Flight delay 20hrs due to incoming plane experiencing 'air traffic control delays'

Puffin65

Hi All,

I have been round and round the internet trying to understand where we stand with this:

Flight EZY8660
Due to depart Larnaca 1/8/24 @22.40
Departed Larnaca 2/8/24 @ 18.20

We were given overnight accommodation and transport. My query is that we would like to claim compensation based on the fact we arrived 24hrs later than scheduled back to the UK. The comms from EJ was that due to ATC restrictions the flight was delayed: however the incoming flight from LGW to LNC landed 5.5hrs late by which point the crew couldn't continue to work to return us to UK on same plane.

EJ have said the ATC delay was extraordinary however I have read that this has to apply to the flight in question; which considering our plane wasn't even in Cyprus I can't understand how they can state that?

Its EJ so not hoping for much... but would be interested in others experiences if you have had a delay caused by a similar circumstance?

Hoenir

Puffin65 said:

EJ have said the ATC delay was extraordinary however I have read that this has to apply to the flight in question; which considering our plane wasn't even in Cyprus I can't understand how they can state that?

Chain of events. An aircraft can only be in one place at a time. Once there's a considerable delay. Then there's a knock on which could last several days. Until the plane is finally in the right place at the right time. 

Westin

The 1st August was a fairly horrendous day for flying with widespread thunderstorms and general poor weather over much of Western Europe, moving eastwards during the day.  England also had similar weather conditions. The Met office issued various warnings which you can probably find. Air traffic restrictions and flow controls put in place by many countries.  Moderate to high ATC slot delays were experienced for enroute traffic through the Balkans, Germany, Greece and Austria. I strongly suspect this combination of factors created your delay. 

The aircraft used to fly out LGW LCA would have been impacted. Operating it out to LCA with an unscheduled night stop might have been from a creeping ATC delay with crew not going out of hours until they encountered further ATC slot delays at LCA.  I am afraid your idea that compensation should be paid as the delay was not your flight is a bit of a red herring.  Clearly the aircraft operating EZY8659 LGW LCA was the aircraft to operate EZY8660 LCA LGW.  

Weather issues, ATC slots and generally air and airport congestion has been an issue during May, Jun and July this year.

Sorry you had a rather long delay to your return flight. Welfare should have been provided by EasyJet. If it wasn’t then you can claim for reasonable expenses.   Weather and ATC restrictions fall in the extraordinary category and as the airline has told you, no Compo payout due.

eskbanker

Puffin65 said:

EJ have said the ATC delay was extraordinary however I have read that this has to apply to the flight in question; which considering our plane wasn't even in Cyprus I can't understand how they can state that?

The regulations make no reference to that line of thinking:

Extraordinary circumstances should be deemed to exist where the impact of an air traffic management decision in relation to a particular aircraft on a particular day gives rise to a long delay, an overnight delay, or the cancellation of one or more flights by that aircraft, even though all reasonable measures had been taken by the air carrier concerned to avoid the delays or cancellations.

Did you find it on one of the excitable ambulance-chaser firms' sites perhaps?

mdann52

You might be thinking of the cases of Blanche v easyJet or Dunbar v easyjet Airline. Essentially, in this case there are two limbs the airline have to meet - was the delay in their control, and did they take "all reasonable measures" to reduce the delay. 

In this case, the key will be around standby crews, standby aircraft, and how far in advance the delay and weather was forseeable.

It's not as simple as "weather so no" in this case, but given the conditions any claim is going to be difficult