 16:15
Virgin Atlantic
Jo'anna → London Heathrow Airport
4 Oct · 06:30 → 12:37
Virgin Atlantic
New York → London Heathrow Airport
30 Sept · 20:10
Virgin Atlantic
Las Vegas → London Heathrow Airport
29 Sept · 15:55 → 19:52
Virgin Atlantic
Toronto → London Heathrow Airport
28 Sept · 11:10
Virgin Atlantic
Las Vegas → Manchester Airport
23 Sept · 09:25 → 12:56
Virgin Atlantic
Orlando → Manchester Airport
22 Sept · 09:40 → 12:53
Virgin Atlantic
Atlanta → Manchester Airport
20 Sept · 08:50
Virgin Atlantic
Orlando → London Heathrow Airport
16 Sept · 07:55 → 11:18
Virgin Atlantic
New York → London Heathrow Airport
12 Sept · 12:05 → 17:16
Virgin Atlantic
New York → London Heathrow Airport
9 Sept · 06:45
Virgin Atlantic
Orlando → London Heathrow Airport
9 Sept · 07:55
Yours in the list? Check it free and we'll tell you what the airline owes you.
How to claim
Claiming from Virgin Atlantic
Airlines rarely pay compensation on their own. 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.
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 £520 each on the distances Virgin Atlantic 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.