Cancelled flight

pangit58

My wife and I travelled to the Isle of Man last year. On our way home, we were just about to go through security at the airport, when the security guy advised us that we wouldn't be going through as the flight was cancelled. The flight from Gatwick was delayed so would not get to Isle of Man till after the night time flight curfew, so they cancelled it. The next available flight was 24 hours later. I claimed from easyJet who paid my direct expenses, but declined the compensation. They said the delay was out of their control......saying it was due to an air traffic control restriction at Gatwick. I decided to try again via a claim management company. They eventually came back and said that the claim was denied.....this time, no air traffic control issue mentioned.......it was due to a lightening strike on the aircraft to be used on the IOM flight. It would be useful if there was somewhere to go, preferably independent of airlines, where customers could check the official reason for flight delays/cancellations. In my case I felt I was told something so they didn't have to pay. My wife lost a day's wages, which they wouldn't pay.

eskbanker

It would indeed be useful for there to be an independent source of public domain data on such things, but in the absence of any such facility, all you can do is escalate to impartial bodies such as Aviation ADR or small claims court, if you're convinced that the reason was within their control.

On the point about paying wages, airlines aren't responsible for that under the flight delay/cancellation regulations, so that would never have been a viable claim.