If your United flight was cancelled in the past three years, you could be entitled to get back anywhere from €250 (£213) to €600 (£520) for the inconveniences caused by the cancellation.

Only 1 in 8 air passengers knows their rights in the event of a flight disruption, and thus many travellers miss out on financial compensation of up to €600 (£520). Airlines often try to avoid paying reimbursement, and they can make it really tough to claim your money.

SkyRefund will explain your rights in depth and do everything possible to ensure you receive your rightfully owed compensation from United. Use our free compensation calculator to see whether you can get money back and entrust your case to our experience and expertise.

 

Does United provide compensation for cancelled flights? 

Yes, United Airlines provides compensation for cancelled flights. Under EU 261, passengers are entitles for flight cancellation compensation if their flight disruption meets all of the following conditions:

• You were informed about the flight cancellation less than 14 days before departure
• Your flight was scheduled to depart from the EU 
• You have the confirmed booking reservation which includes your full name and flight number
• The reason for the flight cancellation should be within United's control

It's important to remember that you can claim United Airlines flight cancellation compensation up to a certain point. Make sure to check out our guide to the time limits for claiming compensation to learn more.

 

Air Passengers rights

Regardless of where you're travelling to and from, you always have rights as an air passenger. The difference comes from which country/institution is protecting your rights. Let's break some of them down.

 

In the EU

EU Regulation 261/2004 was created to make sure airlines are held responsible for compensating passengers should there be any flight delays or cancellations, denied boarding and missed connections. Of course, airlines are only obliged to compensate their customers when such issues are within their control. Examples for such situations would be airline staff strikes or technical issues with the plane.

EU261 covers air passenger rights on flights departing from a European airport or flights with air companies registered in Europe. Thus, if you experienced a flight disruption with United, an airline incorporated in the United States, you will only be entitled to compensation if your flight departed from Europe. US domestic flights are unfortunately not covered by this European law. 

 

In the UK

The UK left the European Union in 2020 but a lot of EU laws were kept by the British government. Luckily for all UK travellers, EU261 was one of them. After Brexit, the UK Parliament established UK261 which guarantees the same compensation for British citizens and includes airlines based in the UK.

 

Extraordinary circumstances

Bad weather, air traffic control restrictions, bird strikes, civil unrest, terrorist attacks: any of these situations would liberate United from
EU / UK 261’s regulations. The presence of extraordinary circumstances automatically waives travellers’ right of claiming compensation,
since these situations are out of the airline’s control.

 

Entrust you claim with SkyRefund’s experienced team

• Quick and easy
  Filing a compensation claim with SkyRefund takes only a couple of minutes. Аll you need to do is fill in the flight details and your personal information. Once you send us these data, our professional team will look into your case and start working on obtaining your compensation.
  
• Experience and expertise
  The legal experts at SkyRefund have successfully handled over 700,000 cases from travellers all over the globe. We rely on a steady network of law firms in more than 37 countries and jurisdictions. Our experienced professionals will take care of all administrative tasks, reach out to the airline and even represent you in court if needed.
  Do not hesitate to contact us, we can assist you in 11 languages and will do our best to defend your rights. 
  
• No risk
  By filing a claim with us, you risk no hidden or additional charges. We will only charge you 35% of the compensation amount you receive from United if and when we win your case.

 

United Airlines flight delay compensation

In 2025, United Airlines is the 4th airline in North America based on OTP (on-time performance). Currently, 80.55% of their flights arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time which is a rather good result considering that the leader in this ranking has a score of 82.27%.

However, if you had the “luck” to be on one of the other 19.45% of passengers and your United Airlines flight was delayed, you may also be eligible for compensation of up to £520 (€600). Of course, as we mentioned before, EU261 will only protect your rights if the flight departed from Europe. Another important condition for compensation eligibility is that you arrived at your final destination at least 3 hours later than the originally planned landing time.

To learn more about the conditions for United flight delay compensation, read our article on the topic.

 

About United Airlines

United Airlines has a fleet of 921 aircraft manufactured by Airbus and Boeing operating to 342 destinations across the globe, making it the third largest airline in the world. The company is a member of the Star Alliance and has codeshare agreements with a large number of European airlines. Chicago-O’Hare is its largest hub.