Well this has never happened to me before - and I don't like it.

[Timeforatincture]

19:30 flight from Lanzarote ponced about for ages on the tarmac then threw us all off at 23:30. No offer of accommodation or any indication of time of replacement flight. At least a cafe is open (poor sod at the till) and we had a bottle of gin. You had this?

You directly responded to a comment which had bolded part of my previous comment in order to criticise it. 😂😂

Both go the the Toblerone stand in the duty free at noon, you'll be able to finally meet.

We are now going to be at least 21 hours late - is that good enough for you? BA is not charter and they have a legal obligation that they failed to meet.

We can see eachother from where we are sitting currently 😆

Interesting. This suggests BA have cut corners by not including passenger care during delays as part of their ground handling contract. And also like the ground handlers hate them- hooray for Brexit! Shouldn’t have been impossible for someone to make some calls from the UK though.

Don't be ridiculous. There's nothing in the hold that shouldn't be.

The biggest weight on take off for an aircraft is fuel. If they knew in advance about the winds they may have refueled minimums and had a refueling stop which is not uncommon out of some airports but once an aircraft is fueled, it's fueled. Faro is usually the refueling stop out of the Canaries.

Lanzarote has runway restrictions in one direction, which means take off weight is limited due to a hill in the departure path which affects runway 03. But if they expected take-off to be in the opposite direction they would have refueled as usual.

”cheap charter airlines” are subject to exactly the same legal requirements as every other airline.

And actually charter flights are usually sold as part of packages and so the Package Travel Regulations apply too. You seem to be confusing charter and low cost carrier.

But BA is neither so totally irrelevant.

@Vielleicht I was replying to the poster in a general manner. It's very common on MNs to say contrary things or "people are dying & you are worried about X". I mean MNs wouldn't exist if we used that logic!

Clearly I was being facetious in my response to you! Or maybe not so clear...
Some people do like to feel superior, I don't know if you are one of those posters or not. The vast majority don't tend to admit it though as they generally don't have the self awareness.

Yes they should have. BA have gone really downhill from when they used to be our flagship airline.

I don't understand the competitive "just get on with it posters". It isn't helpful to say that to someone who is cold, tired and hungry and who just wants to get home. Just stop it.

Oh how awful.

I would say that you'd expect better from BA, but I think in reality they're just another budget airline these days, and worth bearing in mind when people always pipe up with 'Ryanair are awful' type comments, in my experience, I've had a lot worse from BA (cancelled flights), Aer Lingus (inexplicable delay meaning I was late for a work event when the Ryanair flight at pretty much the same time at half the cost that I wanted to take but work said 'Ryanair are awful' and made me go on Aer Lingus) and KLM (overbooking, lost luggage and unachievable connections meaning I had to run from one end of Schipol to the other to make it)

In short about 80% of the flag carrier flights I've had have had problems but only a couple of times during the dozens of flights I've had on RA and Jet2 has anything gone wrong and that's only ever been a couple of hours delay.

No, they do not.

It sounds as if the OP thinks there was some incompetence which was then exacerbated by bad weather, and made worse by bad attitude / rudeness from staff.

Not that they did it deliberately.

But you have a go at someone who has been up all night in an airport with kids to look after.

Not excusing the customer service side of things but for background a few notes

I don’t know Lanzarote personally but you’d need chapter and verse on aircraft performance required verses loading and the weather last night to get a comprehensive answer as to why what happened actually happened

This is pure speculation based on some previous comment but for example if terrain (mountains etc) or available runway length restricts departing off one end then you have either have to really lose weight to make sure you can make the required climb gradient (might not be that popular with those offloaded) or make sure the wind is within limits to allow departure in reciprocal direction which might allow a higher weight

Now the trap: If you load up assuming the wind is OK for the reciprocal and then the wind changes from forecast and puts you out off limits you either need to get rid of weight to allow you to go back to the less favourable runways, so you’d better hope the subcontractors are on side) or you have to wait for the wind to be back in limits.

Whatever the actual reason late night delays can be highly problematic at some destinations because of shortage of accommodation - there are some places where despite the well known duty of care etc there simply will not be rooms….

Another problem now is there will be a restriction on minimum rest which governs what time last night’s crew can come back on duty…

Whatever the full story Hope it all works out ok eventually.

I disagree.

There are basic legal requirements between airlines. But beyond basics, the contract with clients between regular and charters flights are very different. This is why I keep repeating to look to the small print on the contract flight you book for.

I'm honestly trying to help.
I've explained why my approach works for me.
Folk are free to ignore advice or take it.
I hope they're home soon.

They've set themselves up with school stuff in the corner now so keeping occupied. I could do with some matchsticks though!

I do hope you are all bearing up op, it’s incredibly stressful and largely due to a lack of communication and clarity from the airlines. Anytime there’s been a delay when I’ve been flying there has been zero communication which has meant we turn into headless chickens, it’s awful. It’s difficult to be rational when you aren’t told anything.

and for the posters, posting from the safety of their warm houses with beds and food being patronising and smug - wise up and have some empathy.

Some odd people on here who don't understand the difference between compensation and expenses, or the legislation around it.

A few weeks ago I was delayed with BA for two days due to fog. They made it quite clear you need to arrange your own accommodation and claim expenses. I was staying with family, but successfully claimed all food and extra travel costs.

But the statutory compensation wasn't paid, because it was a weather event.

The return BA flight was full of fellow delayed passengers and we all asked for and got double whiskeys and g&ts on board 😁

BA has an online portal where you can very easily claim the compensation and/or expenses.

Hope you get home soon @Timeforatincture and @Glittertwins - and that you can find somewhere to stay tonight if needed.

Our local airline is Loganair, and no other airline flies here.
Folk book mostly expecting delays and/or cancellations.
It is only sometimes weather related.
It's fairly frustrating.

I think your communication skills make you an ideal candidate to join the desk staff the OP experienced in attitude last night if your perception that they way you presented your information was not sneery.

@Alondra I am a lawyer specialising in acting for airlines in this area. Are you?

😆

I'm honestly trying to help.
Cool

This thread moved from a small domestic airport on a sunny island into Pearl Harbour quite quickly.

Glad to know you can focus on me and insult me with a passive-aggressive post instead of answering the OP.

Was that really necessary?