Originally Posted by
xenole
Let me check on this one.
Flight LHR-SEA, BA049, 26th Nov.
Left around 5hrs late after a possible front wheel change and then it was reported that the plane had to be checked over after a lightning strike on approach which would take a few hours.
Eventually got a replacement aircraft.
Would this be classed as something out of BA's control / Act of God etc.?
Unfortunately this gets a bit messy. Lightning strikes have their own special set of casework in this area, and the summary is that checking for lightning strikes is allowed, so long as it doesn't take such a long time due to the airline saving money. The relevant cases here were due to an extended delay getting an engineer to the aircraft concerned since the airline didn't have a local facility and had to fly an engineer in. The wheel change is almost certainly good for compensation. As ever, it's not the departure delay that matters, it's the arrival delay and if that didn't hit 3 hours you aren't gettting anything anyway. If it was over 3 hours then perhaps you should claim anyway, but I wouldn't assume you will get the compensation, it may go down to looking at BA's detailed report on the issue.