is this exceptional circumstances?

Airline say arrival was delayed 20 minutes because luggage had to be unloaded from a plane because of a missing passenger. The ticket they'd sold me had allowed 45 minutes to get my connecting flight in Frankfurt which wasn't enough . As a result I had to get rerouted and arrived 5 hours late. They say this was a safety and security issue which couldn't have been foreseen but I would have thought that's a common occurrence and they shouldn't have allowed more time to change planes when selling me the ticket.

Comments

  • Voyager2002
    Voyager2002 Posts: 15,244
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    Logically, this sounds like a mechanical failure: the kind of thing that happens sometimes and so they should have contingency plans in place to deal with it. Anyway, you would have to test that in the courts.

    Frankfurt is a vast airport and I cannot imagine that 45 minutes would be enough for most connections, even without a delay.
  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,533
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    kuepper wrote: »
    Ithey shouldn't have allowed more time to change planes when selling me the ticket.

    sounds like a passenger with checked baggage failed to board so for security reasons the baggage needs to be located and offloaded...they will normally get looking for the bag and the passenger then leave when the first one is found....eg if the passenger turns up before the bag is located and offloaded it is usually quicker just to let them travel.
    45 minutes may be the minimum connection for the flights you booking but you do not have to select those, were you not offered different connection options but decided that you wanted a short connection so chose it or was this option forced on you somehow?
    I would not book a 45 minute connection personally...and have ended up with a 6 hour one rather than a short one
  • kuepper
    kuepper Posts: 1,346
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    Caz3121 wrote: »
    45 minutes may be the minimum connection for the flights you booking but you do not have to select those, were you not offered different connection options but decided that you wanted a short connection so chose it or was this option forced on you somehow?
    I would not book a 45 minute connection personally...and have ended up with a 6 hour one rather than a short one

    I agree but I didn't have a say, it was part of the holiday package the tour co sold me so I had no option
  • kuepper
    kuepper Posts: 1,346
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    seems to be an extraordinary circumstance after all - tho it seems to happen quite often in my expereince -based on this (no.8) http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/air/doc/neb-extraordinary-circumstances-list.pdf
  • kuepper wrote: »
    seems to be an extraordinary circumstance after all - tho it seems to happen quite often in my expereince -based on this (no.8) http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/air/doc/neb-extraordinary-circumstances-list.pdf


    I cannot believe that 'list' has been brought up yet again! It is totally rubbish, based on what airlines wanted to have as extraordinary circumstances and drawn up in cahhots with the CAA (they are not your friend!)

    Search NEB wishlist on this forum more more info.
    The above is just my opinon - which counts for nowt! You must make up your own mind.
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