How bad are delays at Manchester Airport?
£220 to £520 each, if you land 3 hours or more late
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Manchester is one of the 5 worst of the 25 biggest UK airports for landing on time.
- Flights a year
- 197,004
- Landed on time
- 62.9%
- Land 3 hrs or more late
- 1,182a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
£220 to £520each if you land 3 hours or more late
Which figure depends on how far you flew. Find your route below for the exact one.
1,182 flights a year cross the 3-hour line at Manchester
The short answer
Delayed at Manchester? What you can claim
If your flight from Manchester landed 3 hours or more late, or was cancelled with less than 2 weeks' notice, everyone on the booking may be owed £220 to £520 each, by distance. The airline pays, not the airport. Every flight leaving Manchester is covered, on any airline; flights into Manchester are covered from the EU, or on a UK or EU airline from anywhere.
Is my flight back to Manchester from Dubai or Doha covered?
Not on Emirates or Qatar Airways: airlines from outside Europe are only covered on flights leaving the UK or the EU. Your flight out of Manchester is covered, and a delay of 4 hours or more there pays £520 each.
Is a late flight into Manchester covered?
Yes if it left the EU, whichever airline flew it, or if a UK or EU airline flew it from anywhere. A late arrival into Manchester on Jet2, easyJet, Ryanair or TUI counts; the same delay on an airline from outside Europe, coming from outside the EU, does not.
Who pays if my Manchester flight is late: the airline or the airport?
The airline that flew the plane. If the cause was something the airline controls, such as a technical fault or a crew shortage, it owes the fixed amount. Problems run by others, such as air traffic control limits or an airport staff strike, usually count as outside the airline's control, so there is no fixed payout, though the airline must still look after you.
What must the airline give me while I wait at Manchester?
Food and drink once you have waited 2 hours on a short flight, 3 hours on a medium one, or 4 hours on a long one, and a hotel with transfers if you are stuck overnight. This applies whatever caused the delay, weather included. Keep your receipts if you have to pay yourself.
What it pays
What a delay from Manchester pays
The busiest routes out of Manchester, priced. One departure airport, so each figure is exact.
Flying somewhere that isn't listed? Put the flight number in above and we'll work out the exact figure.
From our own tracking
Recent arrivals into Manchester that ran late
Every arrival at Manchester we logged running 3 or more hours late, or cancelled, 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.
easyJet
Lyon → Manchester Airport
8 Oct · 01:35 → 04:38
Ryanair
Barcelona → Manchester Airport
5 Oct · 13:20 → 16:58
Loganair
Inverness → Manchester Airport
5 Oct · 19:20 → 22:26
Jet2
Antalya → Manchester Airport
4 Oct · 02:40 → 19:45
Yours in the list? Check it free and we'll tell you what the airline owes you.
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 Manchester get delayed a lot?
Yes, more than most. It's one of the 5 worst of the 25 biggest UK airports for landing on time, with 62.9% of flights arriving within 15 minutes of schedule.
Most delays here are under an hour. About 1,182 flights a year cross the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
Which airline here is most reliable?
Virgin Atlantic, 82.4% on time across 2,415 flights. Least reliable: Jet2.com, 49.4%. The full league table is below.
When is it worst?
September 2025, when flights at Manchester ran an average of 25.3 minutes late.
See all the numbers for Manchester
In the last 12 months, 197,004 flights operated at Manchester, and 0.6% were 3 or more hours late, crossing the threshold where £220 to £520 each becomes payable.
Flights are landing on time less often than last year: 62.9% ran on time against 65.2% in the twelve months before, and the average delay rose from 20 to 20.2 minutes.
| Manchester, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights at Manchester | 197,004 | was 191,772 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 62.9% | ▼ was 65.2% |
| Average delay | 20.2 min | ▲ was 20 min |
| 3 hours or more late (the line where they pay) | 0.6% | - |
| Cancelled | 1.0% | - |
| Flights 3 hours or more late (a year) | 1,182 flights/year | - |
These are CAA figures for Manchester, arrivals and departures combined. Here's how each airline compares below.
Manchester, month by month
Worst month: September 2025, averaging 25.3 minutes.
The league table
Airlines at Manchester
| Airline | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | 0.6% | 67.9% |
| easyJet | 0.6% | 60.6% |
| Jet2.com | 0.6% | 49.4% |
| TUI Airways | 0.7% | 53.9% |
| Aer Lingus | 0.9% | 67.7% |
| Loganair | 0.6% | 74.2% |
| British Airways | 0.1% | 69.7% |
| Lufthansa | 0.2% | 65.8% |
| KLM | 0.4% | 61.1% |
| SAS | 0.2% | 73.6% |
| Turkish Airlines | 0.1% | 66.3% |
| Air France | 1.1% | 56.5% |
| Virgin Atlantic | 0.3% | 82.4% |
| Sunexpress | 0.3% | 69.1% |
| Qatar Airways | 0.3% | 72.4% |
| Emirates | 0.9% | 60.3% |
| Eurowings Luftverkehrs | 0.1% | 70.6% |
| Swiss Airlines | 0.1% | 55.6% |
| Pegasus Airlines | 0.5% | 63.5% |
| Etihad Airways | 0.4% | 64.4% |
| Brussels Airlines | 0.1% | 61.5% |
| Finnair | 0.1% | 72.4% |
| Aurigny Air Services | 1.6% | 72.6% |
| Norwegian | <0.5% | 60.2% |
| Vueling Airlines | 0.8% | 64.0% |
| Air Portugal | 0.7% | 45.7% |
| Ethiopian Airlines | <0.5% | 69.0% |
| Cathay Pacific Airways | 1.1% | 72.7% |
| Egypt Air | 0.4% | 41.3% |
| Saudi Arabian Airlines | 0.7% | 67.4% |
| Icelandair | 1.1% | 83.4% |
| Hainan Airlines | 0.2% | 75.7% |
| Indigo | 10.8% | 36.7% |
| Singapore Airlines | <0.5% | 71.2% |
| Iberia Express | <0.5% | 67.7% |
| Juneyao Airlines | 0.9% | 81.0% |
| Air Transat | 0.5% | 68.8% |
| Royal Air Maroc | 1.0% | 56.1% |
| Gulf Air | 5.0% | 61.9% |
| Aegean Airlines | <0.5% | 44.9% |
| Corendon Airlines | 1.2% | 71.0% |
Where it flies
Routes from Manchester
The exact figure for a delay of 3 hours or more on each, worked out from the real distance rather than the range most sites quote.
Your rights
Your rights from Manchester
Manchester is a UK airport, so every flight departing from it is covered by UK law, whichever airline operates it. Delays of 3 or more hours pay £220 to £520 each depending on distance. 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.
Other UK airports
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.