What Are Extraordinary Circumstances When Claiming Compensation For Flight Delays And Flight Cancellations?

When claiming compensation for delayed flight or for a cancelled flights under EU Regulation 261, you may hear the airline claim that the cause of the delay or cancellation was not their responsibility but an extraordinary circumstance.

However, an airline may consider an extraordinary circumstance differently than the regulation states. Since the introduction of EU Regulation 261, the definition of an extraordinary circumstance has been tested and continues to be tested at the highest courts across Europe and the UK.

Several landmark court cases, many involving Bott and Co. clients such as Huzar Vs Jet2 have helped clarify this area of EU261.

EU Regulation 261 Definition of Extraordinary Circumstances

In EU Regulation 261/2004, extraordinary circumstances are defined as events in which the delay was caused by something unexpected and not easily anticipated by the airline. Such unexpected events are beyond the airline’s responsibility and, therefore, should not be claimable.

What Is An Extraordinary Circumstance For A Flight Delay Or Cancellation?

As the law currently stands, it is unlikely you will be able to claim compensation for the following causes of flight delays or cancellations:

• Extreme and unexpected weather conditions
• Strikes and industrial action, including strikes unrelated to the airline, such as air traffic control strikes, baggage handler strikes, or border force strikes
• Air traffic control decisions affecting flight scheduling
• Hidden manufacturing defects or technical issues with the plane
• Bird strikes, flying into and damaging the engine
• A passenger or member of airline staff taken ill on the flight, including a medical emergency on board
• An unruly passenger on the flight
• Acts of terrorism or civil unrest
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel bans
• Security risks
• Disease outbreaks
• Disruptions to airspace, including drones.
• Unexpected IT outages that are beyond the responsibility of the airline

However, there are a number of circumstances when the airline may be responsible for your flight delay or cancellation, and you would be entitled to claim compensation under EU Reg261.

What Is Not An Extraordinary Circumstance For A Flight Delay Or Cancellation?

Situations when you would be able to claim flight compensation that are not classed as an extraordinary circumstance include:

• Insufficient airline staff, pilots, cabin crew, check-in staff, or ground staff
• Airline staff sickness, including pilots and cabin crew
• Airline staff strikes
• Known technical issues or defects with the aircraft
• Technical problems with in-person or online check-in, boarding the flight
• Flight overbooking or involuntarily denied passenger boarding
• Expected bad weather
• Lightening strikes
• Bad weather affecting a previous flight causes your flight to be delayed.

Bott and Co. has been at the forefront of flight compensation law since 2013, winning multiple landmark cases at the Supreme Court that enabled millions of UK airline passengers to claim compensation for their flights.

Citing “extraordinary circumstances” is the only valid defence an airline has against paying compensation for flight delays and cancellations, and the majority of the court battles we’ve encountered test the definition of an what an extraordinary circumstance is.

We’ve helped over 690,000 passengers claim compensation from the airline, many of whom were initially turned down incorrectly by the airline, stating that the delay or cancellation was caused by an extraordinary circumstance. Add your flight details to our instant flight compensation calculator and we will be able to tell you if you flight is eligible for compensation.