My LHR-SJC flight cancellation originally reported on post 1074 of this thread is going a very similar path to the one reported by tal27 above. Several back and forth communications with BA - BA denied the claim and I eventually managed to tease out of them that the cancellation was due to the 787 engine issue, claiming that it's a safety issue, beyond their control etc.
Fully agree with CWS that I doubt I'll get anywhere with BA and need to go the CEDR path. However, CEDR requires 8 weeks since my original report to BA or a final response from BA referring me to CEDR. I'm at just over 6 weeks. I'm thinking I will give it one more try with BA and ask that they either approve my claim (doubtful) or refer me to CEDR.
Really just posting as an update on my case for the group to see - but any thoughts/ comments I'd be interested to hear. I guess my only hesitation about asking BA to refer me to CEDR is I'm not sure it's a good idea to forewarn them - since I'm so close to 8 weeks maybe I should just wait it out?
The safety issue is a variation of what BA used in my claim. It wasn't successful as the CEDR arbitrator found that it was a known issue since at least 2017 and that BA hadn't taken reasonable measures to avoid the inconvenience of flight cancellations. I believe that I posted my CEDR decision here previously, but if not, PM me with an email address and I'll send it to you, together with the briefs filed in the matter. It would be helpful to track which aircraft was originally assigned to your flight, as in my case, I showed that the aircraft was reassigned and operated the same day just on a different flight.That further undercuts their safety argument. Also, I detailed the enitre BA fleet that was available for my length flight. Keep in mind that BA has the burden of proof that they took reasonable measures, not just poor fleet management issues, and if they don't adequately do that you win.
On the 8 week issue, I filed early and CEDR sent me a notice to explain why. By the deadline for my explanation, the 8 weeks had passed and they just ignored that issue and proceeded as usual.