Flight delay due to optional software update?
My wife returned from IAD yesterday on British Airways, connecting through LHR to BUD.
Departure of her first flight, BA292, a B744, was delayed by almost five hours, and she missed her connection at LHR, despite time made up during the flight, resulting in her arriving at BUD five hours late.
While they were still sitting on the plane at the gate at IAD, the flight deck crew told passengers the delay was due to their request for a software update for one of the engines, which the crew described as running faster and unable to sync with the other engines.
Interestingly, the crew also mentioned that this issue was first reported on the way to LHR two flights earlier, and a decision was made then to defer the software update and continue to fly the aircraft to IAD. Apparently, this issue was not serious enough to ground the plane at LHR, and it was only at the crew's discretion at IAD to request the update; there was nothing requiring this.
Slam dunk, request for compensation filed, 600 euro, thank you very much.
Considering that every passenger terminating at LHR has a similarly valid claim, as do all those who, like my wife, missed their connections, this would seem to be an awfully expensive discretionary maintenance request.
Any pilots out there care to comment on this? What would you have done?