Cancelled fight and compensation

[cobra kid]

First time it's happened to us so wondering where we stand.

Our flight from Florence was cancelled as were about to board last week. They said it was due to the hot and windy weather conditions. 4.5 hours of queuing with no information ended up with us on a coach through the night to Rome to fly back the following evening. In the time we were queuing up to get sorted at Florence, a few other flights landed and took off (different airlines, ours was the only one cancelling).

I had to take an extra day off work and we were out of pocket for meals etc. No fun, no sightseeing.

They have said that due to it being weather related and out of their hands, there is no compensation due.

Anyone else dealt with this before? Do we just accept that it's tough st???

[megaphone]

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/holiday...

[Furbo]

cobra kid said:

First time it's happened to us so wondering where we stand.

Our flight from Florence was cancelled as were about to board last week. They said it was due to the hot and windy weather conditions. 4.5 hours of queuing with no information ended up with us on a coach through the night to Rome to fly back the following evening. In the time we were queuing up to get sorted at Florence, a few other flights landed and took off (different airlines, ours was the only one cancelling).

I had to take an extra day off work and we were out of pocket for meals etc. No fun, no sightseeing.

They have said that due to it being weather related and out of their hands, there is no compensation due.

Anyone else dealt with this before? Do we just accept that it's tough st???

If the weather genuinely was as you suggest:

Article 5 III of Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004.

[Ry.Clarke]

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

[Peterpetrole]

Were all the other flights from that airport cancelled around that time?

In my experience flight compo is a ridiculously hard battle these days.

[bad company]

Ry.Clarke said:

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

Even though other flights were taking off and landing while the op was waiting at the airport?

[Ry.Clarke]

bad company said:

Ry.Clarke said:

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

Even though other flights were taking off and landing while the op was waiting at the airport?

You’d be surprised how fickle their Ts&Cs are. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have in there “Absolutely no compensation in the event the pilot craps himself all over the cockpit”.

[Furbo]

bad company said:

Ry.Clarke said:

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

Even though other flights were taking off and landing while the op was waiting at the airport?

They may have been going in, or arriving from, a direction in which there was less weather.

[bad company]

Ry.Clarke said:

bad company said:

Ry.Clarke said:

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

Even though other flights were taking off and landing while the op was waiting at the airport?

You’d be surprised how fickle their Ts&Cs are. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have in there “Absolutely no compensation in the event the pilot craps himself all over the cockpit”.

I’d have thought that their terms would have to be seen as reasonable.

[Furbo]

I doubt there is much incentive to cancel flights unless it is absolutely unavoidable. They’ve got an aircraft there ready to go, the cost of which is factored in. If they have to bus people somewhere else and still fly them it’s an additional cost.

[Peterpetrole]

Furbo said:

bad company said:

Ry.Clarke said:

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

Even though other flights were taking off and landing while the op was waiting at the airport?

They may have been going in, or arriving from, a direction in which there was less weather.

I've used the published lists of historic arrivals / departures etc. before (flightaware or similar websites) to show no other disruption to other flights going to similar destinations at the same time. Some of them I think only give 7 days of data before you need to pay a subscription so OP needs to download the info quickly today ideally.

[richhead]

Ry.Clarke said:

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

This just claim on your travel insurance, let them fight it out with the airline

[Furbo]

richhead said:

Ry.Clarke said:

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

This just claim on your travel insurance, let them fight it out with the airline

Will they fight it, or just increase your premiums?

[Ry.Clarke]

Furbo said:

richhead said:

Ry.Clarke said:

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

This just claim on your travel insurance, let them fight it out with the airline

Will they fight it, or just increase your premiums?

Doesn’t matter, travel insurance is pennies compared to the value they insure.

I’ve claimed 7 or 8 times now, well over £10k. My annual is still only £120. Pennies.

[kingswood]

I had this in Tenerife one year and if you do exactly as below you'll get your money in about a year!! our flight said too windy but I watched others come and go. missed a decent night out with the lads as was due to land at 4pm and straight on it. ended up getting in at 12. still annoys me now.

use resolver.

the airline will say weather in the first instance and jog everyone on. most will just suck it up but as you said, other airlines took off and landed so its not weather. its either there rubbish planes or pilots.

resolver will do all the letters etc. they ended up writing to the Spanish aviation authority for me asking if flights were suspended due to wind and they wasn't. so the money rolls in!

[Gaumon]

Furbo said:

Will they fight it, or just increase your premiums?

According to the title, the fight has been cancelled

My OH tried to claim when a cancelled UK internal connecting flight caused her to miss one across the 'pond'. She gave up after repeated 'stonewalling' tactics - and has never flown with them since....

[48k]

bad company said:

Ry.Clarke said:

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

Even though other flights were taking off and landing while the op was waiting at the airport?

It's a bit more nuanced than saying "aircraft X took off therefore mine should too".

Different airlines may have different minimum/maximum weather criteria.

Additionally you don't just have to consider the weather at your departure and arrival airports but also your emergency alternates.

Let the travel insurance company sort it out that's what you're paying for.

[dontlookdown]

These days this is what travel.insurance is for, if you have it.

Claiming off the airlines themselves had become extremely tiresome, since COVID. I do know a couple of people who have managed it but not many.

[Griffith4ever]

bad company said:

Ry.Clarke said:

bad company said:

Ry.Clarke said:

The airlines themselves can usually get out of it based on weather.

You might have better luck with your travel insurance. I’ve never bothered with the airline.

Even though other flights were taking off and landing while the op was waiting at the airport?

You’d be surprised how fickle their Ts&Cs are. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have in there “Absolutely no compensation in the event the pilot craps himself all over the cockpit”.

I’d have thought that their terms would have to be seen as reasonable.

The airlines don't set the terms for statutory compensation - the government regulators do.

We had a delayed flight this year - flight took off. Problem with the plane. Flight landed back where we started. We waited till 6.30pm (10:40am flight) then they flew us there in another plane. Ryanair paid us £220 each with zero quibbles. A simple online form.

However, acts outside their control are indeed a get out clause. The weather being one of them Perhaps they'll claim larger planes flew, but theirs was smaller and therefore effected more by the winds?

[daqinggregg]

Group of passengers removed from BA flight because plane was too heavy
As the temperature of the air above Florence increased to around 35°C on August 11, it became less dense.

https://metro.co.uk/2025/08/24/group-passengers-re...

Seems to be a thing in Florence.