Accidental Scientist

I put in the EU 261 claim on Wednesday last week and the expenses claim on Thursday last week. (And the status extension email seems to have come through in the first batch on Friday last week.)

I did have my call to the Gold Line - in the middle of the day - re-routed to the India call centre though....swings and roundabouts etc!

RedArrowX

I submitted my EC 261 claim on the 1st, apart from the automated email advising they got the claim I've not heard anything back yet.

Should I be chasing BA by now or is the delay to be expected based on what other people are seeing?

Thanks.

xenole

Is it only people who have spoken to BA on the phone who have had EU261 payments?

SK AAR

Guys, give it some time. You really can't expect BA to deal with all these claims within a few days/a week. For your information it takes other carriers several weeks to process a claim for comp. - so be patient!

RedArrowX

I get that and agree. It's just seeing other people posting about how they're getting their claims paid already after a few days (which is amazing) just made me a little worried that there is a problem with mine and if I should be calling them up or not.

Will give them more time.

SK AAR

There is absolutely no basis for such assumption - and just because some claims are processed swiftly (maybe because of status, domicile, flight No. etc; we really don't know) does not mean that all claims are handled this quickly. So far BA is dealing with the claims remarkably fast (and generously IMO).

RandomStan

As a reference point, dates for when the following occurred with my own claims:

1. Sat 27th May: Cancelled booking after flights were a no-go - requested refund.
2. Sun 28th May: Filed separate claims for taxi (didn't make it past home airport) and EC261 €600 compensation.
3a. Tue 30th May: Received two emails for my two claims (different reference numbers).
3b. Tue 30th May: Received refund of my flight booking (less £10.60 for original credit card fee).
4. Fri 02nd Jun: Received email from BA Customer Relations confirming approval of both claims.
5. Wed 07th Jun: Received refund for both taxi claim and EU261 claim (£523.46)

As a side-note, I've also applied for a further 2x EU261 claims on Fri 02nd June for the two other family members who were travelling with me (they were rebooked for flights the Sunday after the IT fail day). Have received claim reference number, but nothing further as yet...

(Should mention I'm a BAEC Silver member, but not sure if that had any affect on the speed of processing my claim - didn't call about it at all - just used standard online forms.)

ahmetdouas

Nice result. One thing though; shouldn't they also give you back the original credit card fee as well? That's not a 'full refund' in my book!

1nfrequent

Just following up from my earlier query in case the data points are any use to others:

- Sunday 28th May - my sister's MAN-LHR-BSL itinerary got caught up in the IT disruption with MAN-LHR cancelled. BA put her up in a hotel but no meal allowance was given.
- Monday 29th May.- she was put on MAN-LHR-BSL flights but with LHR-BSL flight not getting in until after 11pm as it was also delayed (but not enough to trigger another EU261 claim).
- Monday 29th May - she put in a claim for meal costs for Sunday 28th and a taxi from BSL to her home plus an EU261 claim for €250.
- Thursday 8th June - BA contacted her today to say the compensation and all costs claimed would be met in full.

On top of this she also got the 2 year BAEC silver extension (although she was less impressed with this as she already had enough flights booked or anticipated to get her to keep the status anyway).

Hope that's of some use to others here. Many thanks for the advice.

1F

dares

Hi there,

I am also affected by the British Airways / BA cancellations on Sat 27 May. I was relocated to another flight two days later and I followed their procedure to submit my claim for cancellation compensation through their website.

Surprise, surprise… I got today the attached screenshot as an answer where they refuse my claim…

…I'd like to inform you that your claim’s been refused because BAXXXX on 27 May was cancelled because of operational circumstances outside of our control. Under EU legislation, I’m afraid we’re not liable for a compensation payment in this situation. I'm sorry to disappoint you…

Full email: http://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0V4...RhX2RjV1k/view

I am really shocked with this and the rest of the attached email. Is this agent aware that British Airways have publicly described the issue as a "technical problem" and not a cyber attack, therefore the airline is responsible for compensation under EU regulation 261/2004? How come the rest of the thousands of passengers affected are getting their compensations?

Obviously this agent doesn´t seem to be of help, so I called BA support line for flight refunds but all the calls are terminated after a recorded message stating that their operators are busy, thus try later (same) or go to the website.

Please could you advise? Also, anyone else in the same situation?

Thanks

botham

I paid for 9 tickets for family members, whose LGW to MCO flights were were cancelled. They have various out of pocket expenses, such as taxis, meals and hotels. Who should make the two claims, the pax or me?

I wonder whether a claim for stress would work, not that I'll be attempting it. It was incredibly stressful sorting it all out, including an eight hour return drive to Miami to meet the re-arranged flight.

xenole

As well as being refunded for my cancelled and subsequent missed flights, I seem to, as of yesterday, been given the tier points and Avios for them as well.

Still nothing EU261 wise though since my emails on the 30th May.

Dave Noble

The passengers should claim - they are the ones that are entitled to the compensation - not the one that purchased the tickets

They can relieve the stress by spending their EUR600

dares

I managed to get a reply from BA via their Twitter account and the whole saga is getting more twisted:

Hi, sorry for our late response. We've refused your claim for EU compensation as we are not the operator. Your flight was operated by Iberia Express. You'll need to make a claim with them. ^Helen


This is plain ridiculous. Not only Iberia Express is another IAG company but also all Iberia Express flights from LHR depart from Terminal 5 and are operated by British Airways; hence the cancellation of the 27 May flight. Iberia Express doesn´t have any staff based in LHR and just provides the aircraft and the flight crew.

Most importantly, I bought my flight ticket at BA.com site for a flight with a BA code operated by British Airways. As my e-ticket receipt states, the travel contract is between myself and British Airways, not any other third party or airline.

I fly this route a lot and regardless the ticket is bought through any of BA (like this flight), Iberia Express or Iberia sites, the passenger online check-in has to be done via the BA site and it clearly states the flight is operated by BA.

This answer also contradicts the information provided in the BA claim refusal email and also what I was told by BA staff on the 27-May both at London Heathrow and on the BA phone line when I was reallocated to another flight for the 29-May.

I keep pushing for this, but any further advise would be welcome.

Thanks

dward85

After around a week I've gotten compensation for the following:
- Hotel
- Taxis
- Food
- EU Compensation
- Refund for original return ticket
- Refund for replacement ticket I booked home.

Along with the 2 years status renewal I'm quite happy with how BA have reacted to this, of course its not ideal and you'll always have people who wont be happy with this but considering the scope of what happened they've gotten on top of this (still think Cruz should quit).

I'm just happy that the people I've been talking to have been UK AGENTS!!! not someone in a call center.....its just a shame that I had to use twitter to get them to call me everytime (Just send them a DM saying somethings wrong and you need a call back).