Jet 2 flight delay

specious

We recently had a Jet 2 holiday to Madeira, flying from Edinburgh. Our return flight was due to depart at 14:40 but the incoming flight was unable to land at Funchal due to wind, and was diverted to Tenerife.

It then did arrive at Funchal later in the day, we went through security and passport control, boarding was just starting, when we were informed that the crew would be over their hours if we continued and we could not fly. Jet2 sent us a text message saying we could not board our flight for operational reasons.

We were sent to a hotel overnight, picked up the following day and taken back to the airport, eventually getting to Edinburgh around 21 hours later than planned. One of the crew told us that they would have had hours to get to Manchester and they considered flying there and bussing us to Edinburgh, but discounted it.

I understand that the incoming flight issues were outside their control, but I'm unsure how that would apply to subsequent flights. They cited operational issues, and as I understand it they would be expected to have contingency arrangements in place.

Any thoughts on our rights here, and how the legislation would apply to us?

eskbanker

If there's a significant delay to the outbound flight due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control, then it'll generally be considered that the delay to the return leg will also fall within that instance of such circumstances, allowing the airline to deny compensation - the test isn't just about the ECs themselves but whether the delay/cancellation "could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken", and it isn't seen as reasonable to expect airlines to have spare resources in all locations within their network.

Not sure about the Manchester comment though - the actual additional flying time to Edinburgh versus Manchester will only be about half an hour (and their schedule shows 4:05 v 4:10, so even less), so it seems unlikely that they'd have decided on that basis, although a line does need to be drawn somewhere. The runway at Edinburgh airport has been closed promptly at 23:00 (I think) on Sundays to Thursdays over the winter season for resurfacing, so that may also have factored into the planning if you were flying on one of those days?

la531983

Your crew had flown from Scotland, likely circled for a bit round Madeira, and then to Tenerife (a further hour or so down the Atlantic), likely had to wait for weather to calm down, to then fly back up to Madeira and then wait around some more for the flight to load. A trip to the Canaries and back from the Scottish central belt will be on the cusp of max crew hours even if everything runs to time.

Where do you think they would have sourced an alternative crew from? Neither Tenerife or Madeira is a base for Jet2, they dont have spare crew cluttering up non-bases as this would cost an absolute fortune and be reflected in ticket prices, so I am unsure as to what "contingency" you feel should have been in place

Westin

Adverse weather delay the initial issue. No Compo payout.