Canary Islands Flight Disruption (Feb 2020)

bradders1983

Worthy of a thread I think as I can't see one...

Just been caught up in this. Was meant to fly back from Gran Canaria at 6pm on Saturday, at 4pm they closed the airport and diverted the inbound flight from BHX to FUE instead.  Took a few hours to find us hotels but took us to the Mogan Playa (food when we got there and the best breakfast I had all week in the morning!), then back to the airport Sunday morning, our plane did the island hop to get back in position and we left at 1130, just minutes before the airport closed again.  Have to say all the Jet2 staff were fantastic on what must have been a logistics nightmare. 

Sadly for the Jet2 Manchester flight that was also due to leave Saturday evening, they missed the cutoff yesterday by minutes and seems they are now stuck there until TUESDAY.

No doubt we will get the usual one post wonders register to ask if they are eligible for compo, you already have people spamming the airline FB and Twitter pages with the "woe is me" stories, because having a 6 month old baby means you should get preferential treatment and all that...

NoodleDoodleMan

I'd like to think punters with young children do receive priority treatment for welfare or health issues.

Don't see anything unreasonable in that - not for compensation and the like though

bradders1983

NoodleDoodleMan said:

I'd like to think punters with young children do receive priority treatment for welfare or health issues.

Don't see anything unreasonable in that - not for compensation and the like though

Jet2 certainly werent thinking that way on Sat night...the Birmingham flight were all sorted out with hotels first before the Manchester flight were.

Easyjet have basically told everyone there are no hotels for anyone, I believe TUI customers had to spent Sat night in the airport as well, heavans knows how Ryanair and Norwegian dealt with it.

NoodleDoodleMan

bradders1983 said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

I'd like to think punters with young children do receive priority treatment for welfare or health issues.

Don't see anything unreasonable in that - not for compensation and the like though

Jet2 certainly werent thinking that way on Sat night...the Birmingham flight were all sorted out with hotels first before the Manchester flight were.

That's just a logistical exercise then - not prioritising the most vulnerable ?

Of course, maybe the B'Ham passengers were the more in need ?

It's a no win scenario for the airlines, some people will perform a Victor Meldrew act over the most trivial of issues.

bradders1983

NoodleDoodleMan said:

bradders1983 said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

I'd like to think punters with young children do receive priority treatment for welfare or health issues.

Don't see anything unreasonable in that - not for compensation and the like though

Jet2 certainly werent thinking that way on Sat night...the Birmingham flight were all sorted out with hotels first before the Manchester flight were.

That's just a logistical exercise then - not prioritising the most vulnerable ?

Of course, maybe the B'Ham passengers were the more in need ?

It's a no win scenario for the airlines, some people will perform a Victor Meldrew act over the most trivial of issues.

Oh I agree with the last sentence. Its an airport, not a warzone. The way some people were talking to the two staff there was ridiculous, being polite gets you a long way and once on the coach I actually thanked one of the staff and about to crack off an email to Jet2 saying as much as well. Saw the exact same staff in the airport the morning afterwards, they probably didnt get much sleep if any at all.

Anyway...any experience of any non-Jet2 passengers? Intrigued as to how Ryanair dealt with it

Oh and before some newby asks - no you arent getting any EU compo for it either.

bagand96

bradders1983 said:

Anyway...any experience of any non-Jet2 passengers? Intrigued as to how Ryanair dealt with it

One advantage of being on TUI or Jet2 flights, is because of the package holiday focus of their businesses, they will nearly always operate the flight at some point.  Even if it's 24 or 48 hours late.  For big disruption events like the Canaries this weekend, it will often involve a lot of shuffling of aircraft around and even sub-chartering extra capacity in.

Scheduled carriers may do the same, but sometimes just cancel the flight and move on so not to cause wider schedule disruption.  Then the passengers are left with the rebooking option, and often have to "fend" for themselves for the welfare.  Yes they'll be able to claim the costs back on their return, but depending on the airline that may be a lengthy process!

Obviously I say this without knowing how TUI/Ryanair/easyJet etc dealt with this weekends disruption, in comparison to what appears to be pretty decent support from Jet2

NoodleDoodleMan

I've always been more impressed with Jet2 in general, and their operating procedures than other similar companies.

Incidentally, there was an earlier drama from the Canaries when an Edinburgh bound flight had to land at Gatwick as the crew would have exceeded their flying hours otherwise.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/tui-flight-lanzarote-edinburgh-stops-london-and-passengers-are-told-they-will-take-bus-450-miles-home-1887558

I understand there was a 4 hour delay in Lanzarote, which presunably TUI had no control over - and it appears to have been omitted in some media reports.

TUI could have cancelled the flight altogether and arranged a new one - that would have meant an even longer delay etc. and initiated even more complaints.

Passengers being offered 400 Euros.

silvercar

Family members on a flight from Manchester with Jet2 on Sunday (23/2). Flight diverted to Alicante, waited around then flew back to Manchester. Rescheduled for 10am tomorrow (Tuesday 25/2).

silvercar

NoodleDoodleMan said:

I've always been more impressed with Jet2 in general, and their operating procedures than other similar companies.

Incidentally, there was an earlier drama from the Canaries when an Edinburgh bound flight had to land at Gatwick as the crew would have exceeded their flying hours otherwise.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/tui-flight-lanzarote-edinburgh-stops-london-and-passengers-are-told-they-will-take-bus-450-miles-home-1887558

I understand there was a 4 hour delay in Lanzarote, which presunably TUI had no control over - and it appears to have been omitted in some media reports.

TUI could have cancelled the flight altogether and arranged a new one - that would have meant an even longer delay etc. and initiated even more complaints.

Passengers being offered 400 Euros.

As illogical as it sounds, the airline are liable to pay compensation for delays caused by the crew running out of hours, even if the initial delay was weather related. So the compensation is required under EU law, rather than any generosity on the part of TUI.

NoodleDoodleMan

silvercar said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

I've always been more impressed with Jet2 in general, and their operating procedures than other similar companies.

Incidentally, there was an earlier drama from the Canaries when an Edinburgh bound flight had to land at Gatwick as the crew would have exceeded their flying hours otherwise.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/tui-flight-lanzarote-edinburgh-stops-london-and-passengers-are-told-they-will-take-bus-450-miles-home-1887558

I understand there was a 4 hour delay in Lanzarote, which presunably TUI had no control over - and it appears to have been omitted in some media reports.

TUI could have cancelled the flight altogether and arranged a new one - that would have meant an even longer delay etc. and initiated even more complaints.

Passengers being offered 400 Euros.

As illogical as it sounds, the airline are liable to pay compensation for delays caused by the crew running out of hours, even if the initial delay was weather related. So the compensation is required under EU law, rather than any generosity on the part of TUI.

I had always thought that an airline was not responsible for events outwith its control, such as the weather.

Such largess is not within TUI's vocabulary as you say !!!

The reason for the 4 hour delay has not been made clear, I just assumed it was weather.

silvercar

NoodleDoodleMan said:

silvercar said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

I've always been more impressed with Jet2 in general, and their operating procedures than other similar companies.

Incidentally, there was an earlier drama from the Canaries when an Edinburgh bound flight had to land at Gatwick as the crew would have exceeded their flying hours otherwise.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/tui-flight-lanzarote-edinburgh-stops-london-and-passengers-are-told-they-will-take-bus-450-miles-home-1887558

I understand there was a 4 hour delay in Lanzarote, which presunably TUI had no control over - and it appears to have been omitted in some media reports.

TUI could have cancelled the flight altogether and arranged a new one - that would have meant an even longer delay etc. and initiated even more complaints.

Passengers being offered 400 Euros.

As illogical as it sounds, the airline are liable to pay compensation for delays caused by the crew running out of hours, even if the initial delay was weather related. So the compensation is required under EU law, rather than any generosity on the part of TUI.

I had always thought that an airline was not responsible for events outwith its control, such as the weather.

Such largess is not within TUI's vocabulary as you say !!!

The reason for the 4 hour delay has not been made clear, I just assumed it was weather.

So delays due to the sand storm are not in TUI's control and no compensation is available. Sending staff into the air with insufficient flying hours left to reach Edinburgh is seen as within TUIs control (ie airlines are expected to have staff available to fly from any destination that they have flights scheduled) and the fact that the plane had to land at Gatwick and then passengers having to be transported over land and not arriving punctually is seen as within their control and therefore compensation is payable.