Originally Posted by
PlaneSpeaking
I couldn’t help feeling as though the decision was made to show the first officers that it’s ok to make such decisions and that if it hadn’t been a training flight, we may well have departed for LHR as scheduled. .
Put as narrowily as this I think it's unlikely but I think a slightly broader interpretation - that it was one factor among very many that the captain made their decision - is plausible. I agree it's not likely to succeed as an EC261 claim.
If I could perhaps invite you to continue any EC261 discussions in the EC261 thread that would be good, otherwise this thread becomes the EC261 thread overflow zone.