Delayed or cancelled flight from Gatwick: what you are owed

Gatwick has the longest average departure delay of the five London airports: 16.4 minutes in 2025, with 69.4% of departures leaving within 15 minutes of schedule, according to the UK Civil Aviation Authority. That year 584 departures (0.45%) left more than three hours late and 919 were cancelled (0.7% of those planned).

Causes that usually pay compensation: a technical fault with the aircraft, crew shortages, a strike by the airline's own staff, and knock-on delays from the airline's own earlier problems. Causes that usually do not: weather that makes flying unsafe, air traffic control restrictions and strikes, security alerts, bird strikes and failures at the airport. When the national air traffic control flight-planning system failed on 28 August 2023, the CAA estimates more than 700,000 passengers across the UK were affected; an air traffic control failure is the kind of event an airline can argue was beyond its control, but meals, hotels and rebooking were still owed.

The burden is on the airline: it must prove the extraordinary circumstance and that it could not have avoided the delay with all reasonable measures. Ask for the reason in writing before you leave the airport.

Care comes from the airline that operates your flight, so start at its desk or app. easyJet flies from the North Terminal; British Airways, Ryanair, Jet2, Vueling and Wizz Air from the South. If a cancellation leaves you stranded, Gatwick's Your Service Centre, in South Terminal check-in zone J or on level 2 of the North Terminal, can help with other ways to travel.

If the flight is cancelled, you choose between a refund within seven days and a new flight at the earliest opportunity, and the airline should look at other airlines too if they would get you there sooner. You keep the right to compensation as well, unless you were told at least 14 days ahead or offered a close alternative.

Stuck overnight, the nearest beds are Hampton by Hilton, a two-minute covered walk from North check-in, and BLOC and YOTEL inside the South Terminal; Sofitel (North) and Hilton (South) are a short covered walk away. Ask the airline to book you in; if it will not, a reasonably priced room and the transport to it can be claimed back with receipts.

Claim yourself, free. Use the airline's own claim form with your booking reference and flight number, and ask to be paid in money: you do not have to accept vouchers. If the airline says no, or has not replied after 8 weeks, take it to the airline's CAA-approved dispute scheme, which is also free: AviationADR for easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air and TUI Airways; CEDR for British Airways. Apply within 12 months of the airline's final answer. If your airline belongs to no scheme, the CAA's Passenger Advice and Complaints Team can take up the complaint. A court claim in England and Wales can be brought up to six years after the flight (five years if you live in Scotland).

If you would rather not chase it, AirHelp runs the claim on a no win, no fee basis: it keeps 35% of the compensation, including VAT, if it wins, plus 15% if court action is needed, and charges nothing if it does not win.

Whichever you choose, keep your boarding pass or booking confirmation, your booking reference, receipts for anything you bought while waiting, and the reason for the delay the airline gave you, ideally in writing or as a screenshot of the app.