It seems to be the day for it!

I know the thread is busy but I'd appreciate some advice if anyone can help.

Our flight LGW-AYT on 11/6/23 was cancelled due to crew issues. We were travelling as a group of 4 adults but across two bookings because our sons were travelling home on a different date. When the flight was cancelled my DH and I (both silver) were offered seats the following lunchtime, but our sons (no BAEC status) were not offered any alternative and the lunchtime flight on 12/6 had no available seats. They were later offered seats to Istanbul on the evening of the 12th, with a connection to AYT so that they'd arrive in the early hours of the morning on 13/6.

I immediately phoned the helpline to say that the alternative flight offered to 2 of our party was not acceptable due to our onward travel plans and asked to be booked onto an alternative - there were flights operated by EJ and Freebird due to travel on the evening of 11/6 with seats available. The person on the phone said they could not move us into these flights as there were no flights leaving gatwick for AYT that day - even though I could see them on my phone. I said I would need to discuss it with my family and asked for the name of the call taker, who then cut me off! Anyway, I booked us onto the easyJet flight, and advised the BA checkin desk that we did not need the seats on the flight on 12/6 as this was not viable for our party. They had a large queue of people wanting those seats, and told us to put in a claim for our replacement flights.

I put in a claim on 26/6/23, stating the booking numbers of both bookings (I had booked and paid for both), including written consent from our sons to claim on their behalf, asking for EC261 compensation, the price of a meal at Gatwick, and the easyjet flights. I did not cancel the BA flights. I received the auto confirmation email with a case number, then no communication until today, almost 19 weeks later.

They have agreed that we are due compensation of £350 per person, and said they will forward £700 for the two passengers on the claim. They've also agreed to pay the cost of the meal. Regarding the replacement flights they had this to say...




So basically they've disregarded that we have claimed for four people and have declined to pay for our replacement flights, having the two halves of our party arriving 16 hours apart was not feasible for our onward travel.

What is the best way to proceed? They have not offered to either pay for the EJ flights or refund the BA flight that was cancelled 😞

Sorry for the long post!