Security Sweeps
 

How often do these occur?
Flight now 2+ hours delayed CUR-DUS.

Reward flight lost now due to delay.

Can you be more specific? Are they sweeping the plane, or the airport?

The plane is what we were told.
Then they cancelled the flight.
As of now, they have rescheduled the flight for today.
AB crew left airport 2.5 hours after scheduled departure time.
Gate agents didn't notify us of anything until 3.5 hours post-scheduled departure.

Best part is they locked the lounge an hour early.


CUR-DUS 7409

I do not see any notes on this flight on EF, perhaps someone else has more info. Remember to claim EC 261/2004 compensation if possible; this may offset the cost of your missed onward flight.

Sounds like the CUR authorities were responding to a threat. If that is the case, I'm pretty sure AB has a valid defense against paying out EC 261/2004.

Totally speculative:
Caribbean security sweep may be import/export related (of the illegal, powdery kind)?
Curacao is known for its drug trade, not for terrorism.

Security Sweeps
 

AB would still state it is outside of its control.

I agree this is likely to be the case, but was trying to make the point that it doesn't hurt to try anyway.

I think both terrorism and drug trafficking are not unforeseen circumstances for airlines. To the contrary, preventing both is part of their core business, and an EU claim may make perfect sense (not that it is likely the airline will pay out).

I would disagree with that. Threats causing flights to be canceled or delayed in my opinion similar to weather and air traffic. The airline has no control.

Preventing the two items you described is a function of law enforcement.

It is not lack of control that counts in the EU regulations. Like bad weather and material breakdown, these situations are expected to occur once in a while, therefore are not reasons not to compensate the passenger. Agree with the logic or not, the regulations are very passenger centric - and the airlines do all they can to ignore the rules and/or fight them in court.

Weather is considered an extraordinary circumstance under EC 261, meaning airlines do not have to pay compensation when that is the cause of the delay/cancellation. Credible security information regarding a specific flight is something that happens on a very, very small percentage of flights, and is an occurrence that would be judged by most to be "extraordinary" -- agreeing with your logic doesn't change that.

However, I'm still not sure what is meant by a "security sweep" by the OP. Even if it did entail a sweep of the plane by police, I would personally still claim compensation, as there's nothing to lose by doing so. Even if they deny your claim for cash, they may throw a voucher or some miles your way.

I submitted my EC claim.
I'll update the thread when I hear back.
My assumption is that I will have to escalate.