Hi all, we recently faced a situation where the application of BA's Avios policies resulted in a tough situation and I wanted to briefly describe it to see if there are any ideas for escalation beyond the generic complaint form (which I have filled out).

Four family members were booked using Avios from DUB to our home in the USA on Aer Lingus. The day before we were due to travel, our child fell out of a tree and was hospitalized. Fortunately, she will be fine! But during the crisis, I called BA and the agent advised me to get an unfit to fly letter from the Irish hospital, and explained that we would be rebooked when she was once again fit to fly. After two nights in the hospital I managed to collect the letter and it was approved by BA. The child's lungs were looking better and the doctors said that after another week of rest, it would be safe to fly.

So I called BA to rebook us -- our scheduled flight date having since passed -- and this is what I was told:
--We would not be able to rebook on Aer Lingus, since that airline considered us to have missed our flight.
--We would only be able to rebook on BA via LHR
--That rebooking was subject to award availability and would require more points/dollars. The reason this requirement was added was because we had booked the DUB - USA leg as a one way award. So instead of just putting us on the next flight, there had to be availability. Working with the agent, the best she could find was an award three weeks later (with a forced overnight in LHR, because of course). The agent said: "sorry, our policy considers you to still be at home because of the one way booking." I found this grating because our two previous legs on the trip had both been on BA. It was perfectly obvious we weren't at home.

Had I known any of this restrictive policy, I would have just cancelled the trip, since the accident happened prior to the flight. Instead, I'd worked on collecting the hospital letter, as I'd been directed.

We did not have the time, money, or vacation to involuntarily spend an additional three weeks in Ireland. I booked our family's trip home using a different airline program.

Now we are told we have a "credit" but of course it can only be used to fly on BA which we have no ability to do, and will require spending more dollars anyway. We have not even been offered a refund, let alone restitution for our extra costs.

I'd welcome any ideas or suggestions to escalate. We don't have any travel insurance that can help and it's really restitution from BA or nothing. Thoughts?