Challenging the airline's response and defense

Mar 13 2025 MFR travel team

Flight irregularities are annoying and travellers are left stressed at the airport, not knowing what will follow later. While airlines often give compensation for the disruptions, they often try to use the same old excuse “extraordinary circumstances” just to avoid paying claims. In this article we will talk about disputing this argument and have a bigger chance to win your delay claim.

Understanding the airline's response

Laws that protect the passengers exist in all regions, but in Europe we have the EC261/2004. This law is in place to protect your rights even in the air, flying thousands of meters above the ground! If your flight is delayed for 3 hours or more or cancelled less than 14 days before the flight, you can get compensation for that, unless the airline refuses to compensate you, because of extraordinary circumstances. Those could be:

• Bad weather (storms, fog, hurricanes)
• Political problems (wars, riots, terror threats)
• Airport strikes (air traffic control strikes, baggage handler strikes)
• Mechanical failures due to hidden manufacturing defects
• Bird strikes

Here’s the thing, the airline has to prove successfully that one of those was actually the reason for your flight being delayed or cancelled. If they can’t prove it with undeniable proof, then you can try to dispute the claim and their reasoning. Most airlines are trying to doge paying using this excuse, which is why it’s necessary for you to know what to do and challenge their statement.

Strategies to challenge the airline's excuses

1. Always ask for solid proof

Airline always have to provide clear proof of the extraordinary circumstances they claim that disrupted the flight. If they are not willing to give compensation, always ask for detailed documents stating their words are true, this includes:

• Weather reports for the time and location of your flight
• Maintenance records for the aircraft
• Correspondence between the airline and airport authorities
• Public records of strikes or security issues

If they can’t show you any of that, this means their excuse is weak and you can try to challenge their word.

2. Check weather reports on your own

Many airline say that bad weather is the reason for the delay when the reality might be completely different. What if other flights actually departed from the same airport? Check on your own if the weather was really the reason for the flight disruption. Check the weather at departure airport and arrival airport. Use websites like historical weather archives or flight tracking sites since they can give you a reliable data. If there was no such thing as bad weather, then use the information in your claim.

3. Look at the other flights

Always check if the other flights that are set to take off from the same airport and if other airlines were flying at the same time. If other flights departed at or around the same time, this might suggest that the problem was actually operational problem and not extraordinary circumstances. Flight tracking sites and apps like FlightAware and FlightRadar24 are especially helpful to find the needed information.

4. Investigate maintenance and technical issues

Airlines often have to face technical issues as an excuse for delay or a cancellation. Most of the technical issues are within the airline’s control, unless it’s caused by the handling company serving the flight at the airport or the tire burst while landing because of an object on the runway. If the technical issue was caused by poor maintenance by the airline, they are responsible and have to compensate you for the inconvenience.

5. Verify strikes and airport issues

Airlines also refuse to pay compensation because they claim it was air traffic control strike or an airport handling staff strike, but remember that those strikes not always qualify as extraordinary circumstance. If the strike is directly involved with the airline’s staff and is under their control. In that case they have to pay compensation.

6. Collect good amount of information from witnesses

Now remember, if you catch any inconsistencies in the explanation that airline have given you, then consider the best step – gathering some good amount of information like:

• Take photos of the departure board showing delays for your flight but not others.
• Record statements from airport staff or other passengers confirming that no unforeseen circumstance occurred.
• Keep all emails and messages from the airline related to the delay or cancellation.

7. Seek help from the aviation authorities or claim services

If the airline says “No” to paying you and doesn’t have any strong proof of a special reason that is out of their control, then you’re allowed to complain to the aviation authority in the country. In the EU this means the official body in the country is where your flight was delayed or cancelled. You can also get help from companies like MYFLYRIGHT that can handle the claim for you and spare you all the frustration surrounding the claim process if you choose to handle it alone.