New poster and read the thread with interest and looking for some advice please. I was on BA 12 from Singapore to London due to depart at 23.10 on 20 Dec 2013. The incoming flight BA 11 was delayed about 15 hours (take off on 19 Dec 18.30 from LHR delayed to 20 Dec 09.00) so we had a knock on delay of about 8.5 hours as the flight should have been on the ground at Changi for about 7.5 hours. I effectively lost a day of my holiday in the UK.

I had two complaints to BA - the EU claim and a complaint about lack of food on the flight as it was stocked for a night flight not a day flight, despite the lengthy notice BA had of the delay; and praised the crew for their efforts despite this. (We had 10 hours between dinner being served at 08.30 Singapore time and breakfast being served at 18.30.)

BA 11 was delayed due to a technical error, then crew hours, then night flight restrictions. This was stated in a letter from the BA lounge at Changi. I was notified of the delay by text and email at 18.00 GMT on 20 December so the decision to delay was made before BA11 was due to take off which indicates little effort to find an alternative plane or crew.

The EU claim was rejected "During the previous flight, we noticed a fuel leak from one of the engines of our aircraft leading to night stop. As it had been maintained in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines, this constitutes as extraordinary circumstances and could not have been avoided."

I wrote back a second time citing that I rejected that this was extraordinary circumstances and that all reasonable measures had not been taken with regards to a replacement plane and/or crew from LHR as this is BA's home base. The fact that the flight took off 15 hours late from LHR was not reasonable and meant that crew hours was the actual reason, with the originating reason the fuel leak. I asked for maintenance records to show that BA had maintained in accordance with the manufacturers' guidelines.

I then received a standard response that ignored my letter and just had a slightly different wording. "During the previous flight, we noticed a fuel leak from one of the engines of our aircraft leading to a night stop. As it had been maintained in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines, this constitutes as extraordinary circumstances and could not have been avoided. This caused a flight safety shortcoming that had to be assessed by our engineering team.

Article 5.3 of the EU Regulation 261/2004 states that a carrier is not obliged to pay compensation if it can prove that the delay or cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. In Recital 14 and 15 of EU Regulation 261/2004, extraordinary circumstances include weather, strike and the impact of an air traffic management decision which gives rise to a long delay. I regret, therefore you are not entitled to compensation under the EU Regulation for your delayed flight."

At the same time I had requested a proof of flight delay form. BA took several weeks to provide this and have changed my gender and in this form, blamed adverse weather. I'm guessing this is just bad luck and I should request a new form for this.

Is it normal for the EU claims team to not read the letter sent to them and give a generic reply? Should I just send back my letter and ask for a response including the maintenance records? Any advice gratefully received - thanks.