Looking for advice on whether worth pursuing a claim for compensation further. BA have refused compensation and agreed to pay out of pocket expenses only and I’d appreciate other more experienced views on mine and my partners delay:
Schedule to travel 13/11/25 on BA2204 from PUJ at 20:35 arriving 08:35 at LGW then connect to GLA on 14/11/25 on BA1492 at 10:20 (arriving 11:55).
Notified of cancellation of ba1492 at 13:35 local time via email/text and had been rebooked on ba1484 from lhr at 15:10 on 14/11/25.
Could find no details of cancellation of this flight, initially told by BA Holidays it may have been due to forecasted bad weather in the UK on 14/11.
After investigating myself, advised BA the flight wasn’t cancelled but obtained information online that our BA2204 flight was to be delayed (due to late arriving inbound) leaving PUJ and suggested this was the reason we were being rebooked on a later connection from LHR.
This was confirmed by BA holidays and I eventually asked to be put on an earlier departure from LHR BA1482 at 13:40 arriving 15:10 to minimise our delay and disruption. This was agreed.
BA2204 took off 22:13 and the pilot advised the delay was due to the late arriving inbound aircraft having to divert further south in the Caribbean due to air space restrictions because of a rocket launch. We arrived at LGW, collected our bags and took an Uber to LHR for our 13:40 flight. Despite making this on time, upon arrival at the departure gate we were advised that this flight would be delayed to 14:10 due to late arrival of the pilot from another aircraft. Took off at 15:02 (we had sat on tarmac for a while) and arrived at the GLA gate at 16:00.
BA have advised the following “We’re sorry it was necessary to delay your flight from Punta Cana on 13 November 2025 and we understand why you needed to get in contact about this. We take all reasonable measures to avoid delaying a flight and we’ll always consider if there are any alternative solutions available before we make a decision.We'd also like to thank you for your patience while we got back to you about this.
It's disappointing to hear about the considerable disruption and inconvenience you and your partner experienced during your journey, especially given the repeated calls you had to make, the additional travel between airports, and the delay that ultimately affected your arrival into Glasgow.Your claim for compensation has been refused because BA2204 on 13 November 2025 was delayed due to Air Traffic Control restrictions.”
My primary reason for claiming was actually due to what happened at LHR that ultimately made us 4 hours late. BA do not appear to have taken this into consideration as part of their decision at all.
Can anyone advise whether I should ask them to reconsider on that basis? If so, and they refuse should I proceed to CEDR if this is their final position? And should I accept reimbursement of my expenses in the meantime? Thanks in advance!
Unfortunately I think it's unlikely you are entitled to any compensation in this scenario. Once your flight left PUJ 1h30ish late there was never going to be any way you were going to make your booked LGW-GLA connecting flight.
From archive records on lhr-lgw.co.uk it would appear your PUJ flight arrived at 10:02 whilst your GLA connection left at 10:28 - way too tight too be doable. As such BA did the right thing by rebooking you, albeit it should arguably have been onto the earlier BA1482 to begin with.
The subsequent delay to BA1482 is, of course, BA's responsibility/fault but it is nowhere near the 3 hours of 'countable' delay you would need to get compensation.
The caveat I would put to the above is that it relies on the delay to your PUJ flight indeed being due to the rocket launch and/or other factors beyond BA's responsibility. LHR-LGW.co.uk suggests the aircraft left LGW on its way to PUJ pretty much on time at 13:24 (vice 13:10 booked departure time). I'm unsure whether the quoted times are takeoff times or pushback times but either way, it does seem like the flight time was quite a lot longer than usual.
Now if there were other factors, e.g. stronger headwinds than forecast leading to a longer flight time, then that would be different. But if you want to dig down into that level of detail, I think the only option you have is to challenge the refusal of compensation with CEDR.
Your expenses will be due either way - arguably you could have reduced them slightly by taking the National Express coach instead of an Uber, but BA doesn't tend to quibble over that kind of thing as much as LCCs might. So I would be indeed to accept the expenses (if they're being covered in full) and call it a day.