TFCanswers. Flight delayed (or canceled) due to adverse weather conditions, am I entitled to a refund?
During the winter season, it is possible that, due to adverse weather conditions, in-flight delay or [...]
During the winter season, it is possible that, due to adverse weather conditions, in flight will be delayed or cancelled. Of course it should not happen when snowfall is expected and there are few cm of snow, but unfortunately as we have seen in recent weeks it is a not too remote possibility.
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Of course there are airports where they are used to working under these conditions and where temperatures of -10 are normal during the winter. As we have recently seen in Germany, things don't run smoothly even when the forecast gets us 100% and snow and other external factors arrive as scheduled.
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A frequent question that comes to the editorial office is about the possibility of Request a refund or compensation in the event of a delayed flight or cancellation when the airline asserts that the issue is due to adverse weather conditions.
The answer is NO, in 95% of cases. Since weather is outside the scope of the company's control it is, like all similar reasons, excluded from the carrier's responsibility. Cold weather lengthens takeoff times for example Having to practice de-icing before departure, an activity that puts great stress on airports around the world.
Sometimes, however, companies "exploit" these situations to justify delays that do not actually have to do with bad weather. Often in this situation it is the low-cost carriers that with their point-to-point organization can avoid traffic jams and inconveniences classic to the hub&spoke model .
An easy way to know this is. take advantage of services such as Flightradar24 that allow you to reconstruct the path of an airplane. I use it to see where the plane I'm about to board is coming from and learn some details. In this case it is useful to see if the plane in question has passed through areas affected by adverse weather conditions.
If, for example, in France a Blizzard paralyzes Paris airport or wind closes Nice airport it is obvious that all direct flights to these airports could be affected. If, however, the flight arriving late in Bergamo departed late from Palermo because it had taken off late in cascade due to a problem in Bari, it is certainly not related to bad weather in France that caused the delay, and therefore the passenger is entitled to be compensated, even if the company asserts otherwise.
In any case, one must always remember the case histories in which they come into action The covers provided by the appropriate European regulations.