And if this doesn't reference the new (free) arbitration service then consider that too. Doesn't rule out subsequent MCOL route which can be very long drawn out if it goes all the way to a hearing

And 6 months on, with hearing next week, I get an email from Iberia's lawyers. Is it a settlement offer? Is it an admission? Nope, neither. Their sole witness isn't going to show up in person, so hearsay evidence via the sworn witness statement it is...

I think FT needs a face palm emoji.

Time to set up a google docs page so I can post all the material for others to use if needed

Will there still be legal representation from IB? If so, this isn't unusual. It would be unusual if you turn up and they didn't however.

I presume their lawyers will show up. But given they didn't produce any evidence to support assertion of "reasonable actions" I'm surprised they're bothering without the witness - no details of when pax failed to show, when they commenced offloading bag (with hindsight rather pleased I snapped some pics of them starting to remove containers from comfort of 2F), what their SLAs are with ground handlers etc. Although their witness only had "familiarity with Iberia's systems" so was unlikely to be able to answer those questions in person either.

At this stage they just seem to be ploughing on for the sake of it.

Shareable link with all the source files including links when retrieved here in case anybody interested - I've also included a summary of Iberia's case with rebuttal points and my own skeleton argument. CWS, might be worth adding to resources list at the end of post 1

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0...TlyWGhwSTkxdzA

I've just tried ringing Customer Services to chase this up (as it's been more than a month). There's a pre-recorded message saying BA are dealing with higher volumes than usual due to 'recent events', and saying that if you have a case reference number then you can contact them via the web. It then goes on the say something along the lines of "it is taking longer than usual, and we ask that you do not chase up existing claims unless it is urgent". Then it hangs up on you, so you can't even hold on the line…

Not sure how long one is supposed to wait before it is classed as urgent and it is acceptable to chase via the web form…

If you have a log / incident number then I guess it's your choice: either wait for the usual processing to complete - less work for you I guess, or if you don't want to do that start the escalation process mentioned at the top of the thread, which eventually ends with MCOL.

Can I claim 261 on 2 cancellations consecutively within 24hours?
Cancelled on BA756, rebooked on BA745 the next day, that just got cancelled also, I assume these are 2 separate cases even though on the same booking/rebooking?

Well if you were rebooked, in theory you could try, if you were on one confirmation reservation and then give another; but I suspect BA won't be overly enthusiastic about paying up for both. And naturally it depends on the reason for the cancellation(s).

Thanks, yes was a rebooking, I got caught in the cancellations yesterday and today at LHR, will be interesting to see if I get out tonight.

In which case I think you can forget about EC261 compensation, BA was ordered to cut flights by ATC due to weather issues.

Damn thanks for the update, will try my luck but thanks for the heads up.

Cancelled flight after OLCI
 

We had checked in and printed boarding passes 31st June, for our flight Club Europe to Barcelona 17.10pm 1st July. At 7.30pm dh received text message that flight was cancelled. (no reason given). I spent 90 minutes trying to get through to the cancelled flight phone number, and was unable to search for alternative flight on my BAEC manage my booking. After 50 minutes received email confirmed rebooking on BA flight 2nd July in economy, which would not have been suitable as we had paid for accommodation for 1st July, and could have missed our cruise departure. There were several flights to BCN 1st July, but our flight 17.10pm was the only one cancelled (rumour has it that flight was under booked and BA cancelled it with less than a days notice). After waiting for 90 minutes using 2 phones I eventually got through and asked for BA to rebook us onto another flight 1st July as travelling on 2nd July unacceptable so they cancelled the rebooking tickets and rebooked us on an 11.10am flight to BCN 1st July. My DH was working a night shift and was due home 6.45am, and because of BA's cancellation had to finish early then drive to LHR after working all night. As we were rebooked to flight 1 day later, then rebooked onto flight departing 6 hours earlier, are we entitled to compensation? As expected BA have not advised of reasons or offered anything in compensation. Sorry for the long winded report - I am already regretting booked 2 x rtn flights in J with BA to Bangkok in January:mad:

If it wasn't cancelled due to weather / ATC, then yes, it would qualify for compensation. File with the BA online form - if they reject it for some reason other than one of those two then it could be worth slugging it out with them

I was due to fly on BA756 yesterday evening too. The cancellation was weather related so no EC261 comp. I was rebooked on BA752 this morning which flew roughly on time. I assume you mean you were re-booked on to BA754 (not 745, which would have been tricky). I notice the two evening flights were delayed but eventually took off. Although the weather in Basel has been wet it hasn't been stormy (unlike last night) so do check the reason your second flight was cancelled.

A few points.

ATC at LHR do not have any influence/authority over gates/jet bridges etc, we simply relay to the crew the stand that Heathrow Airport have allocated to that flight (and for T5 Heathrow Airport get that from BA).

In terms of capacity restrictions, ATC in the UK has no ability or authority to force an airline to cancel flights. ATC can impose flow restrictions, which can increase delay. For forecast bad weather, at LHR there is a process led by Heathrow Airport detailed here:

http://www.acl-uk.org/UserFiles/File...%20version.pdf

ATC's input is to detail the delay impact of the difference between the predicted landing rate and the demand.