The concise version:
On 20/3 I travelled Edinburgh-Heathrow-Chicago-New Orleans on BA (AA operated the Chicago-New Orleans leg). The Heathrow-Chicago flight was late taking off, causing me to miss my connection at Chicago. After some complications, I flew Chicago-New Orleans the following day. I arrived 18 hours later than scheduled. The airline put me up in a nearby hotel for the night I was in Chicago.
I have submitted a claim for compensation. BA refused this, on the grounds that the flight "was delayed because of operational circumstances outside of our control". I queried what these circumstances are, and they said that my flight "was delayed by 8 minutes due to a Start up delay, which isn't a payable reason under EU legislation".
We took off much more than 8 minutes late. It's possible that we left the gate 8 minutes late (I don't recall exactly), but we sat on the tarmac for ages. I remember thinking that I was bound to miss my connection at O'Hare, which I did.
What should I do next? Does anybody know what a "start up delay" is? Anybody have any experience of similar? All replies are appreciated. Thanks for reading.