I would like some advice having read the OP (inc Post 4)
My flight cancellation happened in March 2022, was offered rebooking on an itinerary that constituted a 12hr delay, and I've received a compensation decision just now...
I've checked the details of your journey and I can see that, you reached your destination less than four hours of your scheduled arrival time. Under EU legislation, we aren’t liable to pay compensation for this kind of situation.
I'm disappointed to say the least: they came to the conclusion of only compensating me for my Uber on arrival and food and beverage. I expected that I would be eligible for standard €250 EC261 compensation for a flight delay/cancellation and stated such in my compensation form.
The situation was: I was in LHR waiting for my flight to MAD. It got cancelled an hour or so before the flight (no reason was given, but many flights were cancelled at end of March). After almost an hour of waiting (check-in staff said to wait), eventually an alternative itinerary was offered by email and in-app. It offered to depart three hours later, and arrive at MAD 12 hours after original arrival, sleeping over in LYS. I needed to get back to MAD promptly. BA staff at Heathrow did not offer an earlier flight option. I declined the offer in-app and hastily booked myself into the earliest possible next flight to MAD. Original was BA, new was IB, both with Avios. It was a similar expense to the original flight. New scheduled arrival time was 110 mins after original. I ordered an Uber instead of taking public transport at MAD as it became too late for public transport (not running).
Am I not eligible to €250 compensation? Have I really been denied compensation because I chose a flight (which was not offered by BA) that arrives 10 minutes before the 2hr cutoff?
If I am eligible for more, do you recommend responding directly or now going through MCOL or CEDR (never done any of this before).