Hi All,
I'm a new member here, having sought you out after taking a case to CEDR, doing it incorrectly, getting a "partial success", but now not knowing whether to accept CEDR decision.
Lots more info in
THIS THREAD, but I think I posted in wrong place and perhaps better to re-post here. I'll try and summarise the problem, why I went to CEDR, what I did wrong with CEDR, and where I'm at now. This might be lengthy - I apologise in advance if this is too much detail.
The problem:
I was perhaps a bit naive (and would hesitate to do so again in future) but I booked travel with Expedia on 16th April.
My travel on was on a BA flight from LHR to PHX (non-stop) flying out on Sunday 7th May, returning (again on BA) on Friday 26th May.
I paid with standard BA AMEX (not Platinum). Expedia sold me an outbound ticket on Iberia paper - my AMEX bill said that payment went to Iberia (I called AMEX - they can't help me with this)
I booked Premium Ecomony in both directions - total cost was: £2108.00 flight (RT), plus taxes & airline fees of £470.57, plus £20 airline card fee (total paid £2578.57)
I paid to choose my seat in Premium outbound.
Online check-in wasn't available, so I had to check in on the day - at desk I was told I'd be travelling in Economy rather than Premium.
At the gate I was offered (but initially declined) £75 that I was told was an "ex gratis" payment - I thought accepting it would jepoardise any claim I may have against BA.
Even at the gate I considered a claim because the flight manager (I think?) told me I'd be entitled to "75% of the difference in fare price between Economy and Premium"
I realised at the time that 75% of the difference meant that I'd effectively be charged 25% of the difference for privilege of being downgraded.
I filled in a form on the plane to raise a complaint about the downgrade, and contacted my OLTA (Expedia) when I arrived at my destination.
Why I went to CEDR (and what I think did wrong with CEDR):
Aside from raising a complaint on the flight itself, the first contact I had was with Expedia - who advised me to file a web complaint with BA.
Web complaint raised on 7th May.
It became a bit of a circus - BA web team soon stopped responding when I asked how to escalate.
When web team stopped responding, I spoke to someone at BAEC on 18th or 19th May (from here on in I have names, dates, and times whenever I spoke to someone on the phone), who explained the £75 (or £150 in vouchers) wouldn't jeopardise any claim - but ultimately told me I needed to deal with Expedia to process this.
This went round for some months - Expedia, Iberia, BA, etc.
I contacted Which? and they said it's easy - send formal complaint, wait 8 weeks, then go to CEDR. They said divide ticket cost by 2, and then claim 75%.
Formal letter sent on 4th August.
Deadlock reached on 22nd, and CEDR case raised shortly after.
I did it wrong - I claimed for 75% of half of £2578.57 (I didn't take off taxes or fees before claiming).
The CEDR outcome
BA said that I needed to deal with Expedia. They said that outbound leg cost £615.00 so I'd need to claim £461.25 from Iberia via Expedia.
Adjudicator decision came in on 14th Oct - CEDR says BA need to pay me directly (not Expedia or Iberia), but CEDR agreed with BA that I am owed £461.25 (not the amount I claimed).
Where I'm at now
I know it's not personal, but after the runaround I've been given I'm not quick to trust BA. I don't know whether the LHR-PHX sector price of £615 is accurate - to me it seems a little low, given the overall flight price of £2108.
Perhaps it really was £615 - that's what I need help with, as I don't know how to find out.
I contacted Expedia to try and get a breadkdown. They declined to provide one - here's their response:
"We are unable to provide the breakdown of prices and taxes separately as the price you have booked at are consolidated prices and are discounted rates (Expedia Special rate).
Please find the attached invoice displaying Traveller Summary, Flight Summary, Cost Summary and Payment Information.
We appreciate your understanding in this matter."
(the info they provided is that which I already have - see top of this very long post).
I checked everything I've gathered on this, and found the following for the outbound:
"
Iberia 4673 operated by BRITISH AIRWAYS
Premium Economy (T) | Seat 15E | Confirm or change seats with the airline*"
Here's the inbound:
"
British Airways 288
Premium Ecomony (W) | Seat 15A | Confirm of change seats with the airline*"
The outbound flight in question has been removed from my BAEC page, and it doesn't show up on my statement anymore. It got removed quite early in this saga - I just assumed it was BA trying to make things difficult - now I see that they did quite a good job, as I don't know how much the flight cost.
What am I looking for
It's been quite a while now, and even though this (to me) is an awful lot of money - I've almost got to the point now where the money is a secondary concern.
I'm not looking for free first class flights as compensation, nor thousands of Avios, or some big wedge of cash. What I do want it to know that BA aren't stitching me up with their offer.
Is their offer of £461.25 accurate? If so, then I stop stressing and put it all behind me.
If the offer is unfair, then what would be a fair offer?
My thinking is: if their offer is unfair, then I need to find a way to establishing enough evidence to send a letter before action and then going the MCOL route (after first rejecting CEDR).
If a fair offer is e.g. £500 (and they offered me £461.25) then it's not worth continuing the fight and I accept CEDR decision.
If, howevr, a fair offer would be e.g. £700 then I'd most certainly consider MCOL.
I also don't know if I'm entitled to a refund of any taxes since I flew Economy on the outbound. If so, do I raise this with directly with Expedia?
Thanks for reading. I've tried to give as much info as possible - sorry this makes for such a long post.
Any help you can give would be most gratefully received. I'd like to reiterate my thanks for the help already given in
THIS THREAD