potfish

Updating mine:
I got another refusal from BA, in which the only difference was that they changed the point of discovery of the fault from immediately before my flight to immediately before the incoming sector.

I have initiated legal proceedings.

corporate-wage-slave

This looks like a fairly typical technical problem at LHR followed up by not being able to swap equipment at their base airport, and presumably not trying too hard to rebook everyone when they had multiple hours notice to do so. Please keep us informed of how things go.

Scotair

Can anyone tell me, has BA removed the online EU claim form from its website?
Is this the page that should be completed to pursue an EU 261 claim?

https://www.britishairways.com/trave...m/public/en_gb

EdinburghFlyer

Hi guys, I am new to this forum and I wondered if you might be able to help.

My partner and I had a flight from London City to Edinburgh back in October, that was cancelled about 2hrs before departure due to an electrical fault with the aircraft. We were given 2 options - wait til Tuesday for the next Edinburgh flight, or fly to Glasgow and travel to Edinburgh by coach. We chose the latter.

Our original arrival time at Edinburgh was scheduled to be 2120, and our flight landed in Glasgow at 2214. We were put on a coach which departed Glasgow at 2320 (2hrs after scheduled landing), and eventually arrived at Edinburgh Airport at 0034 - total delay of 3hrs 14 mins.

I have pursued BA for compensation, and today received the following reply:
Your claim for compensation has been refused because our systems show that we informed you of the cancellation either on the day of departure, which may have been at the airport, or within the previous 6 days. You were offered a rerouting scheduled to leave no more than 1 hour before your original departure time, and scheduled to arrive at your final destination less than 2 hours after your original arrival time. Under EU legislation, British Airways is not liable for a compensation payment.

Now, I was under the belief that since out short-haul flight was delayed by as long as it was (to our destination airport) that we are due compensation for this.

Long story short - should I continue to pursue this, or are BA correct?

I appreciate your time!

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk, EdinburghFlyer, welcome to the BA board. There is quite a big Edinburgh contingent here (including me, some of the time). So welcome on board, and despite the circumstances that brought you here I hope you will continue to participate.

I recall that we had a discussion about the timing of onwards land transport in a previous thread, and there wasn't a consensus out of it. In other words it wasn't so clear cut that you definitely could say BA got it wrong. In this case even more so, since they gave you options (which is good in a way). My reading is that you wouldn't get far, but there will be others who will argue it is airport to airport as booked.

Personally, knowing how BA work, I would have leapt in a taxi at GLA, got to EDI in under an hour, sent the taxi bill to BA or my insurers and left it at that. Delightful though Glasgow is at 10pm in October, there's no way I'd hang around there for 2 hours.

EdinburghFlyer

Thanks for the quick reply!

I have been lurking these forums for a while, and I figured it was finally time to post... it was a right royal pain in the ring at the time, but to be honest I didn't even think of compo for at least a week afterwards when I remember some moneysavingexpert post about it.

Nothing ventured and all that...but I think this one might be a fool's errand

hksinglon

Thanks for the welcome and for the advice - I'll go back to them and let you know how I get on.

For re-routing etc - I called customer services at around 9 am in Singapore as it opened on the 20 Dec and was told they were unable to assist with any re-routing. They suggested that I go to to the airport at around 14.00 when they would have staff there (original flight time was 23.10) who "might" be able to assist. I explained this was impossible as I work full time and they told me that was the only way to get any assistance. I called Executive Club who said they were based in Hong Kong and unable to help as well. I'll continue on with the EU claim.

corporate-wage-slave

This is a BA quirk that's worth re-iterating. For most passengers (high values being the exception), BAEC customer service cannot on the telephone rebook on to alternative services, only BA, which out of SIN is somewhat restrictive. Partially this is due to training, partly due to system limitations, partly, undoubtedly, down to cost control. Exceptions are joint business deals such as North Atlantic (and of course with Qantas is days of yore) where services and the income get pooled. At the airport the staff do have more flexibility to rebook on alternative airlines when there's an irate customer glowering down at them. Since this is BA's chosen process, I personally think it is a relevant factor in terms of "all reasonable measures" - namely it isn't.

techie

Hmm, by "high values", are we talking status-wise, Fs or DYKWIAs types? As far as not being able to rebook is concerned, can they not do it even for flights on other OW carriers (say CX or MH out of SIN)? Finally, what are the odds of being able to get TP and Avios for both the original and re-routed travel so long as both are on OW?

Catmare

Yes, that's the web form. Just choose EU claim from the "Your issue" dropdown box.

corporate-wage-slave

Prems, plus Firsts and GGLs facing particularly poor outcomes. I have no doubt the airport staff would have a go at rebooking on to CX / MH, even Singapore, but outside specific exceptions then telephone staff cannot do it without clearance and intervention by other staff. SIN used to be in a joint venture with Qantas and so telephone staff used to be able to rebook on to them quite easily. Thanks to Emirates it doesn't happen now.

If re-routed you should get the credit of the new flight, however it's easy to slip off the FQ details in setting up the new booking, so it's quite important to check that the BAEC number is on the new boarding pass and enquire if necessary. Given that everyone is typically under pressure this is the sort of thing that gets overlooked. If you end up with less TPs, or more usually Avios, then you can ask to be credited with the deficit. It's ok to sit on any benefit as a result of connecting flights. If you did not sort out your BAEC number before boarding, then your claim for the extra may not be entertained. It is standard practice to accumulate a BAEC credit and (for example) Star Alliance miles if re-routed off oneworld.

techie

Thanks CWS. I think the part I quote above is pretty pathetic. Last thing I need when I am stuck wherever I happen to be in the world is to be denied an alternative route home due to some b$ bureaucracy Granted, I could go to the airport, but it may not be anywhere near close and a warm hotel/office with a phone+internet are hard to resist.

BigRedBears

Flew BA BCN-LHR. Pilot on inbound LHR-BCN got sick and had to be replaced. Result 154 mins delay for both take off from BCN and landing in LHR.

I submitted 261/2004 claim, but it was refused because the landing delay was less than 3 hours. I was under impression that for under 1500 kms flights, long delay and compensation starts at 2 hours.

Am I correct?

Rcfl1967

This is the response that I just received from BA. It would be helpful for me if you could share your email with me so that I could forward this to BA

Dear Mr Lee

Thank you for your email. Please accept my apologies for the delay in coming back to you.

I'm afraid that there has been no change to EU Regulation 261/2004 since my previous email to you and so our position remains the same. I am sorry to hear you have been made to believe otherwise.

Once again, thank you for your email and for giving me the chance to clear up any confusion.

Dave Noble

Assuming that you were not connecting onwards from Heathrow...

BCN-LHR is 713 miles / 1147 Km so you are correct that the compensation time is 2 hours

I would reply back stating the same

If you were just connecting in Heathrow, then distance to actual destination is what matters