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Our BA fight was delayed from 1630 yesterday to 1710 from T5. It was late arriving and then a storm caused massive disruptions The plane was ready to leave at 1710 but we were informed of a 90 minutes delay as we sat on the plane. We eventually took off at 2100.
Looking at Flight radar there were a load of BA aircraft with a variety of late departures with the worst a 4 hour delay whist ours was 4.5 hours
My question is do BA have any say with air traffic control on how they prioritise BA flights.
Also the delay was originally caused by late arrival not bad weather. If it had arrived on time we would of missed the storm that I’m sure BA will blame on the delay, do they have a leg to stand on?
A BA A321 service to Venice went earlier than your A320 to Madrid.
The way it works is that if the delay of the non-extraordinary circumstance is greater than extraordinary circumstance, the compensation is due and not the other way round.
In addition to all the above, no court or arbitrator is in a position to analyse the hypotheticals as you suggest – i.e. if the inbound had arrived on schedule it would necessarily have been able to depart prior to the storms. BA would be on very solid ground refusing a compensation claim.
It very much appears BA prioritised a larger aircraft over yours, a commercial decision, are commercial decisions always reasonable?
It very much appears BA prioritised a larger aircraft over yours, a commercial decision, are commercial decisions always reasonable?
Is it as cut and dry as that though? You need the full flight plan to be viable, not just takeoff.
So many variables. A key one is probably the hours of the crew.
It very much appears BA prioritised a larger aircraft over yours, a commercial decision, are commercial decisions always reasonable?
There’s no evidence that BA ‘prioritised’ one of its flights over another, it is just as likely to have been an ATC decision or simply that one confirmed its readiness ahead of the other etc.
On a general note, airlines are allowed to make commercial decisions during widespread disruption whilst still relying on ‘exceptional circumstances’ for flights cancelled essentially for commercial reasons. BA will usually prioritise long haul flights over domestic/short haul if there is say fog causing ATC to halve the number of permitted movements. BA operations have to make quick complex decisions as to which flights to cancel based on a huge range of factors.
ATC Restrictions are not just based on the departing aircraft – it’s all the airspace that the flight will pass through as well, and much of Europe had storms yesterday. It’s not possible to compare Madrid to Venice as the flight paths are different. Slots are not issued by the airlines so they have to take what they are given from the central authority and they always ask for improvements if available as long as they are ready to go (doors shut).
What I had hoped for was that there was some sensible decisions that BA could influence eg limit the time that an A380 gats delayed over an A320 but also limit the time that people have to seat on an aircraft whilst waiting for a slot. Our 3 hour sit was a bit excessive.
Unfortunately not @Supermac – the only option BA would have to limit how long you are sitting there is to let you out into the terminal until closer to the slot time, but if things improve during that 3 hours, your flight won’t be eligible for an earlier slot as you aren’t ready to go!
Other factors that may have to be considered are if the plane is overnighting at the destination or returning, and if there is a curfew at the destination. Unfortunately someone has to be at the back of the queue, and it’s just one of those things if it happens to be you this time.
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