Train companies
Heathrow Express delay compensation
Independent site, not a train company or claims service. You claim only through your operator’s own form.
Locked on Heathrow Express, the calculator above applies its own Conditions of Carriage to your fare and delay.
Heathrow Express would pay
£6.25
25% of the single fare paid
| Scheme | Own scheme, 30 minutes, from 30 min |
| Band applied | 30–59 min |
| From 60 min late | £12.50 |
| Claim by | 23 November 2026 (28 days left) |
Estimate from the scheme Heathrow Express publishes, read on 26 October 2026. The operator checks the train you were on and decides the claim.
Heathrow Express delay compensation follows the company's own Conditions of Carriage, not the Delay Repay schemes of the National Rail train companies. Heathrow Express is not in the list of train companies in Appendix A of the National Rail Conditions of Travel, so the national minimum for a delay of an hour does not apply to it. Its scheme pays nothing below 30 minutes late at your Heathrow Express destination, 25% of the price paid for the ticket from 30 minutes and 50% from 60 minutes. There is no band that gives back the whole fare: a £25 single that arrives two hours late returns £12.50. On a return, the share is of the whole ticket price for a late leg. Claims must be made within 28 days of the journey, and money goes back to a credit or debit card only. The line is owned by Heathrow Airport; the ORR counted 8,799 claims in April 2025 to March 2026, with 63.4% of those closed approved.
Delay Repay on a return ticket
You would get
£12.50
| Share of the return fare | 25% |
| Outward band | 30 min and over |
| Return band | none |
| Capped at | £50 |
Schemes and rules read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
A non-stop airport line with its own rules
Heathrow Express runs non-stop between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport. It shares tracks and stations with the Elizabeth line and Great Western Railway, but not their compensation. The company sets its rules in its Conditions of Carriage, section 6, under the name Heathrow Express Delay Compensation Scheme. The National Rail Conditions of Travel list the train companies they bind in Appendix A, and Heathrow Express is not among them.
The scheme counts the delay in arriving at your Heathrow Express destination, Paddington or the airport, compared with the timetable. The table puts its bands on a £25 single.
| Minutes late | Share of the ticket price | On £25 |
|---|---|---|
| under 30 | not eligible | £0 |
| 30 to 59 | 25% | £6.25 |
| 60 or more | 50% | £12.50 |
Every band for your fare
Heathrow Express, from
30 min
| 30–59 min | £6.25 |
| 60+ min | £12.50 |
Single tickets. Return: 25% / 50% of the return fare per late leg.
How it compares with Delay Repay
A National Rail Delay Repay 15 operator such as Gatwick Express pays 25% of a single from 15 minutes, 50% from 30 and the whole fare from 60. Heathrow Express pays less at every step: nothing at 20 minutes, 25% at 45 and 50% however long the wait. Its wording also refers to "the price paid for the ticket", so a return with one late leg is compensated on the whole return price at the same share, which the calculator follows. A £50 return with a 45-minute outward delay gives £12.50. No season ticket rule is published for this scheme.
Two other points from its conditions matter in practice. Advance tickets are neither refundable nor exchangeable if you decide not to travel. And a PREMIER+ Class passenger who had to travel in another class can ask for the difference between the two fares, a separate refund rather than delay compensation.
Making the claim
- Keep the ticket: at gated stations, staff will let you through on sight so that you can keep it as evidence.
- Claim on the Heathrow Express website, with a scan or photo of the ticket, or send the ticket copy, journey details, payment details and contact details to its Customer Relations team.
- Do it within 28 days of the journey. Heathrow Express aims to pay within 20 days of receiving the claim, to the card used for the ticket.
If you are unhappy with the answer, its conditions say each decision comes with reasons. For a loss bigger than the fare, such as a missed flight, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 is one of the other rights its conditions point to.
Claims handled, and what the document says about itself
The ORR reports Heathrow Express separately. In April 2025 to March 2026, it closed 8,799 claims, all within 20 working days, and approved 63.4%. The provisional figures for April 2026 to March 2027 give 62.8% approved (ORR Table 4410).
Not part of the National Rail Delay Repay schemes: its own Conditions of Carriage pay a share of the price paid on the ticket. Nothing for delays under 30 minutes. The PDF read for this page is named for July 2026 and states that it is valid for tickets bought after 20 July 2026, yet its page footers say "Issue September 2024" and its cover "Issue September 2023". The bands above come from that document; if your ticket was bought under an earlier version, check the conditions printed for it.