I agree, it was well outside BA's control and even LGW management, it would seem. Bad things happen, sometimes. The letter seems very confused, to say the least, but it would be the same answer even if someone had bothered to pay attention to your complaint.

I think you may have entered the information the wrong way around, but stifle is correct, the webform isn't great. There is a open webform where you can put in free text, but both of them sufffer from the fact that if you don't make your own copy, you won't see your wording again, and you may need it if things go outwith BA. The auto email reply could be improved in that respect.

But on balance a one side of A4 letter, with 3 or 4 bullet points, will probably be the best approach. Keep us informed, please, this is an interesting case.

Thanks for this. They said they were not liable due to 'airspace restrictions outside their control'. BA's email also went on to say that 'Consideration is given to whether there are any operational options available before a decision to cancel is made' and the fact is that some other airlines moved some operations to the South terminal (definitely an 'operational option'). Had BA done so, then the flight might have just been late rather than cancelled - BA could have tried harder, particularly with it being Christmas Eve.

Well you can give it a go, but with LGW Management calling in armed police to keep people under control (admittedly for another airline) I have my doubts that (a) BA would willingly pay up and (b) a judge would rule in your favour. But there's no harm asking for them to review it.

Thanks again. I have gone back to BA with the points I raised above....I guess they can only say 'no' again!

I think a power failure and flood together are ample grounds to justify a cancellation as being caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been prevented by the taking of all reasonable precautions.

Quick question for those in the know.

I have a ticket from New Orelans to Dallas (economy, AA) connecting to a Dallas to LHR (BA WT+) flight

It's all on the same BA PNR.

The time I have to connect in Dallas is only one hour. What happens if:

a) The internal AA flight is late and therefore I miss the connection in Dallas for my flight to LHR
b) BA stick me on the last flight of the evening with AA (there's no more BA flights that evening) and downgrade me to economy

....I'd be late into LHR and potentially downgraded...would BA offerto put me in business with AA balc to London or would I just be due compensation?

Either way, I don't fancy flying back 9 hours with AA in economy!

Thanks,
A

For EU261 purposes, you probably don't have much cover. If AA deliver you late to Dallas - and that flight is outside the Regulation - then I don't see BA being responsible for fixing that, as far as EU261 is concerned.

In terms of outcomes:
1) Don't assume the worst, even if the AA flight is late, so indeed the BA service could be late.

2) AA don't have WTP, so yes if you got put on that flight you would get the AA experience, and only get refunded a trivial amount of fare difference I would guess.

3) However you can stand your ground and insist on a WTP service, either the next day or via myriad connections, but you would probably have to pay the overnight hotel unless AA were feeling very generous (definitely not weather delays, possible if technical delays).

4) Though I've had some bad outcomes from AA, on the whole they actually do a good job of trying to help you, they tend to try out various options, more so than some BA agents would do / are allowed to do.

To generalise a little on this, AA will provide overnight accommodation if the delay is attributable to them but won't if it is not.

Follow-up:

Since first posting (pg 1), my claim for compensation has been resolved.
I continued to correspond with customer services, and in my final email I proposed an alternative solution, viz. to extend my gold status for a year in lieu of compensation.
This was not agreed to but in the response I received a 'further review' had established that my delayed flight was indeed eligible for compensation.
When I phoned to confirm that this would apply to my partner as well, it was explained that she would have to make her own claim separately (same address & surname required) – as to the reason for the reversal of decision, this was because they hadn’t received the requisite information from maintenance.
After two months? And yet there was sufficient information to deny the claim initially? Make of that what you will.

(Post script for any BA staff reading this)
In any case, I’m now mollified, and will continue to fly with and champion BA. As they say, it wasn’t about the compensation but the principle.

The best of luck to everyone else who finds themselves in extraordinary circumstances.

Thanks for keeping us updated, your original post can be found here. Of all the recent "technical but still extraordinary" cases, I felt yours was the weakest from a BA perspective, since it happened at LHR, with heaps of alternative services to HKG directly and indirectly, and leaky tubes could hardly be called extraordinary.

I have a sneaky feeling that if any case was going to end up in court, yours would most readily be found in the passenger's favour, so I find it revealing that BA didn't want it to go there (plus maybe the fact that someone in BA is watching this thread? Who knows.).

Either way it is very interesting to learn that there appears some flexibility on the issue for the persistent, so thank you for the update.

Making your partner make their own claim is standard procedure, and probably the right thing to do to avoid people abusing the system.

Martin Lewis (MoneySavingExpert) just did a piece on this:

@MartinSLewis: Full help and free templates to reclaim flight delays (and what if they say no) here... http://t.co/EBZYsIFMPt

Or here if these short URLs annoy you: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-delays

EU compensation for 24th May disruption BA762 fire
 

After 8 months of waiting I finally got the following email from BA yesterday:-

Dear BerksFlyer

Following a review of your claim, you are entitled to compensation for the cancellation of your flight, the BA764 on 24 May 2013. The distance of your disrupted flight, as calculated in accordance with EU legislation, was 1500km or less. Based on this, you are entitled to €250.00 in compensation.
As there is one passenger included in the claim, the total compensation due is €250.00. This has been converted locally to £207.34 ........


Having been in correspondence with BA a few times over this issue they have repeatedly claimed that no compensation would be paid for the BA762 incident. I wonder what changed their mind?

I would imagine this will cost BA a fair bit given the number of people who were delayed for a very long time on that day. My delay was just over 7 hours.