How much compensation for a delayed UK to China flight?
£520 each, if you land 3 hours or more late
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Flights between the UK and China are better than most of the 71 countries the UK flies to most for 3-hour delays.
- Flights a year
- 10,596
- Routes tracked
- 15
- Land 3 hrs or more late
- 42a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
£520each if you land 3 hours or more late
Every route the CAA tracks between the UK and China falls in the same distance band (Over 3,500 km), so a delay of 3 hours or more pays a flat £520 each if the flight left the UK (€600 under EU261 if it left China instead and the airline was a UK or EU carrier). Find your route below.
| Route | 3 hours or more pays |
|---|---|
| Gatwick → Shanghai (Pu Dong) | £520each |
| Heathrow → Beijing | £520each |
| Heathrow → Shanghai (Pu Dong) | £520each |
| Heathrow → Guangzhou Baiyun International | £520each |
| Heathrow → Beijing Daxing International Airport | £520each |
| Manchester → Beijing | £520each |
| Gatwick → Beijing | £520each |
| Heathrow → Shenzhen (Huangtian) | £520each |
| Manchester → Shanghai (Pu Dong) | £520each |
| Heathrow → Haikou | £520each |
| Heathrow → Chengdu Tianfu | £520each |
| Edinburgh → Beijing | £520each |
| Heathrow → Qingdao | £520each |
| Heathrow → Tianjin | £520each |
| Gatwick → Guangzhou Baiyun International | £520each |
All 15 tracked UK ↔ China routes, sorted by yearly flight volume. Figures are each; the EU version of the law pays €600 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 China 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 42 flights a year crossing the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
When is it worst?
September 2025, when flights between the UK and China ran an average of 15.1 minutes late.
See all the numbers for China
In the last 12 months, 10,596 flights operated between the UK and China: 83.5% ran within 15 minutes of schedule, and 0.4% were 3 or more hours late, roughly 42 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: 83.5% ran on time against 78.5% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 12.2 to 9.3 minutes.
Flights (12mo)
10,596
On time
83.5%
▲ 5.0pts vs last year
Avg delay
9.3 min
▼ 2.9 min vs last year
3 hours or more late
0.4%
Cancelled
0.4%
China, month by month
Worst month: September 2025, averaging 15.1 minutes.
Busiest routes between the UK and China
| UK airport | Destination | 3 hours or more pays |
|---|---|---|
| Gatwick | Shanghai (Pu Dong) | £520each |
| Heathrow | Beijing | £520each |
| Heathrow | Shanghai (Pu Dong) | £520each |
| Heathrow | Guangzhou Baiyun International | £520each |
| Heathrow | Beijing Daxing International Airport | £520each |
| Manchester | Beijing | £520each |
| Gatwick | Beijing | £520each |
| Heathrow | Shenzhen (Huangtian) | £520each |
| Manchester | Shanghai (Pu Dong) | £520each |
| Heathrow | Haikou | £520each |
| Heathrow | Chengdu Tianfu | £520each |
| Edinburgh | Beijing | £520each |
| Heathrow | Qingdao | £520each |
| Heathrow | Tianjin | £520each |
| Gatwick | Guangzhou Baiyun International | £520each |
Where you fly from
UK airports flying to China
| Airport | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 0.3% | 83.8% |
| Gatwick | 0.6% | 85.1% |
| Manchester | 0.5% | 78.0% |
| Edinburgh | <0.5% | 79.3% |
Who flies there
Airlines flying between the UK and China
| Airline | 3 hours or more late | Landed on time |
|---|---|---|
| Air China | 0.5% | 83.1% |
| China Southern | 0.3% | 89.0% |
| China Eastern Airlines | 0.3% | 84.9% |
| Hainan Airlines | 0.1% | 80.1% |
| British Airways | 0.9% | 76.8% |
| Shenzhen Airlines | 0.8% | 82.3% |
| Juneyao Airlines | 0.9% | 81.0% |
| Tianjin Airlines | 0.3% | 83.3% |
| Beijing Capital Airlines | <0.5% | 72.0% |
Your rights
Your rights on this corridor
Every flight leaving the UK for China is covered by UK law, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, landing in the UK from China, 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 China'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.