AirHelp says more than 4.2 million passengers across the UK have been entitled to compensation from their airlines so far this year.
It crunched the numbers for January to August 2024 from a total of 176 million passengers departing or arriving in the UK.
AirHelp is a travel tech company that assists air travelers in getting compensation from airlines for flight delays and cancellations.
AirHelp’s data finds approximately 59 million travellers (34%) experienced disruptions, with a further 5.8 million people having their flights cancelled altogether.
This also led to more than 1.5 million UK passengers missing their connecting flights between January and August.
This summer, over 2.3 million UK passengers were entitled to compensation between June and August.
In contrast, around 934,000 people were entitled to compensation for disrupted flights during the first three months of the year (January to March).
Travellers departing from London Heathrow had the highest number of passengers eligible for compensation.
London Heathrow to New York JFK was the most disrupted main route with 29,000 passengers eligible for compensation.
This is closely followed by flights to Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles, as more than 17,000 people were able to claim compensation when travelling on these routes.
“Millions of air passengers travel each year, but a large number of them do not know that there are air passenger rights that protect them while in transit,” said Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO of AirHelp.
Passengers facing delays over three hours, or impacted by cancellations caused by the airline or airports are eligible for compensation.