Which Flight Compensation Company Is Best for a UK261 Claim? Eight Companies That State They Take Them, Compared on Regulation, Fees and Timing

Eight flight compensation companies state on their own websites that they take UK261 claims, and only one of them, Bott and Co, is a UK-regulated law firm that publishes a timeline: court proceedings within 30 days, your money within 14 days of the firm receiving it from the airline, on a fee of 42% plus VAT. AirHelp (35% including VAT) and Flightright (usually 20 to 30% plus VAT) are the most-reviewed, with 245,024 and 4,546 Trustpilot reviews, but neither names a UK dispute body or a UK court in its terms. Skycop, Flight-Delayed, AirAdvisor, SkyRefund and EUclaim also state UK261; none is UK-registered and all quote fees in euros. This page gives no score. Each company is shown with what is public about it, read on 14 October 2026, and the line that says who it is not the fit for comes only from limits the company itself publishes.

Who is on this page, and why

A company is on this page if its own website says it takes claims under UK261, the UK version of EC261 that has covered flights departing the UK, and flights arriving in the UK on a UK or EU airline, since 1 January 2021. We tracked 18 flight compensation companies and read each one's UK pages and terms on 14 October 2026. Eight state UK261 and are below. Five state only the EU regulation and are left off: MYFLYRIGHT, ClaimFlights, Click2Refund, Refundor and refund.me, which mentions a six-year UK limit but names no UK law. Three could not be read that day: Compensair's site returned a server error, Colibra's blocks readers, and FairPlane now redirects to a solicitors' site that returned no page text. ClaimCompass redirects to AirHelp. GIVT is a donation app, not a claims company.

The eight companies, one card each

Alphabetical. Every link is to a page we opened on 14 October 2026.

What UK261 pays, and how long you have

UK261 pays £220, £350 or £520 a person for a delay of three hours or more at arrival, depending on flight distance, and the same bands for a cancellation with under 14 days' notice. The figures are the Civil Aviation Authority's. On flights over 3,500 km, a delay of three to four hours pays £260 and more than four hours £520. The regulation covers flights departing a UK airport on any airline, and flights arriving in the UK on a UK or EU airline. The time limit to bring a claim is six years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and five years in Scotland, a difference that Bott and Co, Skycop and SkyRefund all state on their sites and that AirHelp and Flightright do not. For the differences from the EU rules see EU261 vs UK261: what changed after Brexit, and for every deadline flight compensation claim deadlines.

Airline first, then ADR or court: the UK route

The CAA's advice is to claim from the airline yourself first, which costs nothing, and only then escalate: to the airline's approved dispute scheme if it belongs to one, or to the small claims court if it does not. Two schemes are approved. AviationADR handles easyJet, Ryanair, Virgin Atlantic, Wizz Air, TUI Airways, KLM, Air France, Delta, Turkish Airlines and TAP among others. CEDR handles British Airways, BA CityFlyer, Cathay Pacific and SAS, and the airports at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Bristol and Cornwall. Lufthansa group airlines sit with the German Schlichtungsstelle Reise und Verkehr. The CAA also warns that "not all airlines will deal with your complaint if you use services such as Resolver or Claims Management Companies". None of the eight companies above says it uses the two UK schemes; Bott and Co goes to court, Flightright says it does not take part in arbitration, and the rest do not say. If the airline has already said no, what to do when an airline rejects your claim sets out the steps.

Three ways to choose

1. Who would you be dealing with if it went wrong? Bott and Co is regulated by the SRA in England and Wales. The other seven are companies registered in Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Poland or the United States, and their terms send disputes to those countries' courts. That matters more on a UK claim than on an EU one, because UK261 cases are heard in UK courts.

2. What do you keep from £520? Only Bott and Co and Flight-Delayed put the answer in pounds: £250 and £338. For the others, work it from the percentage and ask whether VAT is inside it. Fees run from Flightright's "usually 20 to 30%" plus VAT to Bott and Co's 42% plus VAT, and most add 15% or more if the case goes to legal action.

3. Does the company say how long it takes, in a number? Two do. Bott and Co: proceedings within 30 days, payment within 14 days of receiving the money, an average of about 72 days overall. AirAdvisor: usually up to six weeks. AirHelp says weeks or months; Flightright "immediately"; Skycop "no guaranteed payment date". Which company pays out fastest, on published promises, is the subject of its own page.

Richard Jasinski · Uncompromised Travel · written from Valencia · first published 15 October 2026 · updated 15 October 2026