Originally Posted by
oberwolfach
I recently had a flight from LYR to OSL on SAS that was delayed by more than 4 hours. The reason that SAS gave was that the pilot on the inbound flight from OSL to LYR became ill and so that flight had to divert back to OSL. Crew sickness has repeatedly across multiple jurisdictions (most recently, by a decision of the UK Supreme Court a few days ago) been ruled to not be an "extraordinary circumstance", and that aside, OSL is an SAS hub and they reasonably could have sent a different plane upon learning of the diversion and only ended up with a 1-2 hour delay. Therefore, I filed a claim for EU 261 compensation for 400 EUR, got a reply seemingly from an Indian contractor denying the claim with the insistence that it was an "extraordinary circumstance", and could not make progress after a few more replies.
So far I've filed a complaint with the Norwegian enforcement body Norsk ReiselivsForum, though that says it could take 6-9 months to process. Are there any other steps or actions I should take for now?
If the pilot got sick during the flight, and they had to return to Oslo, they can't really send another plane before the diverted flight reaches Oslo, as they would want to get those passengers to Svalbard as well.
The recent case in the UK was for a pilot not coming to work at an out station, where an airline certain don't have a spare crew. Sona different situation. Also, rulings from the UK supreme court under UK261 will not automatically create precedent for EU261, just as rulings from the ECJ under EU261 does not create precedent for UK261.
I think medical diversions, which in effect this still was, are considered extra ordinary circumstances. But others can probably chip in as well.
Your other options are to hand the case of to one of the claim agencies, they'll take 50% if they win. Or basically fight the case yourself.