Flight delay - extraordinary circumstances

chriswilkinson3nrf

Hi,

We were delayed on a Qatar Airways flight and consequently missed our connection in Doha. This meant that we arrived in Jakarta nearly 8 hours later than the scheduled arrival time.

In situations like this, I believe that we may be entitled to compensation. So on our return, I contacted Qatar who claim that the delay was due to the Air Traffic Control not giving them a slot. They say that this is therefore "extraordinary and beyond the airline's control". I know that if this is the case, we wouldn't be entitled to compensation.

I asked how I could check that ATC was to blame for the delay and Qatar suggested that I contact the CAA. I did and was told that "we (the CAA) cannot confirm the reasons for a delay to a specific flight". 

Does anybody know how I can establish who is to blame for our delay please?

Also, if I decide to go down the Bott & Co route, does anybody know how much they charge in a situation like this please? (I've looked in the T&C's and can't see if listed anywhere)

Thank you for any help or advice that you can give us on this matter.

Regards,
Chris

Grumpy_chap

chriswilkinson3nrf said:

Hi,

We were delayed on a Qatar Airways flight and consequently missed our connection in Doha. This meant that we arrived in Jakarta nearly 8 hours later than the scheduled arrival time.

In situations like this, I believe that we may be entitled to compensation. So on our return, I contacted Qatar who claim that the delay was due to the Air Traffic Control not giving them a slot. They say that this is therefore "extraordinary and beyond the airline's control". I know that if this is the case, we wouldn't be entitled to compensation.

I asked how I could check that ATC was to blame for the delay and Qatar suggested that I contact the CAA. I did and was told that "we (the CAA) cannot confirm the reasons for a delay to a specific flight". 

Does anybody know how I can establish who is to blame for our delay please?

Also, if I decide to go down the Bott & Co route, does anybody know how much they charge in a situation like this please? (I've looked in the T&C's and can't see if listed anywhere)

Thank you for any help or advice that you can give us on this matter.

Regards,
Chris

Is this event connected to the NATS issues around a month ago?

chriswilkinson3nrf

Hi Grumpy_chap,

Thanks for your reply. The flight was from Gatwick on 17th August so I think it precedes all the issues around NATS.

silvercar

Bott & Co charge around 30%, so you need to decide if you can manage the claim yourself. If you can DIY then you are wasting 30% of the compensation. If you need their help then 70% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

You may feel that the airline is more likely to acquiesce if they see that a big claim handler is prepared to take on the case. YMMV

chriswilkinson3nrf

Thank you for the info, silvercar.

I am going to try myself initially but I'm not sure who can provide definitive information about the reason we were delayed. I'm not inclined to believe the airline as it's in their interests to blame ATC and my experience with Qatar Airways before leaving was appalling. The CAA haven't been helpful but I'll go back to them and ask them who I can double check with.

If I get nothing from the CAA, I'll try to use Resolver to make a case. If that fails, I'll turn to Bott & Co.

Caz3121

It looks like the inbound flight arrived early and was at the gate from 06:32am ready for your 09:00 departure so was not caused by delayed inbound aircraft.
Was the flight boarded and then you had to wait onboard to depart or did they delay boarding?

Westin

On 17th August there were ATC issues at several points along your possible route (not all below will be relevant) :

Munich - ATC flow restrictions due to “Special Events” - moderate delays.
Karlsruhe - ATC flow restrictions due to weather and ATC capacity - moderate to high delays.
Marseille - ATC staffing issues - moderate to high delays.
Brest - ATC equipment failure - high delays.

bagand96

There's no massive database that logs a delay reason for every flight. Airlines will keep their own record. They will usually give a brief summary to the passenger. If a passenger doesn't buy it they'd probably have to start ADR or court proceedings to enforce burden of proof on the airline. 

ATC delays (slots) in Europe are centrally managed by Eurocontrol and the data will be retained. Again no easy public access to a database though.

As Westin shows there were plenty of delays in Central Europe that day (probably a lot more than listed there)

QR330 left Gatwick 1hr 5m late on 17th August. Entirely plausible for that to be caused by an ATC delay. Especially for a routing transiting all of Europe. Landed in Doha 35mins late, so I'm guessing you were very unlucky to be on quite a tight connection?

Lv220

Hi Chris,
Just wondering if you had any resolution to this? We are in a similar situation, missed connection in Doha because we arrived late. Booked all flights with Qatar and ended up arriving at our destination over 8 hours late. We’ve raised a complaint with Resolver and they have replied claiming ‘extraordinary circumstances’ due to air traffic control. Thing is, when we were on the plane they said the delay was due to passengers no longer boarding the flight and they had to get their bags of….so who’s lying!? How did you argue your case in the end? 

Thanks so much,
Lucy

Westin

Lv220 said:

Hi Chris,
Just wondering if you had any resolution to this? We are in a similar situation, missed connection in Doha because we arrived late. Booked all flights with Qatar and ended up arriving at our destination over 8 hours late. We’ve raised a complaint with Resolver and they have replied claiming ‘extraordinary circumstances’ due to air traffic control. Thing is, when we were on the plane they said the delay was due to passengers no longer boarding the flight and they had to get their bags of….so who’s lying!? How did you argue your case in the end? 

Thanks so much,
Lucy

Quite possibly no one is ‘lying’. Passengers late to the gate and baggage off loaded, this meant the original ATC slot was lost and possibly a new flight plan and ATC slot request needed. Both ATC and passenger being off loaded could be classed as “extra ordinary” circumstances outside of the airlines direct control.  Not all delays qualify for Compo.