Where To Find Historic Flight Information?

[meths]

Does anyone know the best place to download historic flight info?

I was on a flight from Edinburgh to Heathrow, and then on to Florida on the 3rd of October. The initial Edinburgh flight was held on the runway for about 4 hours due to fog (according to the pilot) and this meant we missed the take off slot and consequently our connecting flight to the USA.

I'm looking at submitting a compensation claim with the airline but fully expect them to say that as the delay was caused by the weather they're not liable. While we sat there on the plane however, it looked as though there were a lot of planes taking off both before and after our scheduled departure time and I'd like to submit that evidence with my claim if I can find it.

Most of the flight tracking websites I can find only show future departures or a small selection of past flights but I need one that goes back a few weeks.

If someone could point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

 

[FBi7]

Start a free 7 day trail with FR24. You'll get access to 90 days of flight history.

held on the runway

And no, no you weren't.

 

[meths]

Start a free 7 day trail with FR24. You'll get access to 90 days of flight history.


And no, no you weren't.

Held at the air bridge just around the corner from the runway then?

 

[Charlie Bravo]

I've just had a look through flights that day and I presume you were on BA1461 scheduled to depart at 0555?
You departed EDI at 0935 and landed at LHR at 1058.

The weather at EDI was indeed foggy as you say whereas LHR was absolutely fine according to historic METARS (aviation weather).

I've also had a look at the other BA flights going to LHR that morning but I'll start with yours again:

BA1461
Scheduled departure 0555
Actual departure 0935

BA1435
Scheduled departure 0705
Actual departure 0730

BA1457
Scheduled departure 0835
Actual departure 0853

BA1439
Scheduled departure 0930
Actual departure 0937

It begs the question, what was going on with your flight? The fog didn't start to lift until around 0920 local but the other flights got away no problem.
Can you recall anything particular going on? Was the aircraft all closed up on time? Keep in mind the departure time is the pushback time and not take off time and no, you weren't held on the runway

 

[esmozz]

Landing slot availability at LHR - once the flight missed its assigned slot, it was sent to the back of the queue. Hence the extended delay.

 

[Scuzi]

Landing slot availability at LHR - once the flight missed its assigned slot, it was sent to the back of the queue. Hence the extended delay.

Even with quite a penal arrival regulation, it wouldn’t account for the length of the delay if they missed the slot. It can happen occasionally when the regulation rates are very low, but we almost always intervene to ensure each flight gets as close to the average delay as possible.

 

[Diddums]

Write to the daily mail. Send them a photo of you with your arms folded and looking very upset, I'm sure the airline will sprinkle some pity money on you.

You go girl, engage that compo face and go for it.

 

[meths]

I've just had a look through flights that day and I presume you were on BA1461 scheduled to depart at 0555?
...snip...
It begs the question, what was going on with your flight? The fog didn't start to lift until around 0920 local but the other flights got away no problem.

Can you recall anything particular going on? Was the aircraft all closed up on time? Keep in mind the departure time is the pushback time and not take off time and no, you weren't held on the runway

Yeah, that was the one, and thanks for taking a look.

As far as I can remember boarding had completed on time and the luggage was finished loading in advance of 0555.

11 flights scheduled for between 0545 and 0610 all managed to take off with a maximum delay of 36 minutes so I'm not sure that the reason for the delay was as we were the 3rd/4th flight scheduled out that morning and the other 0555 flight got out at 0601. Maybe we were just tight on time for the landing slot at LHR to start with.

 

[meths]

Write to the daily mail. Send them a photo of you with your arms folded and looking very upset, I'm sure the airline will sprinkle some pity money on you.

You go girl, engage that compo face and go for it.

Damn right! There's potentially £2k riding on this.

I just wish I'd thought of getting the kids to cry on the plane for the photo. The wife always has her arms folded and looks upset though so we're all good there.

 

[Scuzi]

Yeah, that was the one, and thanks for taking a look.

As far as I can remember boarding had completed on time and the luggage was finished loading in advance of 0555.

11 flights scheduled for between 0545 and 0610 all managed to take off with a maximum delay of 36 minutes so I'm not sure that the reason for the delay was as we were the 3rd/4th flight scheduled out that morning and the other 0555 flight got out at 0601. Maybe we were just tight on time for the landing slot at LHR to start with.

It wasn't because of the arrival regulation at Heathrow as it was set at 45 per hour. Edinburgh runway was closed until 0555 due to work in progress, then arrivals were regulated at 12 per hour, but that wouldn't have affected you as you weren't waiting on an inbound aircraft.

There's quite a number of possibilities in the absence of information, but likely issues are:

• The aircraft had a MEL/tech/crew restriction which meant it couldn't depart in the prevailing met conditions.
• There was another problem which the crew were unwilling to disclose, and blamed it on the fog.
• You say you boarded early and suffered a 4hr delay. Were you on the aircraft the whole time? Did any new passengers board the aircraft after initial boarding? BA may have decided to delay your flight to consolidate with with another cancelled flight.

 

[meths]

Well boys and girls I forgot to cancel my Flight Radar 24 trial on got billed for a full year.

The good new is that it was worth it!!!

Dear Mr meths

An update from British Airways

We’re sorry it was necessary to delay your flight from Edinburgh on 03 October and understand why you needed to get in contact about this. We take all reasonable measures to avoid delaying a flight and we’ll always consider if there are any alternative solutions available before we make a decision. We'd also like to thank you for your patience while we got back to you about this.

I’ve checked the details of your journey, and I’m pleased to advise you’re entitled to compensation for the delay to your flight, BA1461, on 03 October. The distance of your disrupted journey was over 3,500km and this has been calculated in accordance with UK law. This means you’re entitled to £520.00 in compensation. The total amount of compensation you’re due is £2,080.00 as there are four passengers included in your claim. The best way to settle your claim is by bank transfer and it would be helpful if you could send me the following information:

...snip...

Might just use that as a deposit for Florida again next year. We got caught up in hurricane Milton as well and Disney extended the remaining week on our park tickets until next year due to the disruption.

Thanks for all the help, especially @Disco_P who walked me through the Flight Radar thingumajig.

 

[Charlie Bravo]

Well boys and girls I forgot to cancel my Flight Radar 24 trial on got billed for a full year.

The good new is that it was worth it!!!



Might just use that as a deposit for Florida again next year. We got caught up in hurricane Milton as well and Disney extended the remaining week on our park tickets until next year due to the disruption.

Thanks for all the help, especially @Disco_P who walked me through the Flight Radar thingumajig.

Nice result.

Please just remember... You weren't on the runway and never clap after landing.
Those of us in aviation will appreciate that

 

[Disco_P]

Well boys and girls I forgot to cancel my Flight Radar 24 trial on got billed for a full year.

The good new is that it was worth it!!!



Might just use that as a deposit for Florida again next year. We got caught up in hurricane Milton as well and Disney extended the remaining week on our park tickets until next year due to the disruption.

Thanks for all the help, especially @Disco_P who walked me through the Flight Radar thingumajig.

Great result, oops about a year's sub but you said yourself that it's quite addictive

Incidentally I took my first ever BA flight, from Edinburgh to Heathrow on Thursday. 3 of us afterwards realised we got bad migraines aboit 3/4 into the flight and one person had a medical situation.