Questionable Tui Reason

obster

Tui declined compensation for my 5 hour delay saying it was due to the weather.  It was slightly foggy on the day but all other flights landed at Leeds, ours was diverted to Manchester.  My feeling is that they were overly reluctant to land as the previous week the plane went off the runway in high winds.  Who decides if "bad weather" is a reasonable defence in these cases?

MattMattMattUK

obster said:

Tui declined compensation for my 5 hour delay saying it was due to the weather.  It was slightly foggy on the day but all other flights landed at Leeds, ours was diverted to Manchester.  My feeling is that they were overly reluctant to land as the previous week the plane went off the runway in high winds.  Who decides if "bad weather" is a reasonable defence in these cases?

If the pilot, ATC or the airport decide that it is unsafe to land then they will divert, that is then automatically a reasonable reason for the delay because the aviation industry is by nature risk averse. Damaged aircraft cost millions to repair, dead passengers and/or crew are irreplaceable to their families and friends. Skidding off a runway is dangerous for passengers, crew and aircraft, crashing is a lot worse. The plane was diverted for the safety of everyone on board, you are not entitled to compensation and your claim will be rejected by default. The fact that you seem to think a high risk of skidding off the runway is a reasonable risk makes me thankful you are not a pilot.

Ayr_Rage

Fog and high winds do not go together !

If everyone else was landing then it is likely that your aircraft had something unserviceable which precluded a landing in low visibility, hence the "weather" diversion.

Call me cynical but I heard so many convoluted reasons for delays and diversions in my 29 years in ATC along with some outright lies. 

obster

You seem not to have grasped "every other plane was landing" and the skidding was the previous week in high winds, not when diverted.  Yes, I'm not a pilot but I am able to question why only 1 out of 20 planes didn't land.  Thank you for your input though 🙄

MattMattMattUK

obster said:

You seem not to have grasped "every other plane was landing" and the skidding was the previous week in high winds, not when diverted.

I have "grasped" that, however either the pilot, the airport, or ATC have decided that landing was not safe and have chosen to divert. That is not something that any of them will do lightly, for fun, or because they are a bit bored, it is expensive for all involved and is only done when they deem it essential for safety. 

obster said:

Yes, I'm not a pilot but I am able to question why only 1 out of 20 planes didn't land.

Weather and conditions change throughout the course of a day, they are not static. Different aircraft have different landing characteristics, one particular pilot may have been slightly more risk averse, or possibly less experienced at landing at that airport in bad weather. Either way that is all irrelevant, a diversion is deemed acceptable and a reasonable defence, the opinion of the pilot, airport or ATC is all that matters, your view as a passenger is irrelevant.