Tenerife Sur Reina Sofia delays on Sunday, 15 March 2020
Eurocontrol logged 2,265 minutes of air-traffic arrival delay at Tenerife Sur Reina Sofia that day across 43 arrivals held 15 minutes or more out of 135 (32% of the day's arrivals), with 100% of the delay attributed to other. That makes it the 5th worst day at Tenerife Sur Reina Sofia since January 2019.
Eurocontrol record · GCTS · 2020-03-15
Delay codes are Eurocontrol's IATA-standard causes. None of this day's delay sits in the categories airlines usually plead as extraordinary.
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 other, which is not an extraordinary circumstance. 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
| Gran Canaria | 3,785 min | Other |
| Tenerife North | 873 min | Other |
| Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen | 518 min | Weather |
| Madrid Barajas | 404 min | Other |
| Bâle Mulhouse | 401 min | Other |
| Nice Côte d’Azur | 190 min | Other |
| Dusseldorf | 125 min | Environmental issues |
| Geneva | 115 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Toussus le Noble | 73 min | ATC staffing |
Other bad days at Tenerife Sur Reina Sofia
| 14 March 2020 | 10,171 min | Other |
| 27 December 2022 | 4,776 min | Weather |
| 17 March 2020 | 2,696 min | Other |
| 25 September 2022 | 2,479 min | Weather |
| 27 August 2022 | 1,950 min | Other |
| 20 November 2021 | 1,875 min | Other |
| 23 February 2020 | 1,475 min | Weather |
| 16 March 2020 | 1,463 min | Other |
Questions
My flight from Tenerife Sur Reina Sofia on 15 March 2020 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 Tenerife Sur Reina Sofia disruption on 15 March 2020 caused by weather?
No. Eurocontrol logged no weather-coded delay at Tenerife Sur Reina Sofia on this day; the delay was attributed to other.
Does a bad day at Tenerife Sur Reina Sofia 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 Tenerife Sur Reina Sofia.
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 Tenerife Sur Reina Sofia delay days.