EDI-LGW-GOA became GLA-LGW-GOA at last minute
 

Hi all,

Friend's recent flight booked to be Edinburgh - Gatwick - Genoa very last minute became Glasgow - Gatwick - Genoa. BA cancelled the Edinburgh flight at the last minute and sent her to Glasgow instead. I was not privvy to her conversation with BA as it was early in the AM, but I suspect they offered her this because anything later from Edinburgh and she would be delayed by 24 hours and thus compensation due under 261.

I would like to get her the money back for the bus ticket from Edinburgh airport to Glasgow airport. While probably only £20 it's rather the point of principle.

Am I going to come completely unstuck with BA in asking them to refund this magical mystery tour of the M8?

The right to compensation (Article 7) will depend on the cause of the cancellation and the relevant timings.

I would hope that BA will cover the cost of the coach trip. Though the Contact Centre have standard scripts which indicate they won't pay for this, under Article 8.3 it is payable (I would interpret regardless of cause, but there is a slither of an argument which could deny payment), and in the past they've been OK to cover this sort of expense anyway. The only exception perhaps would be if BA insisted on the EDI rebook and the passenger then went out of their way to go via GLA.

Thanks, CWS, for the prompt reply.

Thanks to her bus trip to Glasgow she was able to get onto the same plane she would have been on to Genoa from Gatwick, thankfully no delay in arrival.

I know it seems terribly petty, but we're both post grad academics and money is usually on the tight side, and so even this £20 or so for the bus makes a difference in the weekly food shop.

I very, very much doubt she brought up the subject of Glasgow as a departure. When she found out she was going there she had to ask me whether Glasgow was in England or Scotland (she's Italian and quite new to Edinburgh). I cannot imagine she thought of this scheme herself.

I will write a letter asking for the money to be refunded. Should I be making a legal argument using the language of EC/261 or a more prosaic argument?

Well, firstly get her on to BAEC if she isn't already. Then from that account ask specifically for a refund on the coach, and a brief note of the inconvenience of the trip's arrangements, including the fact that even £20 for students is a difficult unexpected expense to deal with. It may get a few Avios. I wouldn't pull EC261 unless they reject the claim, that I would say is the second. Mention you have the coach ticket receipt available for emailing in if necessary. I'm hoping the student rate on the coach is lower than £20, that's roughly what I paid when I last did it quite recently (which annoyed me since my Morpeth to Edinburgh train fare was only £8).

She may be eligible for EC261 if she left GLA an hour before the EDI time, or more arguably, if leaving her home more than an hour earlier than intended. However if the cause was weather or ATC maybe that wouldn't apply anyway.

If BA had "sent her" to GLA then surely they would provided a taxi to do so?

Good one :D

Apparently I'm missing something highly amusing at my own expense, or indeed that the phrasing of my post apparently invalidates everything that I posted. No, BA did not handcuff her and throw her into a taxi, though Lord knows gagging her wouldn't be a bad idea for some peace. They, for all intents and purposes, tell her that her flight is now in Glasgow and if you don't wish to have a fairly long walk and a quite long swim, you need to be in Glasgow.

Should this not still be 50% EU261 compensation due to involuntary denied boarding?

Think you might have the wrong end of the stick - my comment wasn't meant at your expense, I was just amused by nimsy's suggestion that BA would "surely" have pro-actively taken good care of its passenger in this scenario...

She was on the tram to the airport when they called/texted however they contacted her. Fairly hard to stretch that into IDB.

They called her??!!! Goodness, nearly dropped the laptop when I read that. Maybe she's a secret Prem.

Yes, if she had just set off, and therefore the trip time was broadly in line with the original plan then it's not looking good for EC261 compensation. But hopefully she won't be out of pocket.

I'm still trying to work out how a post-grad student - oops academic - didn't know that Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, but still.

I often think the West Coast on a different planet, so perfectly understandable ;)

According to the BA website all EDI-LGW flights operated yesterday and today.

It's why scientists shouldn't be allowed out in general society. While I'm sure she can answer you any number of questions on cancer, genetics and everything in between, ask her to point to Glasgow on a map and it will make you weep.

I didn't say it was yesterday, or the day before.