Ryanair compensation calculator: how much you are owed
Working out what Ryanair owes you starts with two questions: which airport the flight left from, and how far it is to your final destination. Ryanair is an Irish carrier based in Dublin with its biggest base at London Stansted, flying huge UK–Europe and Ireland–Europe volumes. A flight leaving an EU/EEA airport (including any Irish airport) is priced in euros under EU Regulation 261/2004; a flight leaving a UK airport is priced in sterling under UK261. Then the amount turns on one figure — the great-circle distance to the last airport on your ticket.
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Check your case in the form
Enter your route, date and type of disruption. We will check whether your case qualifies for a claim under EU 261/2004 or UK261.
What happened to your flight?
Claim up to €600 for a delayed or cancelled flight.
Choose the situation that applies to your flight:
Short answer: A qualifying Ryanair disruption pays a flat EUR 250 / GBP 220 (up to 1,500 km), EUR 400 / GBP 350 (1,500–3,500 km, and any intra-EU flight over 1,500 km) or EUR 600 / GBP 520 (over 3,500 km) per passenger, provided you reach your final destination three hours or more late. Euros apply when the flight departs the EU/EEA or Ireland; sterling applies when it departs the UK. Almost all Ryanair routes fall in the two lower bands.
The distance bands
The amount is fixed by distance and paid per passenger, not per booking. The fare you paid, the promotion you used and whether you bought priority make no difference.
| Distance to final destination | EU261 (departs EU/EEA or Ireland) | UK261 (departs UK) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | EUR 250 | GBP 220 |
| 1,500–3,500 km, or any intra-EU flight over 1,500 km | EUR 400 | GBP 350 |
| Over 3,500 km (between the EU/UK and a non-EU country) | EUR 600 | GBP 520 |
Ryanair is overwhelmingly short- and medium-haul, so the top band rarely applies. Intra-EU flights are capped at EUR 400 however far they run — even Dublin to Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spanish territory) sits at EUR 400. The EUR 600 / GBP 520 figure is reserved for the longest non-EU routes beyond 3,500 km, as our Ryanair EUR 600 compensation guide explains.
Which regime: the departure airport decides
The euro-or-sterling choice is settled entirely by where the aircraft took off. Leaving Poland, Spain, Italy or Ireland is an EU261 case in euros; leaving Stansted, Manchester or any UK airport is a UK261 case in sterling. So the same route can pay in different currencies by direction.
Take Ryanair's Kraków–London Stansted pairing, roughly 1,430 km. Outbound from Kraków, a three-hour-plus arrival delay pays EUR 250 under EU261. The return from Stansted, on the same distance, pays GBP 220 under UK261 — no double coverage, no choice. If you are unsure which rules bite, see UK261 vs EU261 for Ryanair.
Distance is measured to the final destination
The most common miscalculation is pricing the leg that went wrong rather than the whole journey. On a single booking with a protected connection — such as a Ryanair Connections self-transfer via a hub like Milan Bergamo — both the delay and the distance are read to the last airport on the ticket, with compensation depending on the arrival delay there (C-11/11, Folkerts).
Two worked examples:
- Palermo–Bergamo–Dublin on one booking. A delay on the first leg makes you miss the connection and you land in Dublin five hours late. The distance that counts is Palermo to Dublin, about 2,300 km, so the figure is EUR 400 — not the smaller sum the short first leg might suggest.
- Stansted–Málaga direct, four hours late. A UK departure of roughly 1,735 km falls in the middle band, so the figure is GBP 350 — one payment per passenger for one disrupted journey.
The 50% reduction
If Ryanair cancels or denies you boarding and then reroutes you so you still reach your final destination within a limited window, Article 7(2) lets it halve the amount. Up to 1,500 km the reduction bites when the rerouted arrival is under two hours late; in the 1,500–3,500 km / intra-EU band, under three hours; over 3,500 km, under four hours. That turns EUR 250 into EUR 125, EUR 400 into EUR 200 and EUR 600 into EUR 300 (GBP 110, GBP 175 and GBP 260 in sterling). The EUR 300 is a halving of the top band, not a separate rate.
Care is separate from the amount
Alongside the cash figure, Ryanair owes a duty of care (Article 9) once you are held up — meals after two, three or four hours by distance, plus a hotel and transfers if an overnight is forced. That duty applies even during extraordinary circumstances (C-12/11, McDonagh), but it never changes the compensation, which still turns on a three-hour arrival delay — see what a three-hour Ryanair delay is worth.
Where the figure can still fall away
A positive time-and-distance result is provisional until the cause is settled. Ryanair avoids the flat sum only by proving a genuine extraordinary circumstance that all reasonable measures could not have avoided (C-549/07, Wallentin-Hermann); a routine technical fault from normal operations is its own risk, not an escape route (C-257/14, van der Lans). Strikes cut the other way: a walkout by Ryanair's own pilots or crew is not extraordinary (C-28/20, Airhelp v SAS), so an internal strike usually keeps your claim alive, whereas an air-traffic-control or airport-wide strike may not. Check the operating carrier too — the airline that flew the segment is liable (C-532/17, Wirth), and Ryanair Group flights run under Ryanair DAC, Malta Air, Buzz and Lauda. If you booked via an online travel agent, Ryanair will usually ask you to verify identity and payment through a myRyanair account before it pays.
Running the numbers with ClaimWinger
Once you have the departure country, the distance band and the cause, the figure follows. ClaimWinger works on a no win, no fee basis — no upfront cost, and a commission only if the claim succeeds; the right exists regardless of who helps you enforce it. If a Ryanair flight left you three hours or more behind, start with our delayed flight check or, if it was scrapped, the cancelled flight route, and try the flight compensation calculator. For the wider picture, see the hub guide Ryanair flight compensation and how to claim from Ryanair.
FAQ — Frequently asked questions
How much is a delayed Ryanair flight from Dublin to a Spanish resort worth?
If it departs Dublin (EU261, euros) and you land three hours or more late, most Spanish routes fall in the 1,500–3,500 km band at EUR 400, unless Ryanair proves an extraordinary circumstance or a quick rerouting halves it.
Does the calculator measure the delay from take-off?
No. The flat amount depends on how late you reach your final destination against the scheduled arrival, not on the departure delay. Departure delay mainly triggers the right to care after two, three or four hours.
Why does the same Ryanair route show euros one way and pounds the other?
Because the departure airport sets the regime. Leaving an EU or Irish airport is EU261 in euros; leaving a UK airport is UK261 in sterling — same distance, different currency and scale.
Do I get paid per leg on a connecting Ryanair booking?
No. One disruption on one booking is one payment per passenger. The distance runs from your first departure airport to your final destination, and the delay is the arrival delay there (C-11/11, Folkerts).
Sources
This guide reflects the legal position in 2026: the three-hour arrival-delay threshold and the EUR 250/400/600 and GBP 220/350/520 amounts remain in force, and the EU261 reform — including a proposed nine-month claim window and a 30-day airline response deadline — is a proposal, not yet in force. Claim time limits vary by jurisdiction (for example six years in England and Wales, differing periods elsewhere), so treat any single deadline cautiously and act promptly.