Airline says delay was 2 hours 59 mins so no compensation!

gutscra

Hi all,  I would like your advice on this, and I'm not sure where to turn for help. 

I had a flight delay flying from NI to England and when I claimed under EC261 I got this response:  Our team has now reviewed your claim and can see that your flight ***  was delayed by 2 hours 59 minutes.

As your flight was delayed less than 3 hours, compensation is not applicable / claimable under the regulation.

It seems very convenient to me that the delay happened to be 1 minute less than the required length...maybe even seconds!  So I'm sceptical of Easyjet's timekeeping here. As I understand it EC261 compensation is based on the arrival time of the flight. Easyjet seem to overestimate the length of flights. This flight should take 1 hour 15 minutes but they say 1 hour 40, meaning that a flight can take off 3 hours 20 mins late and arrive just before the 3 hours threshold, exempting it from compensation. When I check Flightradar and other trackers they all say the flight landed over 3 hours late, but I think they use the correct flight time. When I look at my phone activity we were still on the runway at the time that Easyjet say the flight took off.

So I am wondering if I have any way of proving that the delay was longer than Easyjet say and ensure I get compensation? When it comes down to one single minute it seems far too convenient and possibly dishonest that an airline can go by their own timekeeping, report that the delay was just less than 3 hours and save money. This may be a flaw in this system.

Please let me know if any of you have dealt with something similar and if I can pursue my claim!  Many thanks

eskbanker

The delay is measured from the scheduled arrival time to the time the first door was actually opened - which flight number and date are you referring to?

gutscra

It was for flight EZY832 from Belfast Intl (BFS) to London Gatwick (LGW) on 26-09-2024

eskbanker

Flightera is quite a handy resource as it has a searchable history without subscription, whereas with most you have to pay to see more than a week or two.

https://www.flightera.net/en/flight_details/easyJet-Belfast-London/U2832/EGAA/2024-09-26 shows the flight as landing 2 hours 53 minutes late (00:33 versus 21:40), so another six minutes to the gate is plausible, although landing from the east at Gatwick does entail a longer taxi than the other direction.

What did the other trackers show when you checked?

gutscra

I used flightradar24.com and uk.flightaware.com in the days following the flight and they all showed different departure and landing times but they both showed the delay as a little over 3 hours.  I don't have a subscription so I can't check back to see exactly what delays they had recorded.   I think their arrival times were both different to Easyjet as well.  It's a tricky one!  It does feel very suspicious to me that they somehow managed to land it 2 hours and 59 minutes late

eskbanker

Did you take any screenshots and in particular did you record any published times after landing, as I'm sure I've seen some gate time info or taxiing times in the past, but can't seem to find them now?

I can see why 2:59 might seem suspicious but as above, it's not implausible based on touching down 2:53 after scheduled arrival, so if you felt the need to pursue the matter further you'd need something more tangible than a feeling that it's convenient.

saajan_12

gutscra said:

Easyjet seem to overestimate the length of flights. This flight should take 1 hour 15 minutes but they say 1 hour 40, meaning that a flight can take off 3 hours 20 mins late and arrive just before the 3 hours threshold, exempting it from compensation. ... When I look at my phone activity we were still on the runway at the time that Easyjet say the flight took off.

ow if any of you have dealt with something similar and if I can pursue my claim!  Many thanks

Unfortunately this is pretty common, and not unique to Easyjet. Ever wondered how every airline "made up time" almost every time? However the compo is based on the advertised arrival time vs the actual arrival time.. I suppose the argument would be you agreed to a certain arrival time, even if that was exaggerated vs the normal flight time. 

gutscra said:

When I check Flightradar and other trackers they all say the flight landed over 3 hours late, but I think they use the correct flight time. 

Well exactly what times are they stating as the touch down vs gate arrival? Its the latter that matters, ie when the doors open to be precise. The reason is no matter whether the airplane is flying or driving around the airport, you can't actually go anywhere until the doors open.

When I (well my family) had a delayed KQ flight, they initially based it on the touch down time, which was 3h 56m late. The prominent numbers on the flight radar screens was the touch down time, on the side it did mention the gate arrival time which was 4h 05 min, as it took 10 min to taxi. Much debate later, we got the compensation based on the 4hr+ time for long haul flights. 

Grumpy_chap

gutscra said:

I had a flight delay flying from NI to England and when I claimed under EC261 I got this response:  Our team has now reviewed your claim and can see that your flight ***  was delayed by 2 hours 59 minutes.

As your flight was delayed less than 3 hours, compensation is not applicable / claimable under the regulation.

It seems very convenient to me that the delay happened to be 1 minute less than the required length.. 

Well, the trigger is an absolute data set and binary.  Either above or below the time threshold.
I am not 100 percent, but I think the threshold is "more than three hours delay" for compensation to be due, so your 2 hours 59 minutes delay was 2 minutes below the threshold.  I digress.

Anyway, with a binary metric of this nature, there will always be delays that are "nearly but not quite 3 hours delayed".
1 minute
2 minutes
5 minutes
Other than a strict application of the threshold, where would you draw the line?

Your flight arrived one minute before the threshold, yet you still seem to thin the decision not to payout is harsh, because the delay is "conveniently one minute too short"
If your flight was one minute after the threshold, would you be happy for the airline to not pay because that was only "inconveniently too long"?

Westin

gutscra said:

It was for flight EZY832 from Belfast Intl (BFS) to London Gatwick (LGW) on 26-09-2024

The times that FlightRadar24 are showing are -

BFS LGW
STD 2010 ATD 2333
STA 2140 ATA 0033

That puts the late arrival at 9 minutes under the three hours.

Whether the delay was slightly under or slightly over the 3 hrs mark might be somewhat irrelevant anyway.  What reason had been given for the delay?

Looking back to that date and data I can find it seems LGW had heavy rain storms and cumulus nimbus cloud (not great for flying) in the late afternoon which resulted in ATC flow restrictions.  This could well have impacted your flight (coming from LGW) and then returning BFS LGW.  If all or some of the delay was down to weather and ATC issues these would be classed as outside the control of the airline and therefore also outside the remit of UK261 compensation payments.