Travel question: Can my sister claim for the Manchester airport power cut?

Q My sister’s flight to Manchester from Prague was cancelled on Sunday night due to the airport power cut. Who can she claim her extra costs from, please?

Patricia S

A Your sister was one of around 15,000 people whose flights were cancelled between 2pm on Sunday afternoon and 3am yesterday morning because of problems at Manchester airport. What the airport calls a “power issue” led to the failure of the fuel supply system – the network of pipes which runs beneath the apron to pump fuel into the planes.

Around 100 flights were cancelled, with problems continuing into yesterday. The question of “extra costs” depends on what exactly is involved. Under European air passengers’ rights rules, airlines must provide accommodation, meals and alternative flights to passengers whose departures are disrupted. I trust easyJet arranged this for your sister.

In some circumstances airlines fail to deliver their stipulated duty of care and therefore she would need to claim those costs back from easyJet, with documentary proof. If, though, you mean costs such as pre-paid hotel bookings or transfers, these are classed as “consequential losses” and therefore beyond the airline’s responsibility. She would need to seek such lost expenses from travel insurance, assuming she has a reasonably good policy.

One other possibility: if the losses involved are substantial, an enthusiastic lawyer might seek to take action against Manchester airport itself, arguing that it failed in its duty of care by not having a back-up system for refuelling planes. But it would take a significant investment of time and money to argue that case.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder