Originally Posted by
danger
BA has denied our claim, stating that the first officer's illness is extraordinary. I have asked for proof of the illness and there's been no response.
I’m not sure what proof you’re expecting from BA. It has a duty to protect the privacy of its employees which will rank above absolutely any piece of information you might require. Whilst the airline might very often be disingenuous when it comes to claims, it is not going to directly lie to you - if the claim is that the FO was ill, that will be the truth.
What you, and perhaps at some point a court, will have to decide is whether an unwell FO at a relatively remote outstation is both extraordinary and BA took all reasonable measures to avoid a delay.
It’s perfectly clear, I’d think, that the flight could not safely operate without his/her presence. Illness of someone on the flight deck is certainly not common. It will probably then come down to how easy it would be for BA to replace the FO at probably short notice. Given you were at an outstation many hours from a crew base, the replacement would have to been substituted in from another crew. You’ll likely then fall into a crew hours situation which would make that impossible.
So, I’m not sure I fancy your chances too much here.