How much compensation for a delayed Heathrow to Dubai flight?
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£520each if you land 3 hours or more late
This route is about average for Britain's 200 busiest routes for 3-hour delays.
- Flights a year
- 6,037
- Distance apart
- 5,498 km
- Land 3 hrs or more late
- 24a year
Last 12 months, CAA data
What you're owed
Leaving Heathrow
£520each under UK law
Leaving Dubai
£520each under UK law
Dubai is outside the UK and EU, so coming back this only applies if a UK or EU airline operated the flight.
Either 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.
Heathrow and Dubai are 5,498 km apart (Over 3,500 km), and that distance is all that decides the amount. Which figure applies depends only on which end of the route you departed from, not which way you were travelling.
How many were on the booking
£520 each. £2,080 for a family of four.
Everyone with their own seat is paid, children included.
What it pays
Every way a Heathrow to Dubai flight can pay you
Find the line that matches what happened to you. Past 4 hours the amount stops changing, because it is the distance that sets the price, not the wait.
How close the replacement flight has to be before a cancellation stops paying.
How bad is this route
Does this route get delayed a lot?
Not especially. It's about average for Britain's 200 busiest routes, with about 1 flight in 250 landing 3 or more hours late (0.4%).
That works out at about 24 flights a year crossing the 3-hour line, which is the point the airline has to pay.
When is it worst?
March 2026, when flights on this route ran an average of 39.5 minutes late.
From our own tracking
Recent delays on this route
We log every arrival that runs 3 or more hours late or gets cancelled at the airports we sweep, and this route has not had one since we started tracking in August. That is a good sign rather than a gap. Today is not in that log yet, so if you are flying it now, check it live below.
See all the numbers for this route
In the last 12 months, 6,037 flights operated between Heathrow and Dubai, and 0.4% were 3 or more hours late, the threshold where £520 each becomes payable under UK261 (€600 under EU261).
Flights are landing on time less often than last year: 71.2% ran on time against 71.4% in the twelve months before, and the average delay rose from 14.2 to 14.3 minutes.
| Heathrow to Dubai, last 12 months | Figure | vs year before |
|---|---|---|
| Flights on this route | 6,037 | was 6,939 |
| Ran on time (within 15 min) | 71.2% | ▼ was 71.4% |
| Average delay | 14.3 min | ▲ was 14.2 min |
| 3 hours or more late (the line where they pay) | 0.4% | - |
| Cancelled | 3.3% | - |
| Flights 3 hours or more late (a year) | 24 flights/year | - |
The CAA's figures don't separate arrivals from departures, so this covers the route both ways.
Heathrow to Dubai, month by month
Worst month: March 2026, averaging 39.5 minutes.
Airlines on this route
Airlines flying this route
| Airline | 3 hrs or more late3 hours or more late | Landed on time | If late |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emirates | 0.4% | 69.4% | £520each |
| British Airways | 0.3% | 75.4% | £520each |
| Virgin Atlantic | 0.8% | 77.6% | £520each |
Your rights
Your rights on this route
Every flight leaving Heathrow for Dubai is covered by UK law, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, leaving Dubai for Heathrow, are covered too if a UK or EU airline operated them; a flight that way on a non-UK, non-EU carrier falls outside it, though the Montreal Convention 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. Flying somewhere else in United Arab Emirates? See every route between the UK and United Arab Emirates.
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If it lands 3 hours or more late we email you what you're owed.
Other routes from Heathrow
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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.