In short: Pick a new flight, a voucher or a refund in Manage Bookings – a refund or voucher ends easyJet’s duty to pay hotels and meals, but not your right to compensation. If you were told less than 14 days before departure and the cause was not an extraordinary circumstance, claim £220 / £350 / £520 (UK261) or €250 / €400 / €600 (EU261) on easyJet’s EC261 claim form. Keep itemised receipts for anything you pay yourself.
Which rules cover your easyJet flight
easyJet flights are operated by three airlines: easyJet UK Limited, easyJet Europe Airline GmbH (Austria) and easyJet Switzerland S.A. easyJet’s own notice of rights says it applies to all three, under Regulation (EC) 261/2004 and its UK version (UK261). The flight number on your boarding pass tells you who flew you: it starts with EZY, EJU or EZS.
- Flights departing the UK (for example London Gatwick–Malaga) fall under UK261, with compensation in pounds.
- Flights departing the EU (for example Milan–Paris, or Malaga–London) fall under EU261, with compensation in euros. A flight from the EU into the UK can also be covered by UK261; you can only be compensated once.
- Flights departing Switzerland are generally treated in the same way as EU departures, because Switzerland applies the EU rules.
The amounts depend on the flight distance, not the ticket price:
| Distance | UK261 | EU261 | easyJet example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | £220 | €250 | London Gatwick–Geneva (about 715 km) |
| 1,500–3,500 km | £350 | €400 | London Gatwick–Malaga (about 1,650 km), Gatwick–Tenerife (about 2,900 km) |
| Over 3,500 km | £520 | €600 | London Gatwick–Hurghada (about 3,900 km) |
easyJet’s notice of rights also repeats the rule that the amount can be cut by 50% if you are re-routed and arrive no more than 2, 3 or 4 hours late (depending on distance). Use our flight distance calculator if you are not sure which band your route is in.
Your options when easyJet cancels
easyJet’s help page lists three choices, all available in Manage Bookings or the easyJet app. You pick one of them; you cannot have both a refund and a replacement journey.
- Switch to another flight for free. You can choose the next available easyJet flight, a flight to or from a nearby airport in the same country, or an indirect easyJet routing. easyJet now also offers seats on an alternative airline on the same route through Manage Bookings. Indirect and alternative-airline bookings are separate tickets: you collect your bags, check in again and clear security for each flight, and once confirmed they cannot be changed back.
- Take a voucher for the full value of the booking. easyJet says it is valid for 12 months from the date of issue.
- Request a refund of the full booking value to the payment card used. easyJet says it processes refund requests within 7 days, which matches the legal deadline in Article 8; the money can take a few more days to reach your account.
The trap: easyJet states that if you choose a voucher or refund, you will not be eligible to claim for accommodation or expenses, because you are no longer travelling with it. That matches the law – the duty of care runs while you wait for re-routing – but it does not remove your right to compensation. Taking a refund and claiming £220–£520 are two different things.
If there is no easyJet flight that gets you there within 24 hours of your original flight, easyJet says you may transfer to another airline, take a train or bus, or hire a car, at comparable conditions (economy or standard class), and claim the reasonable cost back with an itemised receipt. It is worth checking the alternative-airline option in Manage Bookings first and keeping screenshots showing that nothing earlier was offered.
Booked an easyJet holidays package or through a travel agent? easyJet says its holidays team rebooks package customers, and agent customers should go to their agent first – see package holiday rights.
How often easyJet cancelled flights at UK airports in 2025:
- Flights operated
- 390,798
- On time (≤ 15 min late)
- 72.6%
- 3 hours or more late
- 0.51%
- Cancelled
- 0.79%
- Average delay
- 15.1 min
2025, at UK airports
close to the UK average (72.7%)
1 in 196 flights · close to the UK average
3,095 flights · better than the UK average
UK average 15.1 min
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority punctuality statistics 2025 – departures and arrivals combined, measured against the schedule at the UK airport. How we use this data
Hotel, meals and transport while you wait
Care is owed whatever caused the cancellation, including bad weather or air traffic control. easyJet’s published practice:
- Hotel: if the next available flight is the following day, easyJet offers a room, which you request in Manage Bookings or the app after transferring onto a new flight. At the airport, ground crew can help.
- Finding your own room: in widespread disruption easyJet may ask you to book yourself. It asks for “3 stars or equivalent” and names chains such as Premier Inn, IBIS, Holiday Inn, Travelodge and Motel One. Keep the VAT invoice.
- Do not pre-empt the airline: easyJet says it will not reimburse a hotel you booked when it could have provided one free of charge. Ask first and screenshot the answer (or the lack of one).
- Food: where the hotel cannot provide an evening meal and breakfast, easyJet reimburses up to £25 per person per day (or the euro/franc equivalent), excluding alcohol. At the airport, refreshment vouchers are worth £6 or €9.
- Transport: taxis, buses or metro between the airport and the hotel are covered; easyJet will not pay for “unreasonable” options such as private limousines.
easyJet does not pay consequential costs such as pre-booked hotel nights you could not use, airport parking, car hire or missed excursions. Those are for your travel insurer – or, with evidence, a court claim for damages. Our guide to care during delays and cancellations sets out the legal minimum.
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When easyJet owes compensation for a cancellation
Compensation depends on when you were told and why the flight was cancelled (Article 5 of the Regulation, repeated in easyJet’s notice of rights):
| When easyJet told you | Compensation due unless… |
|---|---|
| 14 days or more before departure | No compensation (refund or re-routing only) |
| 7–13 days before | …you were offered a flight leaving no more than 2 hours earlier and arriving less than 4 hours later |
| Less than 7 days before | …you were offered a flight leaving no more than 1 hour earlier and arriving less than 2 hours later |
Even inside 14 days, easyJet does not pay if the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances. Its notice lists examples such as air traffic control, weather, civil unrest, security alerts, industrial action and “unexpected flight safety shortcomings”. Some of these are genuine (an ATC strike, a closed airport), but the label is not the end of the story:
- A technical fault found during routine operation is normally within the airline’s control.
- A strike by easyJet’s own staff is not an extraordinary circumstance under the Court of Justice’s ruling in Airhelp v SAS (C-28/20); an air traffic controllers’ strike is. See strikes.
- Crew shortages and staff sickness are usually treated as part of running an airline.
- “ATC restrictions” must actually have hit your flight. Ask easyJet which restriction, at which airport and what time.
Compensation is per passenger, children included, and comes on top of the refund or replacement flight.
Which easyJet form to use
easyJet separates the three money streams, and using the wrong form is a common reason for delays:
- Compensation (£220–£520 / €250–€600): the EC261 Compensation Claims Portal. No account is needed. easyJet states you must apply to it directly to receive compensation.
- Expenses (hotel, meals, taxis, alternative transport): the separate Expense Claim Form, with a receipt uploaded for each item.
- Refund or voucher of the ticket: Manage Bookings. Both claim forms warn that submitting them “will not refund your unused ticket”.
Our step-by-step easyJet claim guide walks through each field, what to upload and what to do if easyJet says no. easyJet is a member of AviationADR, so a rejected claim can go to independent review for free.
Frequently asked questions
How much compensation does easyJet pay for a cancelled flight?
If you were told less than 14 days before departure and the cause was within easyJet’s control: £220, £350 or £520 per passenger under UK261 (flights from the UK), or €250, €400 or €600 under EU261 (flights from the EU), depending on distance. It can be halved if the replacement flight got you there within 2–4 hours of the original arrival time.
If I take a refund from easyJet, can I still claim compensation?
Yes. The refund (Article 8) and compensation (Article 7) are separate rights. What you lose by taking a refund or voucher is the right to have easyJet pay for hotels and meals after that point, because you are no longer waiting to travel with it.
Can I book another airline and make easyJet pay?
easyJet says that if it cannot get you to your destination within 24 hours of your original flight, you may use another airline, train, bus or hire car under comparable conditions and claim the reasonable cost on its expense form. Check Manage Bookings for its own alternative-airline option first, and keep evidence that nothing suitable was offered.
easyJet blamed air traffic control. Is that the end of it?
Not necessarily. ATC restrictions are an extraordinary circumstance only if they actually caused your flight’s cancellation and easyJet could not have avoided it with reasonable measures. Ask for the specific restriction, airport and time. If the real cause was an earlier technical fault or crew problem, compensation can still be due.
The easyJet name belongs to its owner; EU261 Flight Delay is an independent information site and is not affiliated with easyJet. Information only, not legal advice.
Sources
- Delays and cancellations – easyJet
- Notice of your rights in case of flight delays, cancellations and denied boarding – easyJet
- Compensation Claims Portal (EC261 claim form) – easyJet
- Expense Claim Form – easyJet
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as retained in UK law – Article 5 (cancellation) – legislation.gov.uk
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as retained in UK law – Article 7 (compensation) – legislation.gov.uk
- Cancellations – UK Civil Aviation Authority
- Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) – UK Civil Aviation Authority
- UK flight punctuality statistics 2025 – UK Civil Aviation Authority
We check every rule against the sources above. Spotted an error? Tell us – see our editorial policy.