London32

Hello all,

I was hoping for some advice.

I would like to complain to BA and ask for reimbursement or compensation for a trip to Spain which essentially took around 25 hours. Yes, 25 hours. My story begins like this:

Monday May 18th I travel to T5, I check in to my CE to Madrid where I was connecting to Malaga later that day. I check in, head to the lounge only to be told that my flight was cancelled. This was around 5 minutes later and the lounge chap seems shocked I made it through without being told of the cancellation. Ok, I can rebook... it's not the end of the world. I then queue for around an hour after some obnoxious man holds up the ticketing agent for a flight in a month's time...

After a brief, yet helpful conversation, I am then rebooked on to the next direct flight from Gatwick. I was advised to take a free shuttle from T5 to Gatwick after being escorted out of the terminal to collect my luggage. I was then advised to take the train to the C gate and then travel back on the same train and walk through immigration. Easy enough.

Before I know it, I am in the luggage hall. I ask a baggage rep on the main desk if they can ask someone to allow me to collect my bag as my flight was cancelled. She advises me it'll be 10 minutes... I wait... and wait... and wait. Fast forward 2.5 hours and they've lost my bag and now I've missed my next flight. Apparently someone had taken if off the belt somewhere in the pits of T5 and they have no idea where it is. I am told to go and see another ticketing agent and get rebooked on to another flight and they will forward my bag if and when they find it. Clearly I'm getting rather angry now (just visibly calm). As I was due at a 40th birthday party that night, I decide to follow this advice.

I then head up to departures only to be greeted with one of the largest queues I've ever seen in the terminal. I had checked to see when the last flight to Malaga was due to leave Gatwick and time was running out. As I was flying Club I decided to approach a BA agent in the quiet Club queue. She advises me to go to the long queue. I resist. She advises me it's her first day! I feel bad for her but this is getting beyond a joke.

After 20 minutes or so, she comes back out from the back office with two boarding passes, fantastic! Not so. She has given me 35 minutes to get to T3 for a flight to Barcelona and then I can connect on a flight to Malaga which will land around midnight. I race downstairs and wait for the next train but it then dawns on me whilst sat on HEX that I have 15 minutes to get off the train, clear security and then board. Not possible. I miss that flight.

I am now taking this as a joke, either that or I am clearly not destined to end up in Malaga (many would agree this isn't so bad). I then find another ticketing agent, she's great and places me on the evening flight to Barcelona where I can get a hotel and fly out first thing in the morning. I'm told to find a Vueling rep when I land who can advise of a taxi and hotel. I head to the Cathay lounge and pour a well earned drink! My flight is then delayed. I'm laughing deliriously by this point. It's 8pm and I left my house at 10am. Anyway...

I ended up getting to Barcelona around midnight, by the time I had cleared immigration and found a Vueling rep then it was around 1am. I had to wait another hour to get a hotel voucher (which they had no idea about) and then a cab into town... why not an airport hotel?! I ended up in bed around 2.30am. Shattered and somewhat disappointed in what was supposed to be a great start to my holiday, I go to sleep.

I wake up the next morning only to discover I've missed the first flight of the day. I had slept through my loud alarm, never in my life had I ever done that before! I'm far from a defeatist so my partner books me on to a later flight to Malaga... a small cost all considering.

Eventually I arrive, get a cab and decamp in the hotel. My luggage had become a distant memory. Feeling rather gross I wear my gym gear for the first day... my luggage arrive two days later (but just under 48 hours).

Now, am FULLY aware that Vueling are not part of OneWorld so their part in this is limited. My argument is with BA, clearly.

Therefore, I know I should complain but this is a complex situation. Technically I missed flights because of them, they only cancelled one. I will complain but I want to claim for the costs I've incurred during this time, these being:

Toiletries in T3.
First night of non-cancellable hotel in Spain.
Missed Vueling flight due to exhaustion from Barcelona.
Cab from hotel in Barcelona to the airport.
Sheer inconvenience.

Quite frankly, I left my house on Monday at 10am... I arrived in Malaga 2pm the following day. Around 25 hours after my first flight originally departed. I could have flown far further for much less hassle.

It's worth noting that I have AMEX gold and BA premium so I bought some clothes and toiletries under the insurance policy. I paid for this ticket on the BA card.

I understand that I am able to claim expenses back from AMEX but where do I stand with BA?

Does anyone have any constructive advice?

I can laugh about this now but it has tainted BA for me...

corporate-wage-slave

Depending on the reason for the cancellation, you should be able to claim EC/261 compensation for that. Which may go a long way towards the various components involved. Plus Amex insurance for the other bits and pieces. See the EC/261 thread for full details on how to claim and eligibility, you can find it via the Dashboard.

I do think you were very poorly advised about the replacement options, even taking into account the bad luggage return issue. So I would have initially spent 10 minutes checking on ExpertFlyer (or the various alternatives) to come up with my own hit list of flights and then taken the options to the desk, rather than let the agent make assumptions about what can and cannot be done. If one person was hogging the agent for an hour, there are several other places airside in T5 where you could have got rebooked.

I'm almost certain Vueling at BCN would have replaced that flight for you, so I would have got to the airport first and asked, then rebooked if they said no, which I think is unlikely.

And for the delay in luggage return, I would have assumed a 1 hour delay at T5 was inevitable, but thereafter would walk out.

Finally - I'm sorry to read of this saga, it must have been character building. I hope you had a nice time in Málage to make up for it.

headingwest

I must say, London32, it sounds like a real nightmare.

I can see how you overslept in Barcelona, you must have been exhausted after all that stress. Earlier this month I nearly overslept (I woke up suddenly hearing my alarm after it had been ringing for over 3 minutes) on a recent trip. My flight to DFW had been delayed 3 hours 20 minutes, consequently meaning that I missed my flight to Florida. I was booked into a hotel by American Airlines, but by the time I arrived at the hotel I only had 4 hours to sleep until I had to get up for the early morning flight. It never helps when the hotel is 40 minutes from the airport!

I hope you get a little compensation (in whatever form) to acknowledge that your journey was ruined.

bibbju

It sounds like a grim and frustrating experience but I'm just wondering why you didn't book (or ask to be booked on) a direct flight to Malaga?? Were all the flights full? To be honest, I have to sympathise a little bit with the first day person on the CE desk...you did insist she try and help you when she'd made it clear that it might not be the wisest idea ;-)

Hope this doesn't sound unsympathetic, it's not meant to be! Maybe I'm very cynical and/or you were very trusting of BA (I'm guessing not any more after this experience!) but once things were going t*ts up, I would have gone online and checked flight availability myself (including direct flights with Ryanair, urgh I know, to Malaga) and just claimed the cost back from insurance afterwards or told BA exactly which flights I wanted to be rebooked on.

Flying Doctor

Yes. If it's not going to plan I tend to go straight for the Internet and be clear in my mind what the options are and also to understand why there are problems - is the airport closed, it's it ATC or just a faulty plane - it all helps in planning what you want and often presenting the solution (ie please book me on XXX) is a better proposition than just asking for assistance....

FD.

crazyarmadillo

perils of checking a bag these days...

Hope they offer you something, it does sound awful.... maybe a free return flight would be good..

paul4040

8000 Avios then?

crazyarmadillo

as long as guaranteed availability, then yes, I think that would be fair.

Greenpen

Passengers in front of you asking about flights or rail tickets for journeys months ahead are a real pain, but I don't think you can do anything other than grin and bear it. Some people like to check ages ahead for, what for them, is a very important trip/reason.

Never had it with airlines, but when I queue for a ticket at my local railway station and get behind someone who buys a ticket and then gets into a long dicusion about another weeks away is frustrating. When they start to ask about tube connections to Hillingdon or Hainault my blood pressure hits the roof - but what can you do?

paul4040

Very frustrating I agree. A bit like when you only need £10 from the cash machine but the person in front seems intent on having a full blown conversation with it.

However, there are several places to sort out a rebooking in T5. To wait for "around an hour" is madness!

London32

A quick update:

BA sent me a VERY basic copy and paste reply, oh and 15k avios. Pathetic.

I've called back asking to speak to a manager, I was advised that complaints sent via the complaints form are not handled with in the UK. Who knew! They've placed it back in the queue where a UK rep will take another look. Not great, really.

paul4040

15k Avios seems reasonable. It would get you a flight to Malaga and back again.

What would you like them to give you?

Did you claim EC261 for the cancellation? You should do this separately.

hugolover

Yes, 15k is very good especially when you add in your EC261 compo. Make sure you claim it if you haven't done so yet.

London32

I've asked BA to look into the EC261 claim, should I do this separately?

If so, is there a main website for claims? I've never completed one in the past. Thank you in advance.

paul4040

Yes. Complaints in one email, EC261 email separately. They go to different teams. There is a specific drop down menu for EC261 on the email form, if I recall correctly.

The master thread for EC261 is here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...61-2004-a.html