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How much compensation for a delayed UK to South Korea flight?

£520 each, if you land 3 hours or more late

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Flights between the UK and South Korea are one of the 10 best of the 71 countries the UK flies to most for 3-hour delays.

Flights a year
1,636
Routes tracked
1
Land 3 hrs or more late
2a 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 South Korea 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 South Korea instead and the airline was a UK or EU carrier). Find your route below.

Route 3 hours or more pays
Heathrow → Seoul (Incheon) £520each

All 1 tracked UK ↔ South Korea 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 South Korea get delayed a lot?

No, less than most. They're one of the 10 best of the 71 countries the UK flies to most, with 0.1% of flights landing 3 or more hours late.

That works out at about 2 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 South Korea ran an average of 33.6 minutes late.

See all the numbers for South Korea

In the last 12 months, 1,636 flights operated between the UK and South Korea: 66.8% ran within 15 minutes of schedule, and 0.1% were 3 or more hours late, roughly 2 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: 66.8% ran on time against 61.8% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 19.8 to 16 minutes.

Flights (12mo)

1,636

On time

66.8%

▲ 5.0pts vs last year

Avg delay

16 min

▼ 3.8 min vs last year

3 hours or more late

0.1%

Cancelled

0.1%

South Korea, month by month

13.2m
23.5m
33.6m
23.2m
8.7m
20.2m
21.5m
17.1m
9.9m
9.6m
9.4m
10.9m
JulAugSepOctNovDecJanFebMarAprMayJun

Worst month: September 2025, averaging 33.6 minutes.

Busiest routes between the UK and South Korea

UK airport Destination 3 hours or more pays
Heathrow Seoul (Incheon) £520each

Where you fly from

UK airports flying to South Korea

Airport 3 hours or more late Landed on time
Heathrow 0.1% 66.8%

Who flies there

Airlines flying between the UK and South Korea

Airline 3 hours or more late Landed on time
Asiana Airlines 0.1% 55.9%
Korean Air <0.5% 73.2%
Virgin Atlantic <0.5% 86.1%

Your rights

Your rights on this corridor

Every flight leaving the UK for South Korea is covered by UK law, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, landing in the UK from South Korea, 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 South Korea'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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Airlines flying to South Korea

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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.