Travel question: Will airline pay out after cancelled flight caused children to miss school?

Q Our family was booked to travel from Barcelona to Manchester on 19 May, the Sunday when loads of flights were cancelled because of the problems at Manchester airport over refuelling. We were two days late getting back which meant the children missed school. Can you confirm if compensation should be paid out in these circumstances? The airline has refused, saying it was beyond their control.

Mel P

A You were among around 15,000 travellers whose flights were cancelled due to the failure of the fuelling system at Manchester airport for 13 hours. Around 100 flights were cancelled as a result. I trust the airline put you up in a hotel and provided all your meals until it could fly you home.

The test for compensation under the European air passengers’ rights rules is: did the cancellation occur “in extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken”?

I think any airline could argue that they could not reasonably be expected to have their own private supplies of fuel at every airport they operate at, so I imagine they would reject any claim for compensation. If you decided to take the carrier to court then you can expect them to defend the claim robustly and probably win.

But there is a clear question of whether you should have been able to fly home sooner, with the airline buying seats on another airline if need be. Under those passengers’ rights rules, I would say that the carrier should certainly have flown you home quicker, even if it meant a connecting flight via Heathrow, Amsterdam or Paris. However, when airlines fail to deliver the care they are supposed to provide, you cannot seek compensation unless there is a clear financial loss caused by the airline’s behaviour. You can complain to the national enforcement body – in this case the Spanish authorities – but I am not sure it would do you any good.

Your last resort is a claim against the airport, for failing to ensure the robustness of its refuelling system. But again, it requires you to be able to substantiate financial losses that you would like the airport to make good.

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