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The BA Compensation Thread: Your guide to Regulation 261/2004

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The BA Compensation Thread: Your guide to Regulation 261/2004

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Old Jun 24, 2014, 11:38 am
  #901  
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Originally Posted by agehall
LHR-NCL is less than 1500km so the delay only needs to exceed 2h.
There's a bit of fuzziness on this one. Three hours is legally robust, two hours applies in certain circumstances, and BA have been known to pay up on two hour delays (somewhat rarely).

The flight in question was 2 hours 41 minutes late, which is annoying but personally I wouldn't bother about it. And I agree that BA does pay on technical outages, and has always done so, you just have to push the right buttons to do so. In the last 6 months they certainly didn't make it terribly easy but there are a number of recent cases which suggest they are going back to the previous practice of paying without the threat of legal action.
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Old Jun 24, 2014, 12:07 pm
  #902  
 
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I'm not sure it's fuzzy if you read the law. BA may try to weasel out of it, but if played by the book, I'd say it a slam dunk.
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Old Jun 24, 2014, 1:54 pm
  #903  
 
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
There's a bit of fuzziness on this one. Three hours is legally robust, two hours applies in certain circumstances, and BA have been known to pay up on two hour delays (somewhat rarely).

The flight in question was 2 hours 41 minutes late, which is annoying but personally I wouldn't bother about it. And I agree that BA does pay on technical outages, and has always done so, you just have to push the right buttons to do so. In the last 6 months they certainly didn't make it terribly easy but there are a number of recent cases which suggest they are going back to the previous practice of paying without the threat of legal action.
I'd tend to agree but we were regally ticked off when not all the luggage made it NCL so I might just give it a go
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Old Jun 24, 2014, 5:12 pm
  #904  
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Old Jun 25, 2014, 1:56 am
  #905  
 
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Does anyone have any experience or advice about using MCOL when one is not a British or EU citizen? In other words, is a UK address required when using MCOL? And if so, is it possible to use a friend's UK address, or are there possible pitfalls in doing so? Thanks in advance. Can't seem to find much about this.
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Old Jun 25, 2014, 2:52 am
  #906  
 
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Originally Posted by agehall
LHR-NCL is less than 1500km so the delay only needs to exceed 2h.
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
There's a bit of fuzziness on this one. Three hours is legally robust, two hours applies in certain circumstances, and BA have been known to pay up on two hour delays (somewhat rarely).

The flight in question was 2 hours 41 minutes late, which is annoying but personally I wouldn't bother about it.
There is absolutely no ambiguity on this aspect:

If you are delayed by 3 hours or more arriving at your final destination then you are entitled to compensation.

If your flight is cancelled then the airline has to reroute you so that you arrive at your final destination less than 2 hours later to invalidate any claims for compensation.

BA may have paid up for cancellations where the passenger was entitled to compensation but I doubt they have done so for delays of less than 3 hours.

Last edited by Centipede100; Jun 25, 2014 at 3:06 am
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Old Jun 25, 2014, 4:27 am
  #907  
 
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Looking for advice, I am currently in the process of applying for compensation due to a delayed BA213 to Boston on Friday 20/06/14, we arrived almost 8 hours late.

My query on compensation as follows, as LHR-BOS is under 3500km will I be entitled to 400 euros even though my journey originated in Edinburgh which would take me over the 3500km and entitle me to 600 euros?

Edit - Just realised it's under 3500 MILES not KM so know where i am with this. Apologies

Last edited by EDI_Martin; Jun 25, 2014 at 4:30 am Reason: Wrong info
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Old Jun 26, 2014, 8:04 am
  #908  
 
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/ar...n-payouts.html
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Old Jun 26, 2014, 1:48 pm
  #909  
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Originally Posted by Centipede100
There is absolutely no ambiguity on this aspect:

If you are delayed by 3 hours or more arriving at your final destination then you are entitled to compensation.

If your flight is cancelled then the airline has to reroute you so that you arrive at your final destination less than 2 hours later to invalidate any claims for compensation.

BA may have paid up for cancellations where the passenger was entitled to compensation but I doubt they have done so for delays of less than 3 hours.
Exactly correct. The rules are not at all fuzzy, but often misunderstood.
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Old Jun 26, 2014, 4:43 pm
  #910  
 
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I received a response by post to my MCOL today. It includes an acknowledgement of service from BA with the "I intend to defend all of this claim" ticked and says I should expect a defense to be filed by BA within 28 days.

Can anyone tell me if this is normal?!??! I am a bit worried! It does not sound like the same result that other people have got from filing MCOL.

As a reminder my flight from LIS to LHR in May went tech and I was rebooked on a flight about 12 hours later.

Last edited by Enigma368; Jun 27, 2014 at 3:33 am
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Old Jun 26, 2014, 8:26 pm
  #911  
 
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Yesterday, 26th June turned into a nightmare day for me and I am unclear how the EU rules may apply to my predicament.

AA93 from Dub to ORD was cancelled a few hours before departure. Mechanical problems meant the aircraft never departed Chicago. I was travelling DUB-ORD-MIA on 25th June and MIA-MCO on 26th June - business class booked through AA.com.

AA had involuntary rerouted me Dub-LHR-MIA on 25th June flying BA. Unhappily, the BA Dub-LHR plane lost some rivets and had to be repaired with the 11.45am departure time delayed to nearer 3pm. I then missed the LHR-MIA connection. In fact T5 connections was in chaos yesterday and it took 90 mins to be rebooked this time on the only remaining US bound plane LHR-JFK. My flight on 26th June was involuntary rerouted JFK-MCO and I never made it to Miami.

Arriving into JFK about midnight I headed to the AA arranged hotel room Holiday Inn JFK - who refused to accept my AA voucher as they were seemingly fully booked and turned me away. There were no other beds available at JFK due to other flight cancellations. AA refused to assist any further. I spent the night on the airport floor.

At 5.30am I was informed AA would bring forward my MCO bound flight so I would leave at 7am, thereby arriving in MCO ahead of my original schedule going through Miami. I was on Tier point run which was thwarted. I never made it to Miami on 25th June where I had a hotel room booked. I managed to cancel this for free but rather than enjoying a night at the Miami Hilton sipping cocktails I was left trying to sleep, on a dirty floor in Terminal 8 JFK. AA were disinterested in the EU regs of care and assistance and point blank refused to sort out alternative accommodation.

Any views on whether I should seek compensation from AA who started the farce by cancelling AA93, or from BA because the mechanical problem with its plane and lack of staff at T5 organizing the rebooking connections resulted in my missing the Miami bound flight connection and being significantly delayed due to so few remaining flights to the USA. The JFK flight was also then delayed an hour. Do I pursue for compensation AA, BA or both ?
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Old Jun 26, 2014, 11:02 pm
  #912  
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When the flight was cancelled, AA was responsible to rebook you to your destination and compensate if the new booking no longer got to destination within 2 hours of original time.

Once that was done , AA had met its obligations and the rest is with BA.BA would have been responsible for hotel etc in JFK and for getting you to Florida and for compensation for the late arrival, so can understand why AA would not care about the EU regulations in JFK in relation to a BA arrival
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Old Jun 27, 2014, 12:32 am
  #913  
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The BA Compensation Thread: Your guide to Regulation 261/2004

All I can add to that is that you are within your rights to book another hotel and get BA to pick up the bill. If everything is booked up - unlikely I would have thought - that would be academic.
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Old Jun 27, 2014, 7:40 am
  #914  
 
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I was on a flight from London to Vancouver a month ago which was cancelled. The cause was a technical issue with a pitot tube. The engineers tried to fix the issue, while all passengers were waiting inside the aircraft after boarding. After 4 hours waiting, the flight was cancelled by operations, despite the engineers had managed to fix the probe.

According to the EU regulations that should make me and my wife eligible for a compensation of €600 each from BA. However, as expected, BA denied this claim referring to the "extraordinary circumstances" part of the legislation.

This was their response:
Your claim for compensation has been refused because flight BA0087 on 29 May 2014 was cancelled due to an unexpected technical fault, which prevented the aircraft operating as scheduled. Under EU legislation, British Airways is not liable for a compensation payment in this situation.

During final safety checks, we discovered a problem with the pitot. There are numerous parts that the airline may be required to replace within a specific timeframe. These parts are kept fully stocked and ready to fit. As this particular ‘part’ was not due to be replaced, this constitutes as extraordinary circumstances.

Unfortunately airline operations are subject to circumstances outside the airline's control. British Airways takes all reasonable measures to avoid cancelling a flight in such circumstances. Consideration is given to whether there are any operational options available before a decision to cancel is made. We are sorry that the cancellation was necessary in this case.
As far as I'm concerned, a technical fault with the aircraft should be within the airline's control (i.e. lack of maintenance), and can't be considered an extraordinary circumstance.

Do any of you have any thoughts on this case? How do I proceed now that BA has denied by claim?
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Old Jun 27, 2014, 9:32 am
  #915  
 
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Originally Posted by miceagol
I was on a flight from London to Vancouver a month ago which was cancelled. The cause was a technical issue with a pitot tube. The engineers tried to fix the issue, while all passengers were waiting inside the aircraft after boarding. After 4 hours waiting, the flight was cancelled by operations, despite the engineers had managed to fix the probe.

According to the EU regulations that should make me and my wife eligible for a compensation of €600 each from BA. However, as expected, BA denied this claim referring to the "extraordinary circumstances" part of the legislation.

As far as I'm concerned, a technical fault with the aircraft should be within the airline's control (i.e. lack of maintenance), and can't be considered an extraordinary circumstance.

Do any of you have any thoughts on this case? How do I proceed now that BA has denied by claim?
Not just as far as you are concerned, but as far as the Court of Appeal is concerned in the Huzar v Jet2.com judgment given on the 11th June, technical issues with an aircraft are inherent in the operation of an airline and thus cannot be classified as extraordinary circumstances:

http://www.bottonline.co.uk/wp-conte...94038-0001.pdf

So write back just once more to BA quoting the judgment and state that unless they settle your claim within 14 days you will commence a legal claim without further notice as there is no valid legal defence to your claim.
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