srikp

Totally unrelated but this is my sob story. My flight from DFW - LHR (enroute to HYD) was delayed due to a medical emergency on board. In LHR, AA routed us LHR - DEL - HYD with a 5 hour wait in LHR and 6 hour in DEL and no food coupons. I was put on Air India from DEL - HYD and they did not honor my baggage allowance. I had to fork out $400 equivalent and AA refused to reimburse. DOT and BBB seemed to agree with AA.

cedric

I don't think you're owed anything.
When BA cancelled the flight, it seems that AA offered an option that wouldn't cost more (via ORD).
You decided against that option, preferring to travel the next day. There are additional taxes involved in doing that, and AA sees it as a voluntary change since you declined the provided alternative. Why would you expect AA to cover these taxes? They didn't cancel the BA flight.
I would ask for the miles back as a customer service gesture, but the UK departure tax is on you, because you chose that option.
No extortion at play unless another option hadn't been offered.

mvoight

Had AA not offered the same day connection, the passenger would have been entitled to more, but AA did offer a reroute via ORD the same day, so that meets the requirements of EC261
The original routing for that day was not available. The passenger chose to pay more to get a direct BA flight his destination a day later. He could have taken the ORD connection the same day
EC261 does not require the reroute be in the same class of service, though the passenger would be entitled to a refund due to the downgrade

nancypants

Ah yes. I suppose my confusion is probably BA initially proactively rebooking onto the next day even though it wasn’t their ticket?

beachfan

Does it matter if LHR-ord-xxx was offered in coach, as opposed to class booked (business).?

Dave Noble

There is nothing proactive about reacting to a cancellation

BA is the airline that was responsible for rebooking the passenger since it was the BA flight that was cancelled and is not allowed to charge any extra - if you took the flight that BA rebooked onto then you should be getting back anything extra that you paid - you are not ( for example ) liable to pay the APD that becomes due - BA would be liable for food and accommodation costs

If you ended up getting AA to rebook onto another flight other than what BA rebooked onto, then anything it cost you, that is on you

No - but the airline would be required to pay reimbursement of 75% of price of the one way fare paid if rebooked from business to Premium economy or economy

JJeffrey

While BA was certainly responsible for the schedule change, this whole issue could have been averted if not due to typical AA phone agent incompetence.

When a schedule change occurs an AA agent can open up space on any available routing, you do not need award space. The agent didn't offer anything other than what was currently available for awards at the time (economy class via ORD). The 3-way call issue with BA admittedly didn't help things.

Had the agent had the wherewithal and/or training to offer an alternative via ORD, CLT, JFK, etc. in business class then I have a feeling we wouldn't be having this conversation.

nancypants

True, but it seems BA had done the rebooking initially without any intervention from the OP which I suppose is semi proactive

Dave Noble

no - it is simply doing what EC261 requires and what most airlines ime do

Dave Noble

It wasn't an AA flight that been cancelled, but a BA one. I thought that AA's overriding of availability was only when fixing issues of its own flights, not of 3rd parties

What is hard to tell from OP's description is whether taking a more expensive flight was due to not accepting BA's rebooking option or was charged that despite taking the option provided by BA

nancypants

I’m reading option b. AA failed to react effectively to the rebooking BA had already made and the lack of reticketing resulted in someone repricing it (if I’m reading correctly)

where is often1 to tell OP to make this into 3 short declarative sentences? 😉 would help with my sleep deprivation

Dave Noble

If option B, then the OP is due a refund from AA of additional miles and taxes paid

Often1

Make it three short declarative sentences.

There are quite seriously few events in the world which require intervention and which cannot be described in that way.

jordyn

I think it's pretty clear--BA changed the reservation after they cancelled OP's flight, but needed AA to reissue the ticket. AA refused to do so without additional payment from OP.

Dave Noble

It wasn't clear to me in the end what was happening in the whole thing

If it is simply
BA cancelled flight 1
BA rebooked passenger onto flight 2
BA wanted AA to reissue ticket for flight 2
AA refused

then there is a big issue there - BA should have been able to deal with the issue at the airport itself though without requiring going back to AA

Of the $725 spent, $319 seems to be a choice purchase of seat selection, so that isn't due back, but should claim back 22k miles and $406 - either directly or perhaps contact DOT