Barcelona delays on Thursday, 20 March 2025
Eurocontrol logged 7,098 minutes of air-traffic arrival delay at Barcelona that day across 143 arrivals held 15 minutes or more out of 459 (31% of the day's arrivals), with 99% of the delay attributed to aerodrome capacity. That makes it the 38th worst day at Barcelona since January 2019.
Eurocontrol record · LEBL · 2025-03-20
Delay codes are Eurocontrol's IATA-standard causes. 1% of this day's delay sits in categories airlines usually plead as extraordinary circumstances.
Were you on a flight that day?
What this means if your flight was late
Under UK261 and EU261 you are owed £220, £350 or £520 (or €250, €400, €600) per passenger for arriving three hours or more late, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures. Airport-wide records like this one are the airline's favourite evidence, and they cut both ways.
- The usual defences have little behind them on this day. The logged cause was aerodrome capacity, which is arguable at best. A refusal citing weather or air traffic control should be answered with this record.
- Cancelled that day? Compensation depends on notice: under 14 days and no close re-routing means it is due, subject to the same extraordinary-circumstances test. You are always owed a refund or re-routing and care while you wait.
- Delayed under three hours? No fixed compensation, but food, drink and communications were owed after two hours on a short flight, and reasonable expenses are recoverable.
The free check pulls your flight's own record (actual arrival time against schedule) and pairs it with this day's data, so the verdict and the letter are specific to your flight, not to the airport.
Other airports the same day
| Lisbon | 3,327 min | Weather |
| Lanzarote | 3,147 min | Weather |
| Amsterdam Schiphol | 1,849 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Madrid Barajas | 1,667 min | Weather |
| Zürich | 1,157 min | Accident or incident |
| Athens | 952 min | ATC capacity |
| Nice Côte d’Azur | 929 min | ATC capacity |
| Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International | 612 min | ATC capacity |
| Málaga | 387 min | ATC capacity |
Other bad days at Barcelona
| 29 September 2026 | 20,508 min | Weather |
| 3 November 2024 | 20,406 min | Weather |
| 21 September 2019 | 20,057 min | Weather |
| 4 November 2024 | 19,847 min | Weather |
| 4 September 2024 | 15,618 min | Weather |
| 21 September 2025 | 14,993 min | Weather |
| 28 August 2025 | 12,750 min | Weather |
| 27 August 2023 | 12,422 min | Weather |
Questions
My flight from Barcelona on 20 March 2025 was delayed. Can I claim compensation?
If you arrived at your final destination 3 hours or more late, the starting position is £220 to £520 per passenger depending on distance. The airline can refuse only by proving extraordinary circumstances that affected your specific flight. Eurocontrol's record for this day does not show the kind of cause airlines usually plead, so a refusal on those grounds would be weak. Run the free check on your flight number for the verified answer.
Was the Barcelona disruption on 20 March 2025 caused by weather?
Partly or wholly: 1% of the 7,098 logged minutes were coded as weather. The airport's own weather observations that day show no significant phenomena, lowest visibility 1207 m and strongest gust none reported kt.
Does a bad day at Barcelona mean every delayed flight is exempt from compensation?
No. Air-traffic delay attributed to an airport explains some of the day's lateness, not all of it, and it is the airline that must prove your flight's delay was caused by it and could not have been avoided with reasonable measures such as schedule buffers and spare aircraft. Flights delayed by a technical fault, crew shortage or a late inbound aircraft from an unaffected airport are compensable regardless of what happened at Barcelona.
Sources: Eurocontrol Performance Review Unit, airport arrival ATFM delay by cause (daily); METAR observations via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive. This page describes the airport's day; your flight's own record decides your claim. All Barcelona delay days.