What is a 'weather letter'

[Bluebeard2]

Morning all

I was at Edinburgh airport on Saturday afternoon on my way back down to London and heard a tannoy announcement for Sumburgh passengers to go to the gate to collect their 'weather letters'. The flight didn't seem to be delayed, and the weather at Edinburgh at least was excellent - has anybody heard of these things and can tell me what they are?

Cheers,

BB2.

[bealine]

Briefly, an airline is not responsible for providing overnight accommodation, onward transport or incidental expenses incurred as a result of bad weather. However, many Travel Insurance policies do provide this cover (subject to an excess) but require a confirmation letter from the airline that compensation has not already been paid and that, indeed, weather was the cause.

Obviously, you wouldn't expect much return from a £10 taxi fare, but if you'd missed a connection to take you on your £5000 family holiday that would be a different story!

Consequential loss is another possible issue - a business meeting that couldn't take place so the entire journey was
wasted. The airlines will normally (or they did before they started losing money!) re-issue the ticket for another date but will not accept liability for any financial loss (ie loss of a £2m contract because a Tender document couldn't be delivered on time!)

Additionally, some employers may not accept a late return from leave on their employee's word alone (The Armed Forces for example).

So, that is why we provide a "weather letter";)