FlightRepay

ANSWER · UK 261 AND EC 261

Can I claim if a technical fault delayed my flight?

Generally yes. The Court of Justice held in Wallentin-Hermann in 2008 that a technical problem is not an extraordinary circumstance unless it stems from events not inherent in the normal exercise of the carrier's activity and beyond its actual control. van der Lans extended that in 2015 to faults that appeared unexpectedly and passed routine checks.

REVIEWED AGAINST RULE SET V6 AND THE CITED PRIMARY SOURCES · UPDATED 7 AUGUST 2026

What the two judgments decided

CASEYEARHOLDING
Wallentin-Hermann, C-549/072008A technical problem is outside Art. 5(3) unless its origin is not inherent in the carrier's activity.
van der Lans, C-257/142015A component failing prematurely, undetected by routine maintenance, is still inherent in the activity.
Both judgments are linked in full in the sources below.

Does meeting the maintenance rules help the airline?

Not on its own. Wallentin-Hermann holds that compliance with the minimum maintenance rules does not by itself establish that all reasonable measures were taken. The airline has to show what it did about this aircraft and this flight.

The exceptions that do sit outside

  • A hidden manufacturing defect revealed by the manufacturer or a safety authority, affecting the fleet rather than the aircraft.
  • Damage caused by an outside act, for example a bird strike or sabotage.
  • An airworthiness directive that grounds the type.

What a rejection letter usually says

The most common wording is unforeseen technical issue or unexpected maintenance requirement. Those phrases describe the situation the Court has twice held to be ordinary rather than extraordinary.

THE JUDGMENTS BEHIND THIS ANSWER

Wallentin-Hermann, C-549/072008van der Lans, C-257/142015

SOURCES

  1. Case C-549/07 Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia, judgment of 22 December 2008 (ECLI:EU:C:2008:811) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
  2. Case C-257/14 van der Lans v KLM, judgment of 17 September 2015 (ECLI:EU:C:2015:643) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
  3. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 5(3) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026

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