TUI refusing compensation - how do

sunnyD1

TUI flight delay so submitted form.

departure was delayed for an hour when we got to the airport and they put us on a titan plane. baggage wasn't loaded for ages. sat round for a bit. then finally took off. over 3 hours late. submitted claim. they've said this. Do we have any leg to stand on? they seem to say extraordinary circumstances.....

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with us regarding your flight delay claim for flight BY510 on 07/09/2024 from LGW to ADB.

I appreciate that delays can impact your enjoyment and comfort whilst travelling with us. I would like to reassure you that while we try our very best to ensure we get you on holiday and home again as close to your original planned times as possible, despite our best efforts, delays can happen on occasion.

European Regulation EC 261/2004 states that we as the Airline may have to pay compensation to you when you experience a long delay of over 3 hours on arrival, but only if the delay wasn’t caused by ‘extraordinary circumstances’. We have investigated your claim for your flight delay of 03 hours and 12 minutes and our delay handling logs show that your flight was delayed due to several reasons namely disruption caused by ATC restrictions. This affected the operating schedule of your flight. So as to help both customers and airlines, the European Commission has recently published draft guidelines as to what amounts to extraordinary circumstances. This list was prepared with the assistance of the various national bodies responsible for regulating the aviation industry across Europe. In this draft, the Commission has intimated that the following would be considered extraordinary circumstances: 30. Air Traffic Management “Where Air Traffic Control suspends or restricts operations into or out of a block of air-space through which the air carrier must travel in order to operate the flight.” An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the delay is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Having investigated into the reasons for the delay to your flight, I can confirm that the circumstances surrounding the delay to your flight are classified as extraordinary circumstances under Regulation 261/2004 of the European Union.

For further information regarding the Air Passenger Rights Rules and your eligibility, please visit our website for more information here. We hope to welcome you on board again soon. Once again, thank you for contacting us.

Yours sincerely,

TUI Airways

Mark_d

ATC restrictions are outside the airline's control hence no compensation is payable under EU261

sunnyD1

Mark_d said:

ATC restrictions are outside the airline's control hence no compensation is payable under EU261

ah - they were still loading baggage an hour after being sat on the plane. Any chance they missed their take off slot due to baggage loading? 

la531983

sunnyD1 said:

Mark_d said:

ATC restrictions are outside the airline's control hence no compensation is payable under EU261

ah - they were still loading baggage an hour after being sat on the plane. Any chance they missed their take off slot due to baggage loading? 

Maybe, but flip it round - maybe they knew they had no slot due to ATC and therefore the baggage handlers didnt have to rush

eskbanker

sunnyD1 said:

We have investigated your claim for your flight delay of 03 hours and 12 minutes and our delay handling logs show that your flight was delayed due to several reasons namely disruption caused by ATC restrictions. This affected the operating schedule of your flight.

Case law is that if there's delay caused by both extraordinary circumstances and those within the airline's control, the former is deducted from the total, so if (hypothetically) the ATC restrictions were as little as 13 minutes and delayed baggage loading accounted for 2 hours 59 minutes, that wouldn't qualify for compensation.