Wizz Air citing extraordinary circumstances for cancelled flight

Stranded4

Our flight was cancelled by Wizz Air coming back to Gatwick from Cyprus on 28th June. I had my daughter, granddaughter (aged 4) and my mother-in-law (aged 81 and suffering with mobility issues) it wasn't the best end to our holiday. We were sat on the plane for around an hour during which time they announced a delay due to errors made by ground staff allowing a passenger who shouldn't have been there to board the plane. This was followed by a request for passengers in the first 5 rows to identify their luggage so they could remove the correct cases. They then told us that as a result, they'd missed their take-off slot with a new one over an hour later. Then an announcement that despite issues at Gatwick now resolved with flight arrivals and departures back to normal, they were unable to improve their new take-off time and had made the decision to cancel the flight. After putting in a claim for the fixed compensation, they informed me no compensation was due, and directing me to an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform if I was dissatisfied. 

I am genuinely staggered. I've raised again through the link they sent and awaiting a response. It wasn't easy as the dropdown menu for county didn't include UK (only EU countries), ditto with the currency (I had to choose an incorrect one in the list and explain this in my notes). Has anyone else experienced anything similar? Interested to know what my chances are of getting any reimbursement. Thanks in advance for any help / guidance.

Voyager2002

So how did you get home in the end?Did you need to spend money on food, accommodation, telephone to make new arrangements and so forth? All of these expenses are termed "care during the delay", to which you are entitled no matter what caused the issue. 

As for compensation, it does sound as if the airline really did suffer from 'exceptional circumstances', meaning that no compensation would be due.

Stranded4

We managed to get booked on an alternative flight 32 hours later, but that meant an overnight hotel stay, food, transport back to the airport, parking overstay charges at the other end, etc. But it seems to me that the events leading to the flight missing the take-off slot were absolutely avoidable, and they took the decision to cancel because they couldn't improve their new take-off slot. I'm sure everyone on the flight would have preferred another 90 minute delay than the upheaval we were faced with, i.e. a frantic search for an alternative flight, hotel, all the extra expense and inconvenience. All with a toddler and 81 year old to care for.

Westin

Stranded4 said:

We managed to get booked on an alternative flight 32 hours later, but that meant an overnight hotel stay, food, transport back to the airport, parking overstay charges at the other end, etc. But it seems to me that the events leading to the flight missing the take-off slot were absolutely avoidable, and they took the decision to cancel because they couldn't improve their new take-off slot. I'm sure everyone on the flight would have preferred another 90 minute delay than the upheaval we were faced with, i.e. a frantic search for an alternative flight, hotel, all the extra expense and inconvenience. All with a toddler and 81 year old to care for.

Unfortunately that was unlikely to work for the operating flight crew. They would have operated out from LGW and with a round trip to/from Cyprus, the crew would be tight on their legal operating hours. An extended ground delay and ATC slot likely pushed them in to having to cancel that service and the crew to ‘rest’ for 12+ hours.  There is a buffer on operating hours but it sounds like that was exceeded with the lengthy ATC hold up.

As @Voyager2002 says, you are entitled to the care elements but it sounds like no extra compensation given the delay reason.

Stranded4

Westin said:

Stranded4 said:

We managed to get booked on an alternative flight 32 hours later, but that meant an overnight hotel stay, food, transport back to the airport, parking overstay charges at the other end, etc. But it seems to me that the events leading to the flight missing the take-off slot were absolutely avoidable, and they took the decision to cancel because they couldn't improve their new take-off slot. I'm sure everyone on the flight would have preferred another 90 minute delay than the upheaval we were faced with, i.e. a frantic search for an alternative flight, hotel, all the extra expense and inconvenience. All with a toddler and 81 year old to care for.

Unfortunately that was unlikely to work for the operating flight crew. They would have operated out from LGW and with a round trip to/from Cyprus, the crew would be tight on their legal operating hours. An extended ground delay and ATC slot likely pushed them in to having to cancel that service and the crew to ‘rest’ for 12+ hours.  There is a buffer on operating hours but it sounds like that was exceeded with the lengthy ATC hold up.

As @Voyager2002 says, you are entitled to the care elements but it sounds like no extra compensation given the delay reason.

Thanks. The flight crew had announced that the slot was missed due to their ground staff error and subsequent issues identifying the luggage to be off boarded. The Wizz Air email quoted that 'An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.' But all reasonable measures (to not board passengers who shouldn't have been there) hadn't been taken. If they had, they wouldn't have missed the original take off slot(?)

peteuk

Did you buy the flights alone or as part of a package?

Stranded4

peteuk said:

Did you buy the flights alone or as part of a package?

Just the flights, we booked the accommodation separately.

Hoenir

Stranded4 said:

Westin said:

Stranded4 said:

We managed to get booked on an alternative flight 32 hours later, but that meant an overnight hotel stay, food, transport back to the airport, parking overstay charges at the other end, etc. But it seems to me that the events leading to the flight missing the take-off slot were absolutely avoidable, and they took the decision to cancel because they couldn't improve their new take-off slot. I'm sure everyone on the flight would have preferred another 90 minute delay than the upheaval we were faced with, i.e. a frantic search for an alternative flight, hotel, all the extra expense and inconvenience. All with a toddler and 81 year old to care for.

Unfortunately that was unlikely to work for the operating flight crew. They would have operated out from LGW and with a round trip to/from Cyprus, the crew would be tight on their legal operating hours. An extended ground delay and ATC slot likely pushed them in to having to cancel that service and the crew to ‘rest’ for 12+ hours.  There is a buffer on operating hours but it sounds like that was exceeded with the lengthy ATC hold up.

As @Voyager2002 says, you are entitled to the care elements but it sounds like no extra compensation given the delay reason.

But all reasonable measures (to not board passengers who shouldn't have been there) hadn't been taken. If they had, they wouldn't have missed the original take off slot(?)

The ground staff are most likely not the airlines employees but an outsourced service provider. 

Stranded4

Hoenir said:

Stranded4 said:

Westin said:

Stranded4 said:

We managed to get booked on an alternative flight 32 hours later, but that meant an overnight hotel stay, food, transport back to the airport, parking overstay charges at the other end, etc. But it seems to me that the events leading to the flight missing the take-off slot were absolutely avoidable, and they took the decision to cancel because they couldn't improve their new take-off slot. I'm sure everyone on the flight would have preferred another 90 minute delay than the upheaval we were faced with, i.e. a frantic search for an alternative flight, hotel, all the extra expense and inconvenience. All with a toddler and 81 year old to care for.

Unfortunately that was unlikely to work for the operating flight crew. They would have operated out from LGW and with a round trip to/from Cyprus, the crew would be tight on their legal operating hours. An extended ground delay and ATC slot likely pushed them in to having to cancel that service and the crew to ‘rest’ for 12+ hours.  There is a buffer on operating hours but it sounds like that was exceeded with the lengthy ATC hold up.

As @Voyager2002 says, you are entitled to the care elements but it sounds like no extra compensation given the delay reason.

But all reasonable measures (to not board passengers who shouldn't have been there) hadn't been taken. If they had, they wouldn't have missed the original take off slot(?)

The ground staff are most likely not the airlines employees but an outsourced service provider. 

Thanks. Their website says 'Our cabin crew, pilots and ground staff put their heart into the work that they do...'

Westin

Stranded4 said:

Westin said:

Stranded4 said:

We managed to get booked on an alternative flight 32 hours later, but that meant an overnight hotel stay, food, transport back to the airport, parking overstay charges at the other end, etc. But it seems to me that the events leading to the flight missing the take-off slot were absolutely avoidable, and they took the decision to cancel because they couldn't improve their new take-off slot. I'm sure everyone on the flight would have preferred another 90 minute delay than the upheaval we were faced with, i.e. a frantic search for an alternative flight, hotel, all the extra expense and inconvenience. All with a toddler and 81 year old to care for.

Unfortunately that was unlikely to work for the operating flight crew. They would have operated out from LGW and with a round trip to/from Cyprus, the crew would be tight on their legal operating hours. An extended ground delay and ATC slot likely pushed them in to having to cancel that service and the crew to ‘rest’ for 12+ hours.  There is a buffer on operating hours but it sounds like that was exceeded with the lengthy ATC hold up.

As @Voyager2002 says, you are entitled to the care elements but it sounds like no extra compensation given the delay reason.

Thanks. The flight crew had announced that the slot was missed due to their ground staff error and subsequent issues identifying the luggage to be off boarded. The Wizz Air email quoted that 'An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.' But all reasonable measures (to not board passengers who shouldn't have been there) hadn't been taken. If they had, they wouldn't have missed the original take off slot(?)

Possibly. Possibly not. I guess WizzAir feel otherwise and seem to have rejected your claim on that basis.

Often the flight deck crew can send a ‘ready message’ to try and improve an ATC slot. This done once everyone is on board, bags loaded, doors closed.  They however need to make a judgement call to whether this is likely vs. the legal obligation on maximum safe operating hours for the crew.

I am sorry to hear that you had such a horrid end to your holiday.  No one likes these events but sadly with congested airspace, busy flights, airports at capacity, these things just happen.  Compensation is not always due, but welfare during delays or cancellation is.

UncleTomCobley

To help, you may want to have a look on the CAA website, which includes a bit about what constitute extraordinary circumstances. It's under the heading

Claiming for costs and compensation

For completeness, delegating a function to a third party would not typically appear to remove the accountability of the airline.