Originally Posted by
billinghamn
Thanks for your response. So there is a "between 3 hours and 4 hours" difference in compensation? ChatGPT suggests this only applies to re-routing? I appreciate ChatGPT can often get stuff wrong, so happy to be corrected on this point.
There are different rules for cancellations, as compared to delays (and missed connections, which count as delays).
With cancellations, depending on the circumstances and how you are rebooked, you sometimes get 50% compensation for shorter delays. With delays you either get full compensation or nothing at all. Many people (not just AI bots) don't understand that distinction.
Originally Posted by
billinghamn
In which case, the fact that I have a photo that shows the door opening 13 seconds before the 4-hour delay might be important? Since the 13 seconds might not be considered a meaningful margin?
Previously you said you have a photo of it pulling onto stand, do you have a photo of
both pulling onto stand
and doors opening?
It is basically impossible for the doors to open 13 seconds after arriving on stand unless it's an emergency evacuation. It takes at least a minute or two for the engines to be switched off, the jetbridge to be attached and then for the "all clear" to be given for the doors to be opened. That's the best case scenario, which often doesn't end up happening due to BA's understaffed and poorly coordinated ground operations at LHR.
BA would be on a hiding to nothing arguing that you "arrived" 13 seconds after pulling onto the stand. That's not to say they won't try to argue it (they might - they usually throw anything at the wall to see what sticks) but it is easily rebutted.
On a technical note, it's not even the time the doors opens that matters. It's the time the passengers are first allowed to disembark. Whilst usually one happens almost immediately after the other, I have had flights where passengers have been held back from disembarking at remote stands due to buses not being ready yet, or at contact stands where there was some formality not yet completed.