how to find out if there was an air traffic controller issue on a flight

trevperson61

Hi our response from Jet2 on our 8 hour delayed flight from Malaga on 13-7-24 was that it was due to air traffic problems.
The pilot of the aircraft stated the plane had to return to Stansted as it had a technical problem on its was to Fuerteventura and was sent down which the issue was cleared. Obviously a disconnect between the two scenarios. We have responded to them with the comments from the pilot and that no other flight going to anywhere in Europe (even the UK) left late and that they must be mistaken.
Is there any way that it can be checked to see if there was an ATC problem so we can refute their case.
What was even stranger was that the pilot obviously thought that there was a case as he instructed all passengers to make a claim for the delay something I'm sure he wouldn't have done if it was an ATC problem.

bagand96

There's no publicly available record of ATC restrictions and delays.  However if you were to escalate the issue then Jet2 would be required to provide evidence to back up their case that ATC were the cause of the delay.  Looking at flight tracking history, the aircraft that operated the delayed Malaga on 13-07 did operate Fuerteventura beforehand:

STN-FUE 05:40 - 09:55 - On time landing FUE 09:43
FUE-STN 10:50 - 15:00 - Ontime landing STN 14:45

Then Stansted-Malaga:

LS1405 STN-AGP 09:00 - 12:55  departed STN 16:18 / landed AGP 19:46
LS1406 AGP-STN 13:50 - 15:45  departed AGP 21:01 / landed STN 22:31

The Fuerteventura flight had no issues.  But it can't have been the intended aircraft to operate Malaga as it was still on it's way to FUE at the Malaga STD.  This would suggest that a different aircraft was scheduled for Malaga, but for some reason the Fuerteventura aircraft picked up  the delayed Malaga flights later in the day.  It isn't what an ATC delay usually looks like.

You could respond to Jet2 with this information requesting a full explanation and see if they change their position.

jimi_man

Hi. There were ATC delays on that day across Europe, due to staff shortages as far as I am aware. It’s too difficult to post the screenshot but there were delays across most sectors in Europe including France and Spain. 

Whether that’s the reason for your delay is another matter - but presumably they are using it as an excuse.