baggageinhall

I wonder if I could canvas the views of the forum. I travelled back from JFK-LHR last week with my wife and son. It was an Avios redemption flight in First.

On arrival at JFK we were told that my seat wouldn't work electronically using the in seat controls but could be manipulated by the crew using the alternate manual controls. They endeavoured to try and move someone to another flight so that I could sit in a working seat but 40 mins prior to boarding we were told that nobody was willing to move and the flight was full.

We went to the gate and on arrival at the aircraft door the CSD told us that my seat was totally inoperable. It was stuck and couldn't be moved electronically or manually. Further the Captain was unhappy with the position it was in so it was now out of use.

I had no option but to take the only service with another seat which was the last flight of the day now delayed to 11.15pm. Cue an upset child and a bit of kerfuffle as I dug out passports, car keys, parking ticket etc to hand to my wife so that she could get home.

As luck would have it, a seat in F was found on the penultimate BA flight to LHR so I eventually arrived 45 mins after my family.

I sent an email to Customer Services via YouFirst and have been offered 10k miles compensation. I'm aware this is the sort of amount offered for an IFE failure as a comparison. I'm a lowly Blue member but I had expected a bit more.

I didn't bother mentioning that on the outbound flight we were without IFE for about the first 2 hours. Nor that at 7pm, the CCR at JFK had run out of vegetarian food so my wife's pre flight meal consisted of a bowl of soup and some bread. They would detract from the bigger issue above.

Yes, I got home just 45 minutes late and flew in a working seat but 10k seems low.

1) Is 10k low, any thoughts on whether they are likely to offer more if I push further?

2) Should I have mentioned the IFE and vegetarian food issues?

My BA experiences to date have always been positive and this was the first trip with issues.

Views please.

hanmer

Hi

Im sure there is a thread somewhere which collates the awarded compensation for different issues with BA. Edit: Found it here

In 2012 on a LHR-BKK flight my seat in F was stuck in the upright/take-off position. This was not discovered until after we took off. 15 minutes of three cabin crew trying to manually adjust the chair failed. Full F cabin, so couldn't get another seat. I was awarded 75,000 Avios, and was a lowly blue member.

Brian

Flexible preferences

Given the amount of hassle and uncertainty I think it is low for the seat issue alone. Regarding your other issues I think BA need to know about them. Good luck.

corporate-wage-slave

Seems a bit low to me, basically you were late 45 minutes (no big deal) but you missed out on sharing a First treat with your wife, albeit you perhaps would be sleeping a lot of it. You may get a further 10k or so if you call up and discuss it with customer relations, I'd stress the missed experience aspect and underline that it was good an alternative flight was so quickly found. Whether it's worth the hassle to make that call is something only you can decide. There has been some clamping down on Avios hand-outs compared with 2 years ago.

I don't think the other issues really count for much, there should also have been Vegetarian desserts available, snacks, cheese (possibly with rennet though) and fruit. One of the perils of a restricted diet, I would argue, but I'm surprised the pasta option wasn't available and there would have been more available in the Club lounge. IFE being out for a couple of hours isn't brilliant but you should have gotten 5 hours plus out of it.

Tobias-UK

The difference is, of course, that the OP's seat on the service he travelled on was actually fully functional.

OP, you might want to use the word 'involuntarily denied boarding' and see if their attitude changes.

nux

Wouldn't this be a case of involuntary denied boarding?

henkybaby

But rerouted in class booked and arriving within 45 min of original flight.

nux

For involuntary denied boarding I think cash compensation is payable regardless, in addition to re-routing and duty of care.

710 77345

Are you saying BA doesn't compensate for IDBs that don't meet the requirements for EU261?

henkybaby

Ah, ok. ^ Was the passenger offered a 'downgrade' into J and refused to fly F on the other flight ?

That would make it voluntary...

corporate-wage-slave

Well IDB is an absolute, either it happened or not, and so the rerouting minimum timings don't come into it but the 50% reduction would apply (though there is a debate about that aspect, some argue the reduction would not apply). So it looks like 300€ to me from that aspect, the alternative perhaps offered being a downgrade, giving a presumably heavier compensation amount. 300€ looks to me to 20k ish in Avios terms.

710 77345

This is all getting rather silly... Please can posters read the messages before replying, or thinking about what they're going to say? I don't mind reading the 1,000 messages you've written in the last 2 months, but it is a waste of everyone's time if we all just reply for the sake of bumping post counts.

The OP says he had no choice; EU261 does have a get-out clause for IDBs where compensation doesn't have to be offered, but I think putting this claim through as an EU claim will help your cause immensely.

If anyone hasn't read EU261, it's well worth doing - super easy to read & accessible to all - http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conte...lex:32004R0261 - pick the EN PDF version if you want it in English.

nux

A downgrade to J would be 75% refund of the fare paid.

BA can't offer the passenger the option of either being downgraded or IDB'd so that it is a voluntary choice such that EU261 doesn't apply.

710 77345

Indeed, but EU compensation is not always applicable when an IDB occurs. Hats off to BA for actually abiding by the regulation and asking for volunteers, such a shame they go and spoil it by not informing the OP of his actual rights.

NickB

I do not think that an airline can avoid its obligations by placing the passenger between Scylla and Charybdis. No doubt clever dick lawyers of the "gotcha" class would tell you that this is indeed a "voluntary" rerouting. I think that the chances of the CJEU sharing that view are about as much as those of the pope converting to islam in the next 48 hours.