It’s about time the CAA began enforcing the “rerouting and care” provisions of Regulation 261. Passengers need a lot more than an offer of a refund when this type of **** happens. It’s a cost of doing business, if you don’t like it just go and invest in bitcoin, or something equally safe.
Shambles, nothing but a shambles.
What exactly was a shambles?
What if there's no options? The Airlines and Airport staff aren't magicians.
Hotel/Accomodation wise, it would take forever to book these for the hundreds/thousands of people that needed them and get them there. The easiest provision is book your own hotel (If you have the money to do so) and claim it back from the Airlines. This is what happened yesterday.
As for flights, all flights are going to be busy. A number of flights were rescheduled for today by BE, BM, FR and EZY. The operational challenges of getting those flights sorted at short notice are complex. Getting the slots, the crews, if there's actually an aircraft available to do those.
From how I see it, the Airlines were tied by info from BRS. BRS were tied by info from the AAIB. In this situation, safety is priority. The AAIB obviously felt the need to investigate. Yes it certainly shouldn't have taken that long, but I don't think BRS should be blamed for the circumstances. It's just before Christmas at the busiest time of year. No Management or Operational teams would sit back and just let yesterday happen. The information just simply wasn't there to give. I've been on the front line in these situations, much smaller disruption too, and I can say that if the information is there, the staff on the ground will tell it. Well done to all the teams working yesterday. No doubt it wasn't an easy day!
