dd1612

Wow obscure2k! What an experience!
Great to hear/ read about this.

Had a unique experience on DL 171 MSP-CDG on Friday Nov 13th, 2015 as the events were unfolding in Paris.

The Pilot of DL 171 was very reassuring even though there was little information he could share with certainty.
Many passengers on DL 171 followed the events using the inflight wifi all through the flight.
We landed late at CDG and as I was connecting to an AF flight CDG-BOM .... went through security and to the gate.... did not attempt to go to the lounge.
The AF flight to BOM was delayed by nearly 2 hours as they tried to wait for as many passengers as possible. It was taking 3+ hours at CDG from check in to gate that morning on Saturday Nov 14.
Eventually we departed CDG with 30 seats empty, (Originally it was an overbooked flight!).

mattp1987

So, then, did the passengers clear CBP and immigration at SLC and get rebooked on DL flights? I guess that's the advantage to diverting to a hub (your own or a partner's).

MSPeconomist

At that point, was it still possible to get onto a DL (or partner) TATL flight, either from SLC or using a connection, that same night? I'm wondering about the timing in that usually if your own flight is messed up, it's too late to fly to an international gateway and make a DL flight the same day, although JFK seems to have some late AF and AZ departures to Europe.

Clearly this would not have worked for all of the 500 or so passengers on the A380, but perhaps a few elites could have found space. OTOH, if everyone was waiting to be questioned by the FBI before being allowed out of the holding ares, that would have it even harder to catch alternate flights.

TTT

The only non-stop to Europe would have been SLC-CDG which departs around 5:30pm. The AF diversion landed in SLC at 7:11pm.

There may have been options to head back west for a late night west-coast departure but that likely wouldn't have worked given the timing.

JFK would not have been an option from SLC as the 5:10pm JFK-SLC flight arrives into JFK at 11:50pm. The next SLC-JFK departure is a red-eye with an early morning JFK arrival.

flyerCO

I think bomb threat and government ordered diversion would be grounds not to have to. If not then I'm not sure would qualify as an exception.

jonsg

It's an interesting question. I've read EC 261/2004 (PDF) in detail, and I'm not completely certain.

Article 6 refers to delay exclusively in the context of time of departure, not time of arrival: most of the rest of the Regulation also refers to either boarding delay, denial of boarding or delay of departure.

I can't see anything within that Regulation that covers the situation where a flight (falling within the Regulation's territorial applicability) is forced to divert and therefore arrival, rather than departure, is delayed.

Any legal beagles here have any case law or other inputs into this? I think it would be very much of interest, to an awful lot of us, to know the answer.

TechMarauder

SLC ground crew is usually great so glad they exceeded the bar here

flyerwma

I'm imagining anyone with checked luggage would couldn't have rebooked (although as mentioned upthread, not much to rebook on). With a security situation, highly doubtful that they'd allow voluntary separation from luggage even if you wanted to do that.

MSPeconomist

My understanding of EC261 is that compensation isn't due for any extraordinary events but the airline nevertheless has a duty of care. For example, during strikes and natural disasters such as a volcano erupting, the airline is obligated to provide lodging and meals.

michael_v

First hand report from a blogger site, it answers many questions:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...ersion-report/