Originally Posted by
Royalvegas
1. EU 261/2004 lists exceptions which affect the flight security (unrest, damage, strikes etc), while the issue was with the registration system, flight security was not affected;
You are misreading the text in EC/261 here, as these listed exceptions are just some examples of causes which are seen as extraordinary circumstances.
The important line in EC/261 is "extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken". This frees airlines from having to pay compensation.
How could any airline have foreseen the Crowdstrike/Microsoft windows problems, and what reasonable measures could they have taken?
2. 80% of flights were actually on time, only part of them were affected, so it is within their control whom select as a vendor.
Again, you are misreading EC/261. How can the airline have avoided these problems? What kind of measures could the airline have taken in advance when they selected their vendor? Unless you can proof that the airline willingly took risks by acquiring faulty systems, or buying them for an unreputable vendor, that "extraordinary circumstances" clause still stands.
Moreover, it's all a bit theoretical if you don't name the flight which you took. Crowdstrike took out entire airports, so it's highly relevant to know your exact route. Yes, some airlines escaped these problems, some airports did as well. Amsterdam and Eindhoven were a hot mess. Paris CDG was barely affected. But that's completely irrelevant if you want to proof that it wasn't "exceptional circumstances" which plagued some airlines and airports.
I see the airlines uniting not to refund the customers under the operational force majeure clause outside of their control. Number of articles
on this topic. But shouldnt the EU regulation protect the customers in this particular case?
What do you think?
Zero chance of getting compensation. But of course, EC/261 does entitle you to claim any costs you might have made because of your delay, ie food/drinks when not already provided by the airline, or transport/taxi to your destination if you might have arrived at an inconvenient hour with no other options to get to your home/hotel.
If you want to be a guinea pig and take it to court I wish you all the luck. After all, EC/261 are essentially just guidelines, and it's up to the legal system to interpret and uphold them. But I think it would be futile and a big waste of time and money.