What the airline owes you
Under UK261 rules, if your flight is cancelled the airline must offer you either a refund or re-routing to your destination at the earliest opportunity — including on another airline if theirs cannot do it. If the cancellation was within their control and gave you less than 14 days notice, you may also be owed compensation on top.
Important: re-routing includes departure from a different airport if that gets you there sooner. The airline should cover the transfer cost. Keep every receipt — including ours.
The move most people miss
The queue at the service desk will take an hour. Meanwhile the seats on the alternative flights are being taken by people on the phone or the app. Call the airline while you are standing in the queue, and check what is flying from the other London airports.
Getting to another airport
If your Heathrow flight is cancelled and there is a seat from Gatwick in four hours, you need to move now. Rail between the airports is slow and involves central London. A direct car is faster and we run them 24/7 at fixed fares:
- Heathrow ⇄ Gatwick — around 90 minutes via the M25
- Heathrow ⇄ Stansted / Luton
- Gatwick ⇄ Stansted
- Or home, if the answer is to try again tomorrow
Need to move now? WhatsApp us your two airports — fixed fare agreed before the driver moves.
Related
Diverted to another airport? · What missing a flight actually costs · Stuck overnight?