Originally Posted by
adam007
Hi everyone,
[snip]
6 Jun 2014: I replied that the Apr 2013 NEB guidance was draft and non-legally-binding. I noted that the EU parliament vote to amend EC 261/2004 on 5 Feb 2014 ignored the NEB guidance, and added an exhaustive list of extraordinary circumstances, which only included technical problems that were formally-acknowledged manufacturing defects. I also stated that if compensation was not agreed, I would no longer communicate via webform, and the next communication would be a letter in the post discussing a court claim.
11 Jun 2014: With no response from BA (and unaware of the Huzar ruling), I sent a "letter before court action" in the post to the BA EU compensation PO box in Sudbury. I sent it Royal Mail special delivery.
12 Jun 2014: royalmail.com reports the letter was signed for at 8:07am.
12 Jun 2014: At 8:28am, I receive an email that they are going to compensate me 600 EUR per passenger. Success!
I have no idea if it was the letter before action that caused them to agree compensation. I wouldn't have expected a response 21 minutes after they received the letter. Maybe the Huzar ruling prompted them to start paying out? I also doubt BA would have been that quick to respond to Huzar, given it will likely be appealed.
Congratulations
adam007, you had a very sub optimal journey to Florida so I think it would be a hard person who would begrudge your compensation. I'd hope BA would be a bit more proactive in finding alternative routes for you too, since given the JBA it has to be more financially sensible than chucking out 2400€ in compensation. My suspicion is that your message on 6 June was taken seriously, since I can't believe the registered letter would have been processed that quickly. But what is interesting was that they paid out before MCOL kicked in, so at least BA saved themselves some court fees. Thank you posting the steps, I think that would be useful to others as to how to handle this, and the appropriate time scales. Your relatively swift resolution may have been due to you clearly demonstrating you knew the drill (e.g. the NEB draft).
Welcome to Flyertalk, I hope that you will have more conventional travel experiences from now on, and that you will continue to participate in this forum.