whadzinaname

I was scheduled to fly HYD-LHR(in Club) on BA276 this morning(supposed to leave at this hour, 6:55 AM) and then LHR- EWR(in WTP)on BA 189 today as well.

I got to the airport at 4:30 AM today and was told that BA276 was delayed by almost 20 hours due to pilot sickness. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed off- what is the whole point of online check ins and stuff if they cannot notify me earlier!!

Anyhow, BA rebooked me from LHR-EWR on United Airlines UA 923 for feb 17th on J class. I will just take the delayed 276 from HYD-LHR later tonight.

I have few questions and was wondering if someone might provide any insights:

1. This delay caused me to pay for a cab ride back and forth to HYD multiple times and made me lose a ride from EWR to my home. They offered a hotel HYD, which I declined as I would just rather come back to my family. Will they provide me with any compensation here? I didn't want to create a stink at the airport as they had more than 200 passengers to sort out and I wanted to prevent delays for others.

2. I never flew UA. Any feedback on the UA 923 J class? How does that compare to BA club?

3. Since UA is not a BA partner, will I just lose my AVIOS and tier points??

4. Lastly UA flies from T3 in LHR. Is 2 hours sufficient for t5-t3 transfer?

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

golfmad

1. Send in your receipts and you should be reimbursed for the trip(s) necessary directly due to the delay.

2. I can't answer that in any detail but should point out that J on UA will be better than WTP on BA.

3. If you contact BA they will award you your Avios and Tier Points

4. Yes, plenty of time.

Good luck with the trip and enjoy the BA-UA WTP-J upgrade

Jenzo

Sorry to hear about it, should be able to claim EU whatever the number is and claim 600 eu comp.

You will get tp and Avios if you request them, you will also be able to collect the miles on united i think if you have a star alliance account.

The transfer time should be sufficient enough.

Often1

OP was offered EC 261/2004 duty of care in the form of a hotel. He declined for what are likely very good reasons. Doubtful that delay/cancellation compensation will apply as the underlying reason of flight crew illness is both extraordinary and outside BA's abilities to control.

whadzinaname

Thanks guys. I did ask to be rerouted via Mumbai-there is a BA flight that leaves BOM at 1:45 PM today, that would have put me in EWR with just a 3-4 hour delay. The BA person said there is no availability in that flight. I checked online and there seems to be availability in all classes of travel on that flight for today. I am on hold for the BA Exec line right now, but a bit annoyed that I was not booked on that flight.

AAExpDFW

ExpertFlyer shows 0 in Club and WTP from BOM. Don't know where you are seeing "availability" - it isn't there unless you take coach.

whadzinaname

I did a search on BA.com. Earlier it showed 4 available in WTP and Club each. Now it shows 1 each in WTP and Club.

MartinRattler

Care and compensation are not interlinked.

Crew sickness is not an extraordinary event, it happens everyday and it is within the airlines control, I have been paid EC261 compensation for a captain's illness at an outstation.

Raldal

UA Flights now depart from the new T2 NOT T3

Speedbird876

Maybe it was a typo in your post but UA use T2 at LHR.

whadzinaname

You are correct. I checked online and it's T2. Still an easy transfer?

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, more or less the same process, marginally quicker. When you get to T5, follow the signs for Flight Connections All Terminals and then in the central area bear right down the escalators to the bus. Gate to gate in 30 minutes is entirely possible. The one thing you must do, when you get to the T2 lounge or gate, is double check your bags get taken through, BA to UA baggage transfer won't happen that often.

If - as is very possible - you arrive in T5B then DON'T go to T5A to get the bus, there is a bus transfer point in T5B to T2, which saves a lot of hassle, you may even enjoy the transfer! You just go down one level to the apron level, and then around the back is the bus stance. It is clearly signed, but there's an element of "follow the sheep" there. If you have time on your hands, in the Dashboard there is a pictorial guide to this.

Using T2 is probably the best outcome if T5 wasn't possible (JFK presumably being ruled out). The T2 lounge gets a lot of praise. The terminal has a bit more walking than T5, is a bit spread out.

You should be OK with claiming the taxi fares (as well as Avios/TPs) but perhaps gently point out that though you were grateful for the hotel offer, your family was a better option and therefore you declined that kind offer. Or some such!

Magic01273

Staff sickness occurs every single day in pretty much all business around the world - and it is neither unexpected nor extraordinary in an operation such as BA's.

And BA absolutely do have the ability to control the situation through the use of back up and on-call crews. We know this to be the case as in many locations these back up systems are in place to manage. Were it extraordinary or truly outside of BA's control, then those systems would not exist.

Whilst it is understandable that BA have more limited contingency options at some outstations, this still boils down to purely commercial decision BA has made at some point to invest at a level that may not always ensure back up crews are in place to manage spikes in sickness at some locations.

These occurences are nothing more than a day-to-day operational issue inherent to BA's business - indeed all businesses.

NickB

Indeed. It is BA's responsibility to have appropriate resources, including human resources, in place to operate its flights. I cannot see how this can be seen as anything over than within BA's responsibility and therefore not constitutive of an extraordinary circumstance from the perspective of Reg 261/2004.

Swampz64

Where does the ridiculous E261 end, airlines having 3 crews for every flight? In what other business can the customer claim sometimes double what they've paid for the product due to a delay?