Finding the Cause of Your Delay & Why It Matters
Flight delays are the most common flight disruption, and they can happen for countless reasons. In some parts of the world, like the United Kingdom, Canada, and Europe, delays can lead to payment from the airline, but only if they are to blame for the cause of the disruption.
This means that as a passenger, you have to try to find out what caused the delay, and if you’re told it was caused by maintenance or technical problems, you might be left wondering whether or not you’re owed anything.
Aircraft Maintenance is Routine and Scheduled
Planes have to undergo regular maintenance to ensure your safety as well as operational efficiency. Maintenance is planned and it follows a very specific schedule based on the number of landings and takeoffs and flight hours.
In fact, airlines have different categories and schedules for routine maintenance work required by aviation authorities like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the European Union Aviation Safety Administration (EASA).
- Line maintenance is performed either daily or between flights to check tire conditions, fluid levels, and damage scans.
- A-Checks are conducted either every 500-800 hours of flight time or every couple of months. This kind of maintenance examines lights, hydraulics, and other aircraft functions.
- B-Checks are performed every 6 months or so, and examine the plane’s landing gear, navigation, electronics, cabin systems, flight controls, and more.
- C-Checks take a close look at the plane’s internal systems, wiring, and structure. These are much more involved inspections and take a week or two to complete. Usually, C-Checks happen every 1.5 to 2 years.
- D-checks are major inspections where the aircraft is disassembled to examine every aspect of the plane thoroughly. They take around 2 months to complete and only happen every 6-10 years.
Disrupted flight due to maintenance?You might have a right to compensation - up to €600.Check Your Flight
How Maintenance Can Lead to Flight Delays
Airlines go to great lengths to plan for any issues that might be found in between flights. They also utilize aircraft sensors and software that looks for problems in real time and can even predict and deal with any issues before they become a problem.
Also, airlines have dedicated maintenance crews at the bigger airports to deal with the last minute problems that could crop up, and the time it takes to do line checks are built into the flight schedules to avoid delays as much as possible. But, if something happens that requires more time, or if it’s a bigger problem, then the airlines (particularly the legacy carriers) can usually swap aircraft to avoid schedule disruptions.
Staffing and Supply Chain Shortages
Since the pandemic, staffing and supply chain shortages, especially for parts, have created endless problems. If there aren’t enough workers to fix the issue or if replacement parts are hard to find or get quickly, then passengers can have flight delays or even cancellations as a result.
Even so, most airlines have found ways to work around these problems by stockpiling spare parts or even reusing parts from other, grounded aircraft as well as increasing wages and other incentives to attract and retain more workers.
Can Maintenance Count as an Extraordinary Circumstance?
Because maintenance is a regularly occurring, scheduled event, it doesn’t count as an extraordinary circumstance, even when there are supply chain limitations and staffing shortages.
This is because carriers are ultimately responsible for maintenance and adequate staffing. So, even though challenges do exist, they’re expected to take whatever measures necessary to complete these functions.
In 2008, the European Court of Justice ruled in the case of Wallentin-Hermann v. Alitalia that maintenance problems could not be deemed extraordinary circumstances unless they could be attributed to hidden manufacturing defects.
Technical and Mechanical Issues
While maintenance is scheduled, technical and mechanical issues happen unexpectedly and can be anything from engine failure or malfunction to glitchy software.
Technical issues involve the aircraft systems, electronics, or software and include problems with:
- Navigation and communication systems
- Autopilot systems
- Flight management software
- Weather, airspeed and altitude sensors
Mechanical issues happen when the physical or hardware components of the plane are compromised in some way and can include:
- Engine problems
- Landing gear issues
- Damage to the body of the aircraft
- De-icing system failures
Are Technical & Mechanical Issues Extraordinary Circumstances?
While technical and mechanical issues happen suddenly and unexpectedly, airlines still allot time to fixing them and they are not usually considered as “extraordinary circumstances" when it comes to compensation claims.
In 2015, the EU Court of Justice found that, in the case of van der Lans v KLM, that the extraordinary circumstances defense would not apply to unexpected technical problems, meaning that compensation would be owed.
Maintenance Issues | Technical/Mechanical Problems | |
Is it predictable? | Predictable, scheduled inspections | Unforeseen, unpredicted |
Is the airline responsible? | Within the airline’s responsibility | Within the airline’s responsibility unless it was an extraordinary circumstance like a manufacturer defect |
Is a delay eligible for compensation? | Eligible for compensation | Eligible unless it was an extraordinary circumstance |
How to Determine the Cause of Your Delay
Determining whether your delay is due to maintenance or technical problems can be tricky, but here are a few steps you can take:
- Ask for clarification: If you have a flight delay, carriers must tell you why, so always ask the gate agents or other airline staff what the problem was.
- Ask for documentation: It is commonplace for airlines to call certain issues extraordinary to avoid making cash payouts to passengers, so ask for the cause of the delay in writing.
- Check sites like FlightStats or similar apps. These can sometimes give you useful insights into the cause of the delay.
Remember, as long as the carrier could prevent or avoid the delay, you could be owed money for your trouble.
Figuring out how much you are owed for a disrupted flight because of technical problems?We're here to help. Let us assess your compensation for you.Check Your Flight
Tools to Help You Out
See our list of FREE tools in the links below:
- Flight Delay Checker
- Free Flight Delay Compensation Calculator
- Free Flight Delay Compensation Letter Template
Resources & Additional Reading
Some extra resources to help you better understand flight delay compensation:
- Delayed Flight Compensation Claim Deadlines
- What are Delay Reversals?
- Should I Accept Cash or Vouchers for a Delayed Flight?
- Business Trip Flight Delay Guide
Other Common Flight Delay Causes
Read more about the most popular flight delay causes:
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