Flight distance calculator for EU261 and UK261

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With a connection, enter your first departure and your final destination. 440 airports in our list.

How the distance is measured

Both EU261 and UK261 say, in Article 7(4), that distances “shall be measured by the great circle route method”. A great circle is the shortest path between two points on the surface of a sphere – the line a piece of string would follow if you stretched it between two cities on a globe. It is not the distance the aircraft actually flew: detours around airspace, holding patterns, diversions and the climb and descent do not count.

Our calculator takes each airport’s latitude and longitude (from the open OurAirports data set) and applies the haversine formula with a mean Earth radius of 6,371 km. This is the same calculation our compensation checker uses. The result is shown in kilometres, because the law uses kilometres, and in miles for convenience (1 km = 0.621371 miles). The legal thresholds are 1,500 km (about 932 miles) and 3,500 km (about 2,175 miles).

Different calculators can disagree by a few kilometres, because they use different Earth models or airport reference points. That never matters for a typical route; it only matters within a few kilometres of a threshold. If your route is that close, the calculator flags it.

Distance bands and amounts

The amounts are per passenger and do not depend on the ticket price. Compensation for a delay requires an arrival delay of at least 3 hours at the final destination; cancellations and denied boarding have their own rules. If you were re-routed and arrived within 2, 3 or 4 hours of the original time (by band), the amount can be halved under Article 7(2). Under UK261, the amounts were set in pounds by SI 2019/278.

The intra-EU rule

EU261 Article 7(1)(b) gives €400 for “all intra-Community flights of more than 1,500 kilometres”. Flights between two airports in the EU therefore never reach the €600 band, even when they are longer than 3,500 km – for example Copenhagen to Gran Canaria, Helsinki to Tenerife, or Paris to Réunion, which is an outermost region of the EU. Our calculator treats airports in EU member states, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the EU’s outermost regions (Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores, the French overseas departments) as EU airports.

UK261 has no equivalent rule. Its Article 7(1) sets £220, £350 and £520 by distance alone. UK airports count as non-EU airports for EU261 since Brexit, so a London–Tenerife flight is not intra-EU.

Connecting flights

For a journey with connections on one booking, compensation is based on the distance from the first departure airport to the final destination, measured directly – not the total of the legs. The Court of Justice confirmed this in C-559/16 Bossen. The CAA applies the same approach: care and compensation are based on the distance between the first and last airports in the booking. Enter those two airports in the calculator.

Self-transfer journeys on separate bookings are different: each booking is a separate journey, and a missed onward flight on a separate ticket gives no right to compensation from the first airline. See missed connection compensation.

Common mistakes when working out the distance

• Adding up the legs. London–Dubai–Bangkok on one booking is measured London to Bangkok directly, not London–Dubai plus Dubai–Bangkok.
• Using the flight time or the distance flown. Neither counts; only the great-circle distance between the two airports.
• Using the wrong destination. Article 7(1) says the basis is the last destination at which the delay, cancellation or denied boarding delays your arrival – your final destination on the booking, not a connection point.
• Using city centres. Distances are between airports. For cities with several airports (London, Paris, Milan), pick the airport you actually used.
• Mixing up currencies. UK261 pays in pounds and EU261 in euros. A flight from London is a UK261 flight (£); the return flight from Spain is an EU261 flight (€).

Distance also decides when you are entitled to care – meals, drinks and, if needed, a hotel – while you wait: from 2 hours’ delay on flights up to 1,500 km, 3 hours on medium-distance flights and 4 hours on longer ones, according to the CAA. Care is owed whatever caused the delay. See what to do if your flight is delayed.

Example routes

Calculated with the same method as the tool above. Which regime actually applies depends on the direction of travel and the airline: a flight from London is covered by UK261; the return flight from an EU airport is covered by EU261. Some of these routes are close to a threshold – London Stansted–Budapest at about 1,450 km, London Heathrow–Cairo and London Luton–Tel Aviv just over 3,500 km.

If your route is close to a threshold

A few routes sit within a few kilometres of 1,500 km or 3,500 km. If the band decides whether you get £350 or £520, quote the great-circle distance in your claim and say how you calculated it – between which airports and with which method. If the airline uses a different figure, ask it to state its distance and method. In a dispute, a court will apply the great-circle method set out in Article 7(4); small differences between formulas rarely decide a case, but stating your working removes an easy argument.

What next?

Knowing the band is the first step. To see whether you are actually owed compensation – arrival delay, cause, which rules apply – use the compensation checker, then follow our guide on how to claim yourself or compare claim companies.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my airline quote a different distance?

Airlines and websites use slightly different formulas and airport coordinates. Our calculator uses the haversine formula on a sphere with a mean Earth radius of 6,371 km, which can differ from ellipsoid-based methods by a fraction of a per cent. That only matters if your route is within a few kilometres of 1,500 km or 3,500 km; in that case, check more than one source.

Does the distance flown count?

No. The law uses the great-circle distance between the airports, not the route the aircraft actually flew, and not any diversion or holding. Article 7(4) of both EU261 and UK261 says the distances “shall be measured by the great circle route method”.

Which distance counts for a connecting flight?

The distance from your first departure airport to your final destination on the same booking, measured directly – not the sum of the legs. The CJEU confirmed this in C-559/16 Bossen.

Why does the UK261 amount differ from the EU261 amount for some routes?

Because UK261 has no intra-EU rule. Under EU261, every flight between two EU airports over 1,500 km falls in the middle band (€400), even if it is longer than 3,500 km. UK261 uses distance alone: £220 up to 1,500 km, £350 up to 3,500 km, £520 above.

Does the distance decide whether I get compensation?

Only the amount. Whether you are entitled depends on the arrival delay (3 hours or more), the cause and whether the rules cover the flight. Our compensation checker works through all of that.

Sources

1. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it applies in the UK, Article 7 – legislation.gov.uk
2. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (EU), consolidated text – EUR-Lex
3. C-559/16 Bossen v Brussels Airlines (distance for connecting flights) – Court of Justice of the EU
4. Air passenger rights – compensation – Your Europe (European Union)
5. Delays – UK Civil Aviation Authority
6. OurAirports open data (airport coordinates) – OurAirports

We check every rule against the sources above. Spotted an error? Tell us – see our editorial policy.