--- title: "Fake flight compensation claims agencies | FlightLogic" description: "Genuine UK261 compensation is claimed directly with the airline or through free CAA-approved ADR schemes — you never need to pay upfront, and a legitimate…" url: https://flightlogic.co.uk/travel-scams/fake-compensation-claims-agencies/ lastModified: 2026-07-08 source: FlightLogic (flightlogic.co.uk) licence: "Content © Elite Digital AI Solutions Ltd. Cite the URL above and the page author." --- *Links marked * may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. We do not provide financial advice. How we make money .* # Fake flight compensation claims agencies Genuine UK261 compensation is claimed directly with the airline or through free CAA-approved ADR schemes — you never need to pay upfront, and a legitimate claims company only takes a cut from money actually recovered. The upfront-fee red flags and the free claim route follow below. ## The numbers that matter **Cost of claiming yourself** **Free — you keep the whole award** Claiming direct with the airline costs nothing, and escalation to the airline's ADR body is also free to the passenger. **UK261 amounts** **£220 / £350 / £260–£520** By distance: up to 1,500 km, 1,500–3,500 km, and over 3,500 km where £260 applies to a 3–4 hour delay and £520 to 4 hours or more. **Time limit to claim** **Six years in England and Wales** Five years in Scotland. There is no need to rush into signing with anyone. **Legitimate firms are regulated** **Check the FCA register** Claims management is a regulated activity. A firm that cannot be found on the register is a serious warning sign. ## Three different things called "claims companies" This page covers a spectrum rather than a single scam, and separating the three parts of it is the whole point. At one end are legitimate, FCA-registered claims management companies that will pursue a valid claim on your behalf and take a percentage of whatever they recover. They are lawful, they do real work, and for a passenger who genuinely will not deal with the paperwork they are a rational choice. They are simply expensive relative to a task that is mostly form-filling. In the middle are firms that are technically operating but rely on passengers not knowing the claim is free to make. Their marketing implies specialist access or legal complexity that does not exist for a straightforward delay claim, and the contract may bind you for years, cover flights you have not told them about, or take a cut even where the airline would have paid you directly. At the far end is outright fraud: an unsolicited message about compensation you are supposedly owed, designed to harvest bank details, passport data or an upfront fee. This does not involve any claim at all. Recognising which of the three you are dealing with determines whether the answer is "no thanks", "read the contract carefully", or "report it". ## What claiming yourself actually involves For a standard delay claim the work is smaller than the marketing implies. You need the flight number and date, the booking reference, the names of the passengers, and the arrival delay — measured when the aircraft doors open at the destination, not at departure. You then write to the airline stating the delay, citing the regulation, and asking for the fixed amount for your distance band. The amounts are set by law rather than negotiated, which is the detail that makes the whole exercise less daunting than it sounds. There is no haggling and no assessment of your losses: £220 for flights up to 1,500 km, £350 for 1,500 to 3,500 km, and for flights over 3,500 km either £260 for an arrival delay of three to four hours or £520 for four hours or more. Our [letter templates](https://flightlogic.co.uk/templates/) provide the wording, and the [UK261 guide](https://flightlogic.co.uk/guides/uk261-flight-delay-compensation-uk/) sets out eligibility in full. If the airline rejects the claim or does not respond, escalation goes to the airline's alternative dispute resolution body — CEDR or Aviation ADR depending on the carrier — which is free to the passenger. That is the step people assume requires a professional, and it does not. ## Reading a claims company contract before you sign If you do decide to use a firm, the contract is where the cost lives, and the percentage headline is not the whole picture. Establish whether the fee is charged on the gross award or after deductions, and whether VAT is added on top of the stated percentage. Check whether any administration fee applies if the claim fails or if you withdraw. The more consequential clauses concern scope and duration. Some agreements cover not just the flight you contacted them about but any future claim you might have, or bind you for a fixed term during which you cannot claim independently. Others include a provision that if the airline pays you directly, you must hand over the firm's percentage — which means a claim the airline would have settled anyway still costs you. Ask how they will communicate with you, what happens if the airline offers vouchers rather than cash, and whether they will pursue the ADR stage or drop the case if the airline refuses. A firm unwilling to answer these plainly before you sign is unlikely to become more communicative afterwards. ## Spotting the fraudulent version The fraudulent variant is easy to identify once you know the shape of it, because it inverts how genuine compensation works. It arrives unsolicited — a text, an email, a social media message, occasionally a phone call — telling you that you are owed money for a specific past flight, often with convincing-looking detail lifted from a data breach or simply guessed. It then asks for something no genuine process requires: an upfront administration fee to release the payment, your full banking credentials rather than just an account number for payment, or copies of identity documents beyond what a claim needs. Any request for money in order to receive money is definitive, and applies well beyond aviation. Urgency is the accompanying pressure: a deadline after which the compensation is supposedly lost. In reality you have six years to claim in England and Wales, and five in Scotland, so there is no legitimate reason for a same-day decision. If you want to know whether a past flight qualifies, check it yourself rather than trusting a message that tells you what you are owed. ## How to verify a firm before engaging it Claims management is a regulated activity, so a legitimate firm can be found on the Financial Conduct Authority register under the name it trades as. Check the register directly rather than relying on a badge displayed on the firm's own website, and confirm the registered name matches the entity in the contract you are being asked to sign. Look for a registered company address, a landline that is answered, and terms and conditions available to read before signing rather than after. Be wary of a firm that will not put its fee structure in writing, that pressures you toward an immediate electronic signature, or that contacted you first about a flight you had not raised with anyone. It is also worth simply trying the airline yourself before engaging anyone. If the airline pays, the question of a fee never arises; if it refuses, you have lost nothing and you still have years left to escalate or to instruct a firm. ## If you have already signed or already paid If you signed with a claims firm and have changed your mind, read the cancellation terms in the agreement and put any cancellation in writing, keeping proof of when you sent it. Depending on how and where the contract was concluded, cancellation rights may apply, so it is worth asking Citizens Advice about your specific circumstances rather than assuming you are locked in. If you paid an upfront fee to what you now believe was a fraudulent operation, treat it as fraud rather than a contractual dispute. Contact your bank or card issuer immediately — a credit card payment over £100 may qualify for a Section 75 claim, and chargeback may be available otherwise — and report it to Action Fraud. If you handed over identity documents or banking credentials, the exposure extends past the money. Contact your bank about account security, change any reused passwords, and watch for further approaches, since details that have produced a response once are frequently reused. ## How it works - You receive an unsolicited call, text, or email claiming an airline owes you compensation for a past flight - The scammer asks for personal details, banking information, or an upfront "processing fee" to release the supposed payout - Some variants impersonate the CAA, an airline, or a well-known claims company, using official-looking branding - No genuine compensation is ever paid — the goal is to harvest personal and financial details or extract the upfront fee ## Red flags - ⚠ Unsolicited contact about a flight you cannot immediately confirm was actually delayed - ⚠ A request for an upfront fee before any compensation is paid - ⚠ A request for full card details, online banking login, or National Insurance number - ⚠ Pressure to act immediately or the "offer" will expire - ⚠ Poor spelling, generic greetings ("Dear Customer"), or a sender address that does not match the organisation claimed ## How to protect yourself - ✓ Remember that you can claim UK261 compensation yourself for free, directly with the airline — see our free claim letter templates - ✓ Never pay an upfront fee for a compensation claim — legitimate claims companies (if you choose to use one) take a percentage only from money actually recovered - ✓ Never share your online banking login, PIN, or full card number in response to unsolicited contact - ✓ Verify any claim by contacting the airline or the CAA directly using contact details from their official website, not from the message you received ## If it happens to you - Do not respond further, click links, or share any information - Report the contact to Action Fraud (actionfraud.police.uk) - If you already shared card or banking details, contact your bank immediately ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Do I need to pay a claims company to get UK261 compensation? No. You can claim directly with the airline yourself at no cost using our [letter templates](https://flightlogic.co.uk/templates/), and escalate to the airline's ADR body — CEDR or Aviation ADR — which is also free to the passenger. Claims firms are lawful and do real work, but the task is mostly form-filling, and claiming yourself means keeping the entire award. ### Are all flight compensation claims companies scams? No, and it is worth being precise about this. Legitimate, FCA-registered claims management companies genuinely pursue valid claims and take a percentage of what they recover. The problems are firms that rely on you not knowing the claim is free, contracts with unfavourable scope or duration clauses, and outright fraudsters who contact you unsolicited and are not pursuing any claim at all. ### How do I check if a claims company is legitimate? Claims management is a regulated activity, so check the firm on the Financial Conduct Authority register under the name it trades as, and confirm it matches the entity named in the contract. Look for a registered address, a landline that is answered, and written terms available before signing. A firm you cannot find on the register is a serious warning sign. ### How much is flight delay compensation worth? The amounts are fixed by law rather than negotiated: £220 for flights up to 1,500 km, £350 for 1,500 to 3,500 km, and for flights over 3,500 km either £260 for an arrival delay of three to four hours or £520 for four hours or more. Because the figures are fixed, there is no assessment or negotiation that requires professional help. ### How do I check whether I am actually owed compensation for a past flight? Check your own flight history and delay records rather than trusting an unsolicited message telling you what you are owed. Our [UK261 guide](https://flightlogic.co.uk/guides/uk261-flight-delay-compensation-uk/) explains exactly when a delay or cancellation qualifies, and the [compensation calculator](https://flightlogic.co.uk/flight-compensation-calculator/) works out the band from the distance and delay. ### How long do I have to claim, and should I rush? Six years in England and Wales and five in Scotland, so there is no legitimate reason for anyone to pressure you into a same-day decision. Urgency in this context is a sales or fraud tactic rather than a reflection of any real deadline, and you have ample time to try the airline yourself first. ### What should I check in a claims company contract? Whether the fee is on the gross award or after deductions and whether VAT is added; whether any fee applies if the claim fails; whether the agreement covers only this flight or future ones too; whether it binds you for a fixed term; and whether you owe the percentage even if the airline pays you directly. That last clause is the one that surprises people most. ### I got a text saying I am owed compensation — is it genuine? Treat unsolicited contact about compensation as fraudulent until proven otherwise. Genuine compensation is never announced by cold text, email or social media message, and no legitimate process requires an upfront fee to release money to you. Do not click links; check any past flight yourself instead. ### I already paid an upfront fee — what now? Treat it as fraud rather than a contract dispute. Contact your bank or card issuer immediately, since a credit card payment over £100 may qualify for a Section 75 claim and chargeback may be available otherwise, and report it to Action Fraud. If you also handed over identity documents or banking credentials, raise account security with your bank as well. This page is general safety guidance, not legal or financial advice, and scam tactics evolve constantly. If you are the victim of fraud, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud. Written by [Emma Walsh](https://flightlogic.co.uk/authors/emma-walsh/) Editor, Hotels & Europe Emma reviews boutique and independent hotels across Europe, alongside British Airways and Oneworld product reviews. She writes FlightLogic's Avios redemption guides. [← Back to all travel scams](https://flightlogic.co.uk/travel-scams/)