EasyJet cancellation not due to weather but during bad weather 😅

[Niall]

I think I know the answer to this before I even ask but would love to hear the thoughts of some more knowledgeable people!

My easyJet flight to Tenerife tonight at 19:20 was delayed then cancelled. Initially the app reported a very minor 20 minute delay due to weather and it’s impact on Air traffic control.

Subsequently when we got to the gate the staff said there were issues getting the airbridge attached. Then the pilot came out to say they was a fault with the plane which would take at least another hour to fix and to say the cabin crew had to leave because the delay would mean they would have worked too many hours.

Just before 9pm the flight was cancelled. The earliest flight option given by easyJet was Thursday morning. There weren’t really many options for tomorrow with other airlines so I’ve accepted Thursday but this has cut a 4 night holiday down to a 2 night holiday 🙁

All straight forward so far and I would expect to make a successful 261 claim for compensation and food and travel expenses (I don’t need accommodation as I will stay with friends).

The issue is that my initial delay was blamed on the weather on the app, and easyJet tonight has cancelled a few other flights due to the weather. This was not the reason for our flight cancellation, but is there any hope of easyJet not just blaming the weather and my compensation claim being successful (I understand food and transport will be ok in any case)?

[jj]

I had a similar situation in Amsterdam with KLM two years ago. They cancelled my flight home the day before it was due to leave but, on the day, a big unforecast wind storm led to almost all flights being cancelled from Schiphol. KLM insists that my flight was therefore cancelled due to weather and refuses compensation despite a 36 hour delay.

I will take them to court eventually, but the big winner from their dishonesty has been BA who compensated me immediately on a separate flight two weeks earlier. I’d tried the Amsterdam route as an experiment to see whether a connecting was easier than the drive to Heathrow. After my KLM disaster and appalling service, I stuck with BA who have since been rewarded with flights totalling more than £20K.

Don’t get mad; get even. Every person who tolerates lies, disinformation and poor service encourages airlines to abuse their customers.

[Niall]

Thanks jj! You’re right of course, but the sad truth is that BA have been guilty of the same in the past too. They did this to my parents. If there is any element of weather etc forming even part of the delay they seem to use it to get out of compensation.

This one feels particularly bad to me as the pilot told us there was an issue with the plane. Now easyJet’s email has come through saying

‘The disruption to your flight is outside of our control and is considered to be an extraordinary circumstance.’

It feels like the airlines have too much ability to push back in cases like this. Even if I prove other flights at the time went to the canaries, I guess they could still claim availability of replacement aircraft was hampered by earlier issues due to the weather.

Don’t worry, I fly weekly for work. I will attempt the claim, but in the inevitable event it is rejected, this will cost easyJet more than £340 in lost profit!

[SamG]

I imagine it’s a combination of the both – a delay to departure and then a further delay due to a en route ATC slot restriction due to weather. They couldn’t leave too late as the crew would time out and they + the plane would be stuck downroute.

I think they’re OK to use the “last” excuse even if that wasnt the root cause

They have seats out of Luton this afternoon. You could take the direct train there from Gatwick if you’re coming back to Gatwick

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[Niall]

Wiz air from Luton? I see this at 16:15. Would be preferable to the EasyJet ones early Thursday but probably not enough to go through the pain with EasyJet.

Don’t think I agree on the “last” excuse. The crew did time out after half an hour. There is obviously no ability for EasyJet with their limited crews to cope when anything goes wrong at the min due to staff issues. As you say the weather wasn’t the ‘root cause’. As the root cause was a technical issue, followed by staff timing out so quickly, these are well within EasyJets control. Yet with the airline being able to label the issue as whatever they want, there is no incentive for them not to continue their inability to deal with faults that are within their control.

In an extreme scenario, imagine you are delayed 3 hours due to an issue with a plane. In that time a storm develops and then you’re delayed for a further hour. Imagine being unable to claim even when a 3 hour delay was entirely due to factors the airline had control over. Or jj’s case where the cancellation was nothing to do with a storm but blamed on it. Something seems a bit broken in the system.

[SamG]

Niall wrote:

Wiz air from Luton? I see this at 16:15. Would be preferable to the EasyJet ones early Thursday but probably not enough to go through the pain with EasyJet.

Don’t think I agree on the “last” excuse. The crew did time out after half an hour. There is obviously no ability for EasyJet with their limited crews to cope when anything goes wrong at the min due to staff issues. As you say the weather wasn’t the ‘root cause’. As the root cause was a technical issue, followed by staff timing out so quickly, these are well within EasyJets control. Yet with the airline being able to label the issue as whatever they want, there is no incentive for them not to continue their inability to deal with faults that are within their control.

In an extreme scenario, imagine you are delayed 3 hours due to an issue with a plane. In that time a storm develops and then you’re delayed for a further hour. Imagine being unable to claim even when a 3 hour delay was entirely due to factors the airline had control over. Or jj’s case where the cancellation was nothing to do with a storm but blamed on it. Something seems a bit broken in the system.

Easyjet had some seats earlier but now sold out!

I agree with you but I believe that is the way it works! Obviously worth pursuing or chucking to one of the management companies as regardless of the cause it isn’t unreasonable to expect them to have standby crew at their biggest base

The regs do cause some other unintended consequences, they wouldn’t consider delaying you overnight and delaying other passengers today so everyone gets to travel, as once you’re delayed (and potentially getting compo) there is no incentive to help you further and delay anyone else

[Lady London]

Niall wrote:

Thanks jj! You’re right of course, but the sad truth is that BA have been guilty of the same in the past too. They did this to my parents. If there is any element of weather etc forming even part of the delay they seem to use it to get out of compensation.

This one feels particularly bad to me as the pilot told us there was an issue with the plane. Now easyJet’s email has come through saying

‘The disruption to your flight is outside of our control and is considered to be an extraordinary circumstance.’

It feels like the airlines have too much ability to push back in cases like this. Even if I prove other flights at the time went to the canaries, I guess they could still claim availability of replacement aircraft was hampered by earlier issues due to the weather.

Don’t worry, I fly weekly for work. I will attempt the claim, but in the inevitable event it is rejected, this will cost easyJet more than £340 in lost profit!

Courts are quite used to chucking out fake weather excuses. You’ve even had the pilot come out and announce other things were causing the delays! So given the notes you’ve kept as to what was said when, I can’t see the airline getting away with claiming this was weather.

Also completely irrelevant that after the non-weather reasons for further delay, the airline then didn’t have a plane with crew ready to fly you -including
a different crew if the original crew were out of hours. Problems with earlier flights or incoming flights do not count as exceptional circumstances. The airline is supposed to have backup crew and aircraft available for your flight and problems with incoming don’t count – tbey are supposed to be able to sort it. If they don’t compo is due. Lack o availabiliy of replacement aircraft (and/or crew) means it’s their fault and still claimable.

In evaluating a claim different parts of tbe same overall delay can be assessed separately. So at the point a non-exceptional reason for delay began to apoear, eg a mechanical malfunction appeared, worst case is that’s when the clock on your delay would start. That’s assuming the weather excuse was initially valid and it may not have been.

Disregard any airline putting in writing delay was due to exceptional circs/out of their control. They all try that. Well you can’t blame them for trying can you? 🙂