EasyJet falsely claiming adverse weather caused delay

Pnutter

Hi, 

Writing on behalf of brother travelling from Amsterdam to Bristol, currently 5+ hours delayed. 

Easyjet claim adverse weather in Bristol as the cause for this delay on this bright, sunny and calm day. Technically this means no compensation can be claimed as it is an 'extraordinary' circumstance. The actual weather is calm, a nearby webcam shows some low cloud but 8km visibility, no fog, so nothing 'extraordinary'. This is based on Met office, Windy (ground level, 10k altitude) and other weather services. Departures for other flights, including Easyjet flights show minimal or no delay. 

What actually happened is the aeroplane (G-UZHP) that was meant to fly the Amsterdam-Bristol route departed to Split instead (route U22891, confirmed by Flightradar). It departed to Split at 0800 (scheduled 0730) and landed 1134. It was also meant to depart at 0915 to Amsterdam so it could do the 1210 return flight to Bristol, so clearly some sort of scheduling issue. 

I have screenshots of all of the above and also Easyjet's flight tracker claiming adverse weather conditions at Bristol as the cause, all screenshots including time/date stamps. 

Presumably there's a good case here to claim compensation despite Easyjet claiming 'adverse weather conditions'? 

PS if anyone lives near there would love to hear how adverse the weather is today! 

Ayr_Rage

There was fog and low cloud from 0620 to 0950 local time (METAR times in UTC)

What was the planned arrival time in Bristol?

METAR EGGD 240850Z AUTO 03010KT 010V080 9999 SCT004 BKN046 10/09 Q1029
METAR EGGD 240820Z AUTO 03009KT 8000 OVC003 09/09 Q1029
METAR EGGD 240750Z 03009KT 4000 BR OVC002 09/09 Q1029
METAR EGGD 240720Z 04010KT 0550 R09/0800U FG OVC002 09/09 Q1028
METAR EGGD 240650Z 03011KT 0250 R09/0650N FG OVC001 09/08 Q1028
METAR EGGD 240620Z 03011KT 0550 R09/1100U FG OVC001 09/08 Q1028
METAR EGGD 240550Z 03011KT 010V070 1200 R09/P1500N BR OVC001 08/08 Q1028
METAR EGGD 240520Z AUTO 04009KT 010V080 9000 OVC003 08/08 Q1028

Edit : There were several diversions in that period so the weather was below minimums at times.

https://www.flightradar24.com/airport/brs/arrivals

Pnutter

Ayr_Rage said:

There was fog and low cloud from 0620 to 0950 local time (METAR times in UTC)

What was the planned arrival time in Bristol?

METAR EGGD 240850Z AUTO 03010KT 010V080 9999 SCT004 BKN046 10/09 Q1029
METAR EGGD 240820Z AUTO 03009KT 8000 OVC003 09/09 Q1029
METAR EGGD 240750Z 03009KT 4000 BR OVC002 09/09 Q1029
METAR EGGD 240720Z 04010KT 0550 R09/0800U FG OVC002 09/09 Q1028
METAR EGGD 240650Z 03011KT 0250 R09/0650N FG OVC001 09/08 Q1028
METAR EGGD 240620Z 03011KT 0550 R09/1100U FG OVC001 09/08 Q1028
METAR EGGD 240550Z 03011KT 010V070 1200 R09/P1500N BR OVC001 08/08 Q1028
METAR EGGD 240520Z AUTO 04009KT 010V080 9000 OVC003 08/08 Q1028

Edit : There were several diversions in that period so the weather was below minimums at times.

https://www.flightradar24.com/airport/brs/arrivals

Thanks, I'd not seen that there had been diversions. 

Planned departure from Amsterdam was 1210 local time. Delays were already announced around 10am CETbut at that point their aeroplane had already departed from Bristol to Split instead (30 mins late, see screenshot). It left a bit late but seeing that it was also meant to fly to Amsterdam 2hrs after departing for Split, it still looks like a planning issue rather than low cloud/fog? 

bagand96

Airlines often change aircraft allocations it's a completely normal part of their complex operations - even moreso when there's disruption. On a normal day there's no way an aircraft operating the Split rotation landing BRS at 13:35 would be scheduled to operate a BRS-AMS departing 09:15

Bristol Airport is sat atop a hill, one of the highest commercial airports in the UK. Coupled with it's relatively short runway and surrounding terrain it can be adversely affected by poor weather  (particular fog and low cloud) - part of the reason the RAF developed it originally!

easyJet clearly had disruption and diversions this morning due to poor weather at Bristol. You can enter your EC261 claim, but I suspect you'll be knocked back.

bagand96

On further investigation of U25530 flight history on FlightRadar24.... it is usually operated by an easyJet Europe aircraft based in Alicante operating the following pattern:

U25527 ALC-BRS 0700 - 0835
U25530 BRS-AMS 0915 - 1135
U25531 AMS-BRS 1210 - 1230
U25526 BRS-ALC  1305 - 1630

This morning U25527 departed Alicante on time (aircraft OE-LQJ) however diverted to London Gatwick landing there at 0835.  This correlates with the worst of the Bristol weather reported above - so almost certainly weather disruption. 

Looks like easyJet have then substituted the BRS-AMS-BRS onto a Bristol based aircraft, the aircraft operating the Split flights after it had completed that schedule.

It's the sort of thing that happens when there's disruption and airlines have to move things around to get the schedule back on track.  I think easyJet will be able to successfully claim Weather disruption and deny EC261 compensation.  Your brother should have received refreshment vouchers during the delay.