Jet2 change of airport

Californiagirl507

:jWe were in Tenerife on Tuesday 9th April. On turning up at the airport in Tenerife we were informed that Jet2 had pulled out of Belfast International Airport and we would be travelling to Londonderry Airport which is 1 and half hours away. The incoming flight was 3 hours late so we arrived at Londonderry airport 3 hours late and then after proceeding through the usual passport control and collecting baggage were bussed back to Belfast where our cars had been parked in the paid carparks. Altogether we were about 5 hours late in reaching Belfast Airport. Jet2 only pulled out of Belfast for one day due they said to safely concerns for the runway but no other airline stopped using the airport and in fact a Thomas Cook flight left Tenerife for Belfast International when we were still sitting in the terminal. Jet2 then transferred back to Belfast yesterday as usual. We were the only international flight affected. We will be putting in a claim for compensation but do we claim only for the three hours delay or for the fact that we arrived five hours late at our destination airport. We arrived home near mid-night instead of after 6.20 when we should have. Would appreciate your opinions. The airline can't claim extraordinary circumstances as the airport was open and other flights were flying as usual. They said they had a concern with one of they aircraft landing of three occasions!!!!!

Ich_2

What is more important to you, safety or money? If Jet 2 made a decision on safety grounds that is their right, just because other airlines don't doesn't mean it was safe!
Have you evidence that the TC flight actually landed at Belfast?

Ich_2

I would suggest caution as we do not know aircraft types, weights and Standard Operting Proceedures.
All of the above can influence the decision to land at a particular location especially if there are issues with the runway

Just done some searching, they are resurfacing the runway this will limit the type of aircraft that can safely land there from time to time they are at times reducing the declared distances
I also notice they have radar issues and intermittent runway closures

Looks like an EC to me.

Californiagirl507

This is an Interntional airport. There are daily flights from New York into Belfast and many European destinations. In fact the plane we were on was quite small compared to the usual one we fly with Thomas Cook. The CAA said in the national newspapers that they had not problems nor complaints with Belfast and none had been reported to them.

Ich_2

End of the day I'm suggesting caution as they may have a valid EC, it is up to you what to do with the information.

Some seem to think that the airlines don't care or do things like this on purpose or for the fun of it! They would, internally, need a valid reason to go to the extra expense of coach transfers and landing & handling fees at Londonderry.

A little bit of further looking found this!

http://www.belfastairport.com/en/news/

Again I ask what price safety if what Jet2 suspected had caused a more serious incident with you on-board?

Mark2spark

How weird is that?
Plane is safe to fly and land at Londonderry, but not Belfast. (same flying distance)
Belfast Airport is safe to every other flight planned for that day, no other diversions.
Wonder what happened to the next scheduled route of the plane, which, you would think, would have been from Belfast. Did they fly it empty from L'derry to Belfast?
Makes you wonder if they had crew or something to drop off in L'derry.

grazzzz

Its for them to prove EC which seems unlikely if they were the only ones not to fly there that day

Ich_2

Hindsight is such a wonderful thing, especially when the full story is not known.