4

So we were flying with a budget airline from Stuttgart to Naples. The flight was delayed by approximately 1.5 hours at the start. 20 minutes away from Naples we were told we were getting rerouted to Brindisi (300 km away) which due to its small size, has no transit to anywhere at the time we arrive.

We arrived around 10pm. We had to wait 4 hours for a bus to pick us up, and then drive 4 hours to Naples making the delay extremely long. The cause for the detour was the runway was not clear due to an obstruction.

My question is, what are the rules regarding where we should be redirected too? Should we have not been redirected to a closer airport like Rome (200km), and this was just a way to save money by landing at a smaller cheaper airport? The only other redirected flight was also a different budget airline.

My second question, it is entirely possible we could have landed prior to the incident at Naples Airport had we left on time. Is this not their fault for having the delay extended due to their initial delay? I can imagine this can get abused by airlines by checking to see if a storm is coming into the area and just delay the plane 3 hours until the storm hits so they can blame it on the weather. Would we not be entitled to compensation?

So in summary, my two questions are:

  • Are we not entitled to compensation since their 1.5hr delay likely caused the 10hr delay?

  • Is there any rules governing where airplanes are redirected too?

Improve this question
3
  • Can you please edit and make your actual question clearer?
    – Willeke ♦
    Commented Sep 17, 2019 at 19:05
  • Which company, which flight, which date?
    – Krist van Besien
    Commented Sep 17, 2019 at 19:19
  • Laudamotion OE 2330, August 30
    – philvms
    Commented Sep 17, 2019 at 19:20

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

For the purposes of compensation following Regulation 261/2004, the delay is always measured on arrival to your final destination. The length of a delay on departure only affect the duty of the carrier to take care of accomodation, refreshments etc.

There's no law saying where you should get diverted, that's purely a operational/safety decision of the ATC/pilot/airline/etc. It's fairly likely that other airports were too congested or otherwise operationally inconvenient.

Improve this answer
1
  • And how is arrival itself measured btw? This can't be the moment the aircraft hits the ground as in OP's case the aircraft never reached Naples airport at all.
    – bipll
    Commented Sep 18, 2019 at 9:27

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .