Spain and Portugal storms threaten holidays – what are your rights?

Holidaymakers in Spain are being warned of storms and wintry weather across the Iberian peninsula, including the islands. Already on Friday at least five flights to the holiday island of Mallorca have been diverted due to storms.

Over the weekend, a “Status Orange” storm warning covers large swathes of the country, with thunderstorms predicted in the northern regions, including Barcelona and Madrid.

These are the key questions and answers.

Palma airport – third-busiest in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona – has seen a series of diversions on Friday, including a Ryanair flight from Prestwick in Scotland. The Boeing 737 entered a holding pattern for Palma airport but then diverted to Ibiza.

Other Ryanair flights diverted to the same island, as did a Eurowings arrival from Leipzig. Some planes went to Barcelona when they could not land at Palma. With operations in disarray, cancellations have begun – with Vueling grounding a round trip from Granada.

Storms are predicted over the Balearic island until 7pm local time on Friday. Bad weather over the province of Galicia in northwest Spain is predicted until 9pm. There are also problems predicted until midnight in the northeast province of Aragon, which borders France.

The airline is obliged to get you to your intended destination as soon as possible. Normally this can be arranged by road, but since Mallorca is an island it will prove trickier – especially if domestic links from Ibiza and Barcelona are disrupted. Some passengers may end up on ferries. The airline is obliged to meet the cost, and pay for meals while the passenger is waiting to reach their destination.

Travellers who have bought package holidays can expect the tour operator to sort out the problem for them.

Homebound holidaymakers are also affected, with about 1,000 departing seats at lunchtime heavily delayed or cancelled because the aircraft are elsewhere. The airline must provide meals and accommodation until the passenger can be flown home – on any airline that has seats available.

No. Each airline will have its own safety rules and the fact that (for example) Ryanair from Prestwick diverted to Ibiza while Jet2 landed from London Stansted is not material.

Stormy. The worst issues appear to be in the north and east of mainland Spain, but ranging as far south as parts of Andalucia. The most intense storms are predicted for the areas south of the Pyrenees and around Cuenca, southeast of Madrid. The worst of the storms in the mainland are expected to end around 6am on Sunday, with the Costa Daurada seeing the tail end of the current bout of bad weather.

For the Canary Islands, the two main islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria are expecting high winds between 12 noon and 6pm.

By Sunday afternoon, the northern part of the island of Mallorca is expecting storms from 1-7pm, local time.

The bad weather has been brought by a low-pressure system moving in from the Atlantic, as well as a cold air mass that is making its way across the Iberian Peninsula.

Worst affected is the holiday island of Madeira, which is covered by orange weather warnings for heavy rain on Saturday afternoon and evening, and into Sunday morning. Madeira’s airport is highly susceptible to adverse weather, but so far no flights have been affected.

If the flight or holiday is planned to go ahead as expected, normal cancellation rules apply – which means you are likely to lose most or all of your money. However, tour operators may respond positively to requests to go to a different destination if they have space available.

Source: independent.co.uk