Dubai emirates delays

Colleen52

Has anyone had any luck getting compensation from Emirates for flight delays or cancellations from the 17th April 2024 when dubai airport had floods.

eskbanker

Happy to be proved wrong, but I'd be amazed if Emirates stumped up for any claims arising from the extreme weather event that was clearly beyond their control, thereby removing their liability to pay out.  Were there any aspects of your experience that suggested that compensation would be due?

Newbie_John

Compensation is when they could have done something to stop the delay, like send additional plane rather than relying on the same one which has been delayed 5 flights earlier.
Here is a weather related delay - totally out of control, so no chance for Emirates compensation.

Who is your travel insurance with?

Earls_waistcoat

I was delayed 2.5 days and received no assistance from Emirates. I have a view on whether Emirates is culpable or not. 

Emirates delayed my departure from Glasgow for 4 hours due to the bad weather. At that time the worst of the weather had passed. Emirates were aware, or should have been aware that the cancelled and delayed incoming and outgoing flights were going to disrupt the flight schedules in the coming hours and days. 

They had the opportunity then to cancel all incoming flights and reschedule them. At that time no compensation would have been due or payable as the cancelations were incontrovertibly due to the weather.

Emirates chose not to do that. They made an operational and business decision to allow the flights to continue for several more days.

Due to them making that operational decision the situation deteriorated much more than was necessary and on that basis they are culpable and should be paying compensation.

Any comments on my opinion?

eskbanker

Earls_waistcoat said:

I was delayed 2.5 days and received no assistance from Emirates. I have a view on whether Emirates is culpable or not. 

Emirates delayed my departure from Glasgow for 4 hours due to the bad weather. At that time the worst of the weather had passed. Emirates were aware, or should have been aware that the cancelled and delayed incoming and outgoing flights were going to disrupt the flight schedules in the coming hours and days. 

They had the opportunity then to cancel all incoming flights and reschedule them. At that time no compensation would have been due or payable as the cancelations were incontrovertibly due to the weather.

Emirates chose not to do that. They made an operational and business decision to allow the flights to continue for several more days.

Due to them making that operational decision the situation deteriorated much more than was necessary and on that basis they are culpable and should be paying compensation.

Any comments on my opinion?

It's a controversial one if you're asserting that trying to keep flights operating was inappropriate and that choosing to cancel would have been a better option!  Sounds like they're damned if they do and damned if they don't, but what evidence do you cite for your conclusion that "the situation deteriorated much more than was necessary"?

Earls_waistcoat

eskbanker said:

It's a controversial one if you're asserting that trying to keep flights operating was inappropriate and that choosing to cancel would have been a better option!  Sounds like they're damned if they do and damned if they don't, but what evidence do you cite for your conclusion that "the situation deteriorated much more than was necessary

Emirates were aware that the floods were disrupting the operation of their flight schedules and in particular the outgoing flights from Dubai which were universally cancelled. This caused a pile up of passengers. Despite knowing this they continued to bring flights into the airport for most of the next 2 days knowing that the transit passengers were going nowhere. This was an operational decision and a choice made by Emirates, because thousands of passengers continued to arrive and fill the departure area with nowhere to go. The situation then deteriorated as I mentioned. Emirates could not cope and withdrew all staff members from public areas for more than 2 days. They vanished and not one was to be found. They cancelled dozens of flights at a stroke and told passengers to rebook alternative flights themselves. Before doing this they pulled the plug on their website and no bookings could be made online. I spent 8.5 hours in a ruck with hundreds of others trying to get rebooked at a connection centre. It was so bad that about 6 Police officers had to attend to try and restore some sort of order. When flights resumed there was a backlog of 30,000 missing suitcases to be delivered worldwide. I think I can safely say “the situation deteriorated much more than was necessary”. 

eskbanker

Sure, I get that it would all have been pretty chaotic, but you're evidently believing that it was avoidable, and that your preferred alternative of cancelling more flights to Dubai would have been better - passengers returning to Dubai would doubtless disagree, as would those who ultimately flew out again on planes that otherwise wouldn't have been there!

Have you tested your opinion out yet by trying to claim, and escalating beyond the airline if unresolved?

Earls_waistcoat

Are you seriously suggesting that Emirates activity at Dubai airport, which normally has up to 1400 flight movements per day (https://media.dubaiairports.ae/dubai-airports-back-to-normal-operations/#), most of which is Emirates, was doing the right thing by continuing to bring thousands of passengers into the terminal building over a 2 day period knowing that none of their connecting flights were flying and their transit passengers were trapped airside and had nowhere to go. During my 2.5 day stay in the transit lounge there was almost zero communication however they allowed me to use my boarding card to get breakfast on one single occasion. After that zilch. I assume you were not affected or involved in the chaos at Dubai airport at that time. I have not made a claim to Emirates or to my travel insurance. Emirates were taking up to 3 months to respond to other passengers emails etc so I decided to wait until things settled down before considering my options.

eskbanker

The point is that the test in the regulations involves whether or not airlines took all reasonable measures to mitigate extraordinary circumstances, and of course that's all reasonable measures based on the information available to them at the time, rather than reviewing events with hindsight.

It may be feasible to construct a case that it was unreasonable not to cancel flights that could have been operated, but it doesn't seem to me that you've succeeded in doing that in what you've posted thus far.  Obviously any decision in such circumstances will cause significant inconvenience to some, so it's not as if there was some easy simple solution to keep everyone happy, and those who were most inconvenienced will naturally feel aggrieved, especially given the lack of passenger support on the ground, but IMHO that's likely to be seen as a separate issue from the fundamental decision to try to keep flying (although a claim for reimbursement of meals should be settled, regardless of compensation (in)eligibility).

It's all just opinions and speculation though, so the acid test is really to take it to a court - it seems highly unlikely to me that the airline will pay compensation, especially after all this time to refine their arguments, so I'd assume that you will need to take the matter to an independent body.

Earls_waistcoat

eskbanker….thank you for your input on this. I don’t necessarily agree with your point of view but I appreciate it non the less. I am not an ambulance chaser and that is the reason that I have not submitted a claim to anyone but I have a point of view and you were kind enough to challenge it. It gives me something to think about and I might/might not pursue it but am currently of the opinion that it might not be worth the time and effort to follow this up and give me further stress for an incident which could/could not be classed as part of the holiday experience. Cheers. 

eskbanker

There's always room for respectful debate, but just to be clear, I wasn't trying to dissuade you from claiming and complaining to Emirates:

1. All out of pocket article 9 costs for meals bought while waiting for your connecting flight (as above these aren't negated by extraordinary circumstances) - perhaps also worth highlighting their regulatory obligation to provide accommodation
2. Fixed-tariff article 7 compensation claim, based on what you feel would have been a reasonable response to the extraordinary circumstances (the worst they can do is say no and if you don't ask you don't get)
3. Customer service complaint about the way you were treated, even allowing for the trying circumstances

It should be reasonably clear from your travel insurance policy if/how it covers delays, so claim there too if relevant....