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Flight delay meal vouchers: what you are entitled to

When a delayed flight entitles you to free food and drink, what the voucher should cover, what to do if you don't get one, and how to claim back what you paid.

By the EU261 Flight Delay editorial team Last reviewed: Reading time: 6 min How we write our guides

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In short: under UK261 and EU261, the airline must give you meals and refreshments once your departure is delayed by 2 hours (flights up to 1,500 km), 3 hours (1,500–3,500 km) or 4 hours (over 3,500 km). This “right to care” applies whatever caused the delay – bad weather and strikes included. Airlines usually hand out a voucher; if they don’t, buy reasonable food and soft drinks, keep itemised receipts and claim the cost back. Care is separate from compensation, so accepting a voucher does not reduce any £220–£520 / €250–€600 you may be owed.

“Can I get a free meal if my flight is delayed?” is one of the questions Google shows UK users most often under “flight delay meal voucher”. Yes – and here is exactly what the law requires.

When the right to food and drink starts

Article 6 links the right to care to the flight’s distance and to how late the airline expects the departure to be:

Flight distance Examples Care starts at a departure delay of
Up to 1,500 km Glasgow–Amsterdam, London–Paris, Dublin–Barcelona 2 hours
1,500–3,500 km Manchester–Tenerife, Bristol–Athens, Edinburgh–Malaga 3 hours
Over 3,500 km London–New York, Manchester–Dubai 4 hours

Distances are measured by the great-circle method; our flight distance calculator shows which band you are in.

What “care” includes

Article 9 lists what the airline must offer free of charge:

  • meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time – in practice, a voucher for food outlets airside;
  • two telephone calls, e-mails (or messages), so you can let people know;
  • hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and the hotel if you have to stay overnight (see flight delayed overnight).

Article 9 also says airlines must pay particular attention to passengers with reduced mobility, their companions, and unaccompanied children.

“Reasonable relation to the waiting time” means that a 2-hour wait may justify a snack and a drink, while an all-day delay should cover proper meals. The regulation does not fix a voucher amount; each airline sets its own.

Care is owed whatever caused the delay

This is the most important point. An airline can refuse compensation if it proves “extraordinary circumstances” such as severe weather or an air traffic control strike. It cannot refuse care on that basis.

The Court of Justice made this clear in McDonagh v Ryanair (C-12/11, 2013), a case about the 2010 Icelandic volcanic ash closures. Ryanair had provided no care to a passenger stranded for a week. The Court held that care is owed even in extraordinary circumstances and that the regulation sets no time limit and no monetary limit on it. Where an airline fails to provide care, the passenger can recover the amounts that were “necessary, appropriate and reasonable” to make up for the airline’s failure.

How airline meal vouchers work

The UK Civil Aviation Authority says airlines will usually provide a physical or digital voucher automatically – printed at the desk, sent by text or e-mail, or added to the airline’s app. Practical points:

  • Read the conditions printed on the voucher: where it can be used, until when, and whether any unused balance is lost.
  • Do not expect alcohol to be covered – the CAA says airlines are unlikely to treat it as reasonable.
  • Care is owed to each passenger, so check that everyone in your party, children included, has been given one.

If you are not offered one when the threshold is reached, ask at the gate or the airline’s desk, as the CAA suggests. If there are no airline staff, ask the ground-handling agent working for the airline, and note the name and time.

No voucher? Pay and claim it back

If the airline does not provide care, you can buy food and drink yourself and claim the cost afterwards. To make that claim succeed:

  1. Keep itemised receipts – the CAA specifically asks for receipts or invoices showing what you bought and what you paid.
  2. Stay reasonable. The CAA warns that airlines are unlikely to accept alcoholic drinks, luxury meals or luxury hotels as reasonable. A sandwich, a hot meal, water and soft drinks are fine.
  3. Note why you paid. “No vouchers offered at Gate 12 at 15:40; desk closed” is the kind of note that helps.
  4. Claim from the operating airline using its expenses form (some airlines separate “expenses” from “compensation” claims – the CAA notes you may need to submit both).
  5. Photograph the departure board to prove the length of the delay.

Voucher or compensation – not either/or

Meal vouchers are part of your right to care (Article 9). Fixed compensation is a separate right (Article 7), owed if you arrive at your final destination 3 hours or more late and the cause was within the airline’s control:

Care (meal vouchers etc.) Compensation
Trigger Departure delay of 2 / 3 / 4 hours (by distance) Arrival delay of 3 hours or more
Cause matters? No – owed even in extraordinary circumstances Yes – not owed if extraordinary circumstances are proven
Amount What is reasonable for the wait £220 / £350 / £520 (UK261), €250 / €400 / €600 (EU261)
How you get it At the airport, or receipts afterwards Claim after the flight

Accepting a meal voucher does not reduce or replace compensation. Be careful, though, with travel vouchers offered instead of compensation or a refund – those are a different thing, and you can refuse them. See vouchers instead of cash.

When care stops

  • When you take a refund. If your flight is delayed 5 hours or more and you choose not to travel and take a refund, the airline’s duty of care ends (see flight delayed 5 hours).
  • When you leave the airport voluntarily without the airline’s agreement, it may argue that later costs were not caused by the delay.
  • When you board. Care covers the wait, not the flight itself.

Outside the UK and EU

The right to care described here applies to flights covered by UK261 or EU261 – broadly, flights departing the UK or EU on any airline, and flights into the UK or EU on a UK or EU airline. Other countries have their own rules; Brazil, for example, requires food after 2 hours. See passenger rights outside Europe.

Next steps

If your flight also arrived 3 hours or more late, run it through our checker and read flight delay rights for the full picture of care, refunds and compensation.

Sources

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