Flying12345

I've put in for EU261 compensation but haven't heard back from BA yet regarding my compensation or my refund, do I need to do anything else?

UKtravelbear

From your original query it looks like you only claimed on the 9th July so less than a week ago so give them a couple more weeks.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28537440-post1013.html

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Yozza77

I was looking for some advice. We were caught up in the IT fiasco on 27/5. Travelling from MAN - NCE our flight was cancelled due to an ill crew member. Obviously this coincided with the IT failure and therefore we could not be re-routed. I eventually flew 2 days later from Edinburgh. BA have paid EU 261 of 250 Eur per person and hotel/ food for the night. However, I missed the Monaco F1 GP on the Sunday. I have requested a refund for the F1 tickets from Amex platinum insurance (AXA) but they have refused on the grounds I can only claim on the delay/ inconvenience insurance as although BA cancelled my flight, I rebooked 2 days later. The T&Cs form AXA also don't cover cancellation / consequential loss if BA cancelled the flight. Do I have a chance of claiming this cost from BA. Has anyone had any similar experience ? Thanks

corporate-wage-slave

It's long been the case that BA won't pay for consequential losses, though as has been pointed out there may be a line or two in the Montréal Convention which could help (I've never heard of anyone being successful, it has to be said). So the usual answer I give is "that's one for your insurance company". Where this interruption of service has been a big eye opener for me is that it turns out that quite a number of insurance companies also regard consequential losses are out of scope too, that was quite a big surprise for me. The case that came to mind is the Post Office's travel insurance - generally well respected in the market - not covering lost accommodation expenses from the IT meltdown. Some insurance companies did pay up, even if they appeared to have a let-out clause in their T&Cs.

My personal view is that you probably arranged this insurance feeling it would cover you for this sort of incident, and therefore you should look at the myriad ways for holding them to account for this. You could start by asking AXA for a deadlock letter - this implies they will get a bill for £550 from their regulators (or rather the FOS) and it may be cheaper for them to pay you instead.

Yozza77

Thank you CWS for the quick response. I did escalate the issue with AXA and yesterday received a letter with the FOS / ombudsman information. I may peruse this as I expected AmEx platinum charge card insurance to cover this type of incident.

runway27L

A couple of weeks ago a return leg back to LCY was cancelled due to the aircraft going tech at the airport I was flying from. BA could only rebook me on flights that would arrive at the earliest the following afternoon - as I absolutely had to be in London the following morning I booked myself onto a flight on a different carrier from a different (nearby-ish) airport to LGW instead. I know that I can claim EUR 250 for the cancellation, but can I claim the expense of this new flight that I purchased to get myself home? And, if not, can I ask for a refund of avios and money that I used to book the intial BA return leg? Many thanks.

corporate-wage-slave

Was this done via a Contact Centre or at the airport? If the latter, it is disappointing BA didn't offer the LGW service. If the former, I'm afraid that's the way it works. Yes, you get the 250€, you also get a refund on whatever was the original booking, whether it's cash and/or Avios. However you should cancel explicitly rather than no-show. If it was an automated rebooking I think that's still OK, but still best practice is to call up and cancel, and put in for a refund at the same time. You can't normally claim for a self rebooked ticket unless (e.g. during the IT meltdown) BA are unable to offer you an alternative service.

The Regulation itself has an ambiguity in it about rebooking on to another carrier, and at some point there may be a senior court ruling on the subject, but for now at least airlines are able to make people stick with their own services.

HarryKUK

Has no one tested this "other airlines" issue yet in terms of replacement flight?

The summary of my issue, and source of my anger, is this:

BA offered me up to £200 for a hotel and a flight the next day.

I couldn't do that so suggested after a quick online search that I could book myself onto Ryanair for the same price as the refund of the original ticket and asked for £60 to cover the taxi home from STN.

BA refused.

They were happy to give me £200 towards a hotel (plus meals etc on top) and make me be delayed by over 12 hours but not pay me £60 to get a taxi home on the correct day of travel just a few hours late (under four hours) as an alternative. I was left with the choice of being off work on Monday morning or coming home on my original date with Ryanair. I chose the latter but don't understand why they're being so difficult about £60.

I dont even need the money, I'm just not backing down over it as they're being ridiculous, in my opinion. I saved them money and also got myself home sooner than they offered. And they had an extra empty seat on their Monday flight in CE to sell as they wish.

😭😭

gengar

I experienced much the same during the IT fiasco weekend; I rebooked on another carrier but arriving in LGW rather than LHR. While other FT'ers who endured overnights waiting for their rebooked BA flights reported being compensated for their hotel stays, BA refused me any compensation for transportation costs from LGW. I even asked if they would be willing to compensate the unused half my return HEX ticket (a paltry £23.50), and BA still refused.

I empathize with your anger and have begun feeling much the same way. For getting home from London, BA is far more convenient for me than alternatives and that's why I've been willing to regularly spend $$$$ for TATL BA r/t's in F for the past couple years. But as you said - on principle - because of the way BA has treated me, it's tough to justify continuing to give them my money even if it means more inconvenient routings/timings on other airlines.

HarryKUK

I would understand it if my own arrangements meant BA was more out of pocket, then of course I would accept defeat.

By booking my own flight home, I turned a 12+ hour delay into 3 hours and reduced the duty of care £ expenditure for BA down from over £200 to less than this. They won't even go halfway and just give me my taxi ride only.

I'm sending it through as a MCOL; the regulation is vague enough for me to believe a judge would understand my point. I can't imagine how any sane human being would be able to read the facts and tell me what I did was wrong and how BAs resolution was somehow better.

corporate-wage-slave

Good luck with that, though you have a complication here. Your beef isn't so much with the refusal to book on Ryanair - since the fares are the same - but the fact that it flies to STN, and presumably at a time when you can't use public transport if there is a £60 taxi fare involved.

Now if BA had rebooked you, at their behest, and it had gone to the wrong airport then EC261 does already cover this (Article 8.3), so gengar should give that another go through the appropriate steps shown upthread. He was in a different position to you, since BA could not rebook alternative carrier even if it wanted to do so, hence s/he was entitled to rebook and charge BA for it.

So your argument is in four stages: BA's alternative service is not "at the earliest opportunity", that BA should have rebooked me on Ryanair (and as you say the Regulation is unclear on this), that Article 8.3 should thereby apply and that a taxi is appropriate in this set of circumstances. Note that the coach fare STN-LHR is about £20. I can see this is a point of principle for you, but there is a materiality point that also needs to be assessed too. I wonder if CEDR is a better option, however BA are unlikely to contest a properly constructed and arguable MCOL involving £60.

ratechaser

So for anyone interested here, I have now not only received the statutory EC261 compensation, but BA Holidays also paid out a relatively generous amount (mostly cash plus a holiday voucher) to cover the impact of the package I had booked with them.

All in all, I ended up getting back about 75% of the total outlay for my holiday, which I consider a good result!

More to the point though, it does at least anecdotally suggest that EC261 and the Package Travel Regulations are both valid avenues for redress in the case of package holidays...

HarryKUK

For the MCOL, I'm doing it properly with the meals etc included too. I was happy to settle at £60 and pay for my own food / drink / phone calls etc but why should I? Anything the regulation says I should get under the duty of care thing, that I have receipts for, is getting added into the claim.

As a total aside to all of this, and EU261 and the law and the CoC and so on, I cannot believe a company is willing to canx a business class ticket two days before travel and let the customer go with a refund of money that is essentially theirs anyway. Not a single Avios, not one penny in BA vouchers, not a single chocolate or flower, not a drop of wine, not even an apology. Nothing. Nada.

I may start to run my own business like that - charge people for my service and then whenever I fancy a day off just cancel on them two days before. All businesses should work like that.

There is what a company is legally obliged to do and what a company can choose to do. The two are very separate things. I'm just upset I still have about ten upcoming sectors on BA so can't even "never fly with them again". The whole thing is so upsetting. Should've just booked FR.

corporate-wage-slave

Well, as mentioned upthread, if EC261 Article 7 applies then you will get that. If it doesn't, on the basis that it is a strike, then you can ask for customer service remediation and maybe get some Avios (and definitely an apology). Neither comes automatically, but that's the way many large companies work. If BT didn't fix a fault on your line for a long period, it won't pay the compensation unless you notify them of the fact. I'm not sure it's radically different on any other airline, to be honest, other than that some are very difficult on the EC261 issue.

patgarrett

My DUS-LHR flight on Saturday July 8 was delayed by over three hours and BA is denying my EC261 claim on the basis that it was during the strike and therefore an extraordinary circumstance. I'm aware that this is a MF route and they had to call in staff to operate the service, but they had plenty of notice and they proactively rearranged their services in advance. Do I have any recourse here?