Heathrow Airport closed: What are your rights if your flight has been cancelled?

A huge fire close to Heathrow has meant one of the busiest airports in the UK is now set to be closed for the next 24 hours.

Anyone who has a flight booked from the airport has been told to not travel to Heathrow with even more travellers caught in traffic in west London this morning.

The airport will remain closed all day on Friday and passengers have been warned not to travel to the terminals ‘under any circumstances’ until power is restored.

 Follow our live blog for the latest updates on the Heathrow Airport closure

A Heathrow spokesperson said: ‘Whilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored.

‘To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23h59 on March 21, 2025.’

Online flight tracking service FlightRadar24 said the closure would affect at least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow.

Passengers have also been warned to brace for disruption through the weekend.

Heathrow is the UK’s largest airport, with more than 83.9 million passengers travelling through its terminals in 2024.

But what are your rights if you had a flight booked and what should you do?

What are my rights if my flight is cancelled?

Under UK law, a passenger is covered if they are departing from an airport in the UK on any airline, arriving at an airport in the UK on an EU or UK airline, or arriving at an airport in the EU on a UK airline.

If a flight is cancelled, the airline must provide a passenger with care and assistance, meaning they must supply them with food and drink (often provided in the form of vouchers), means to communicate (often by refunding call costs), accommodation if the passenger is given a new flight the following day, and transport to and from the accommodation or their home.

The airline must provide a passenger with these items until it is able to fly them to their destination, no matter how long the delay lasts or what has caused it, the Civil Aviation Authority says.

Sometimes airlines are unable to arrange care and assistance if they are stretched during major disruptions, meaning the passenger can arrange the care themselves and claim the cost back later by keeping receipts.

Passengers can choose between getting an alternative flight or receiving a refund if their flight is cancelled.

If a passenger received less than 14 days’ notice of a cancellation, they may also be able to claim compensation.

However, this is unlikely if the cancellation was not the airline’s fault.

Situations such as extreme weather, strikes, or other “extraordinary circumstances” are not eligible for compensation.

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