How much compensation for a delayed UK to Bulgaria flight?
£350 each, if you land 3 hours or more late
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Flights between the UK and Bulgaria are better than most of the 71 countries the UK flies to most for 3-hour delays.
- Flights a year
- 9,169
- Routes tracked
- 15
- Land 3 hrs or more late
- 37a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
£350each if you land 3 hours or more late
Every route the CAA tracks between the UK and Bulgaria falls in the same distance band (Over 1,500 to 3,500 km), so a delay of 3 hours or more pays a flat £350 each if the flight left the UK (€400 under EU261 if it left Bulgaria instead and the airline was a UK or EU carrier). Find your route below.
| Route | 3 hours or more pays |
|---|---|
| Stansted → Sofia | £350each |
| Luton → Sofia | £350each |
| Heathrow → Sofia | £350each |
| Luton → Varna | £350each |
| Manchester → Burgas | £350each |
| Stansted → Plovdiv | £350each |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) → Sofia | £350each |
| Luton → Plovdiv | £350each |
| Luton → Burgas | £350each |
| Birmingham → Sofia | £350each |
| Bristol → Sofia | £350each |
| Edinburgh → Sofia | £350each |
| Gatwick → Sofia | £350each |
| Birmingham → Burgas | £350each |
| Gatwick → Burgas | £350each |
All 15 tracked UK ↔ Bulgaria routes, sorted by yearly flight volume. Figures are each; the EU version of the law pays €400 for the same band.
The 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.
How bad is it
Do flights between the UK and Bulgaria get delayed a lot?
No, less than most. They're better than most of the 71 countries the UK flies to most, with 0.4% of flights landing 3 or more hours late.
That works out at about 37 flights a year crossing the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
Flying home rather than out?
Coming back from Bulgaria it's €400 rather than £350, because departures from there fall under the EU version of the rules.
When is it worst?
July 2025, when flights between the UK and Bulgaria ran an average of 26.3 minutes late.
See all the numbers for Bulgaria
In the last 12 months, 9,169 flights operated between the UK and Bulgaria: 69.2% ran within 15 minutes of schedule, and 0.4% were 3 or more hours late, roughly 37 flights' worth of eligible passengers in a year. The CAA's figures don't separate arrivals from departures, so this covers the corridor both ways.
Flights are landing on time more often than last year: 69.2% ran on time against 63.8% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 21.6 to 17.2 minutes.
Flights (12mo)
9,169
On time
69.2%
▲ 5.4pts vs last year
Avg delay
17.2 min
▼ 4.4 min vs last year
3 hours or more late
0.4%
Cancelled
0.2%
Bulgaria, month by month
Worst month: July 2025, averaging 26.3 minutes.
Busiest routes between the UK and Bulgaria
| UK airport | Destination | 3 hours or more pays |
|---|---|---|
| Stansted | Sofia | £350each |
| Luton | Sofia | £350each |
| Heathrow | Sofia | £350each |
| Luton | Varna | £350each |
| Manchester | Burgas | £350each |
| Stansted | Plovdiv | £350each |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) | Sofia | £350each |
| Luton | Plovdiv | £350each |
| Luton | Burgas | £350each |
| Birmingham | Sofia | £350each |
| Bristol | Sofia | £350each |
| Edinburgh | Sofia | £350each |
| Gatwick | Sofia | £350each |
| Birmingham | Burgas | £350each |
| Gatwick | Burgas | £350each |
Where you fly from
UK airports flying to Bulgaria
| Airport | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|
| Luton | 0.1% | 74.7% |
| Stansted | 0.2% | 74.2% |
| Heathrow | 0.1% | 80.5% |
| Manchester | 1.3% | 49.2% |
| Gatwick | 0.7% | 69.1% |
| Birmingham | 1.2% | 52.3% |
| Bristol | 0.8% | 66.5% |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) | 0.7% | 64.9% |
| Edinburgh | 0.9% | 58.9% |
| Newcastle | <0.5% | 75.5% |
| Leeds Bradford | <0.5% | 21.7% |
| Glasgow | <0.5% | 75.9% |
| East Midlands International | <0.5% | 52.3% |
| Cardiff Wales | <0.5% | 86.5% |
| Belfast International | 6.9% | 63.8% |
Who flies there
Airlines flying between the UK and Bulgaria
| Airline | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | 0.4% | 71.4% |
| Wizz Air | 0.3% | 74.4% |
| Jet2.com | 0.7% | 44.4% |
| TUI Airways | 1.8% | 65.9% |
| easyJet | 0.2% | 72.5% |
| Bulgaria Air | <0.5% | 80.9% |
| British Airways | 0.3% | 80.0% |
Your rights
Your rights on this corridor
Every flight leaving the UK for Bulgaria is covered by UK law, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, landing in the UK from Bulgaria, are covered too if a UK or EU airline operated them; a return flight on a non-UK, non-EU carrier falls outside it, though the Montreal Convention and Bulgaria's own rules 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.
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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. Methodology and limitations.