What counts as extraordinary circumstances

An airline owes you nothing if the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances that it could not have avoided even if it had taken all reasonable measures. That is the escape hatch, and airlines reach for it constantly. It is narrower than they suggest, and the burden of proving it sits on them, not on you.

What genuinely counts

Weather bad enough to make the flight unsafe. A strike by air traffic controllers or airport staff, because that is outside the airline’s own operation. Political instability, security alerts, and closed airspace. A bird strike also counts: the Court of Justice held that a collision with a bird is not inherent in the normal exercise of an air carrier’s activity.

What does not count, whatever they tell you

Technical faults. This is the single most common refusal, and it is the weakest. The Court of Justice held that a technical problem coming to light during maintenance, or caused by a failure to maintain the aircraft, is inherent in the normal exercise of an air carrier’s activity. Running an airline means aircraft break. That risk is theirs.

A strike by the airline’s own staff. Pilots and cabin crew walking out over pay is part of managing the business. Controllers striking is not.

Knock-on delays from an earlier flight, crew running out of legal duty hours, and overbooking. All of these are operational choices.

What to do with this

Ask them, in writing, to state the cause and produce the evidence for it. Many refusals quietly collapse at that point, because a vague appeal to “operational reasons” is not a defence and they know it. If they answer with a technical fault, you have a strong case and our escalation letter cites the ruling that says so.

Check what your flight is worth, then send the letter that asks for the cause.