How far back can airlines blame bad weather for a cancellation

[loftus]

First time I’ve ever had a fight cancelled so it has made me curious.

Booked on an easyJet flight from Belfast to Luton scheduled to take-off at 9pm. Had an alert on their app early in the morning to say there was an hour delay due to restrictions at Amsterdam due to weather.

The delay got longer as the day went on until, finally, around 7.30pm, the flight was cancelled.

Managed to get online quickly and grabbed the last couple of seats on a flight tomorrow afternoon and got a hotel room via their ‘Manage Booking’ facility so I’m not massively concerned apart from the obvious inconvenience (and extra parking cost), but it made me curious as to how far back an airline can go when blaming weather. I’ve read somewhere the rotations, which with an airline like easyJet probably won’t stretch into the night.

[davefl]

NATS have reduced the traffic flow due to the fog, which has led to cancellations, so I don’t think the rotation argument applies here.

Quoting @JDP from a while back “There is also the April 2021 CJEU decision in WZ v Austrian airlines that confirms ‘extraordinary circumstances’ can be applied three rotations back.”