Dec 11, 2017, 3:39 am
Last edit by: corporate-wage-slave
BA current newsflash here / London Cancellation list for Tuesday here
Rebooking policy for operating flights on Monday and Tuesday here / EC261 main thread here
ba.com/helpme one stop shop on BA.com giving lots of advice and pointers to where to claim expenses.
For EC261, delay/cancellation compensation is not payable for this event but BA is still liable for the Regulation's “Right to care” provisions. Refreshments can be claimed after 2 hours of delay departing (3 hours for flights longer than LHR-Rome, 4 hours for longhaul), £200 guideline for hotels - OK to book your own and charge back. £50 guideline for taxis. Meals, drinks and communication costs are also covered. Keep / photo receipts. If on a Buy on Board aircraft, use Avios to buy items - it will be faster to refund. For missing baggage, it's OK to claim essential items, such as clothing, toiletries. Keep / photo the receipts.
Rebooking policy for operating flights on Monday and Tuesday here / EC261 main thread here
ba.com/helpme one stop shop on BA.com giving lots of advice and pointers to where to claim expenses.
For EC261, delay/cancellation compensation is not payable for this event but BA is still liable for the Regulation's “Right to care” provisions. Refreshments can be claimed after 2 hours of delay departing (3 hours for flights longer than LHR-Rome, 4 hours for longhaul), £200 guideline for hotels - OK to book your own and charge back. £50 guideline for taxis. Meals, drinks and communication costs are also covered. Keep / photo receipts. If on a Buy on Board aircraft, use Avios to buy items - it will be faster to refund. For missing baggage, it's OK to claim essential items, such as clothing, toiletries. Keep / photo the receipts.
Bad weather disruption - UK/AMS/NW Europe - 10 & 11 December 2017
Dec 10, 2017, 1:31 pm
#226
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: London
Programs: BA GGLfL
Posts: 1,342
Er, no. First Check In is an absolute zoo this evening!
Dec 10, 2017, 1:33 pm
#227
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Manhattan Beach, California
Programs: BMI Diamond Club Gold forever
Posts: 6,367
(2) my home is seattle, at this point if BA would send me there I would gladly go.
No joke, this is “Terminal:CCR Edition”
i cannot get out of here.
Dec 10, 2017, 1:34 pm
#228
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: London
Programs: BA GGLfL
Posts: 1,342
People can't get out of T5! The queue to leave is insane. A lot of people are waiting it out in the CCR. T5 is a total shambles this evening. Information is poor and BA are understaffed.
Dec 10, 2017, 1:35 pm
#229
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 2
Am flying to Basel tomorrow morning from Heathrow, they've already cancelled two of the four flights tomorrow but the 7.40am is still showing on time at the moment so fingers crossed. First time flying at a time when everything has gone to pot so I'm looking forward to it 
Dec 10, 2017, 1:35 pm
#230
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,236
Dec 10, 2017, 1:35 pm
#231
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Falkirk, Scotland,VS Red, BA Gold, HH Diamond,UK Amex Plat
Programs: Master of the Privy Purse des Muccis
Posts: 17,914
Dec 10, 2017, 1:35 pm
#232
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,967
See TonyHancock's post, it seems the bottle neck is A19/20 which has been opened to allow passengers to go down to passport control. How about you just head to the transit and stay on at T5C. Sounds like passport control itself is not too bad.
Dec 10, 2017, 1:37 pm
#233
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,967
It seems the queue for A19/20 is bad, but what if you miss that and just go on the transit to T5C and back? Would that be quicker?
Dec 10, 2017, 1:38 pm
#234
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LHR/ATH
Programs: Amex Platinum, LH SEN (Gold), BA Bronze
Posts: 4,489
BA continues to provide absolutely no service, no service recover and simply abdicates its responsibilities to passengers.
This weather event was forecast back as far back as Wednesday / Thursday with the BBC weather man sating specifically that although it forecast to remain to the north of High Wycombe it would not take much to shift it. 22 miles is surely sufficiently close Heathrow for the countries main airport to justify preparing for it!
I appreciate that many on here will defend BA to the death but in the real world there are passengers stuck on aircraft for 5 hours without so much as a coffee. BAs Twitter feed is full of complaints and the best they can post is "sorry for the inconvenience". As the passenger stuck on an aircraft for 5 hours states....with not even a cup of coffee in that time... its more than a inconvenience.
Others point to BA again refusing to pay for hotels or offer what is their legal obligation to provide.
Between BA and Heathrow airport, it continues to be a national embarrassment that an inch of snow can cause so much disruption at Heathrow.
The best tweet so far is a request from a passengers asking BA if the ca provide some
"pile cream" as he has been sat on his arse for hours. He says a free coffee would have helped but even that he has to pay for.....Shocking and unforgivable once again from BA where to fly would useful, but to serve unheard of.
This weather event was forecast back as far back as Wednesday / Thursday with the BBC weather man sating specifically that although it forecast to remain to the north of High Wycombe it would not take much to shift it. 22 miles is surely sufficiently close Heathrow for the countries main airport to justify preparing for it!
I appreciate that many on here will defend BA to the death but in the real world there are passengers stuck on aircraft for 5 hours without so much as a coffee. BAs Twitter feed is full of complaints and the best they can post is "sorry for the inconvenience". As the passenger stuck on an aircraft for 5 hours states....with not even a cup of coffee in that time... its more than a inconvenience.
Others point to BA again refusing to pay for hotels or offer what is their legal obligation to provide.
Between BA and Heathrow airport, it continues to be a national embarrassment that an inch of snow can cause so much disruption at Heathrow.
The best tweet so far is a request from a passengers asking BA if the ca provide some
"pile cream" as he has been sat on his arse for hours. He says a free coffee would have helped but even that he has to pay for.....Shocking and unforgivable once again from BA where to fly would useful, but to serve unheard of.
While I don't hold BA accountable for the cause of the disruption, once again I wholeheartedly agree with all the comments about the pathetic state of BA's IT systems (Apps and Website) and its inability to provide tools customers can actually use to efficiently self-serve.
My flight this afternoon was cancelled, I get a message telling me I have been automatically re-booked onto a flight tomorrow morning. I go online and it gives me the option to "Accept" or see other flight options. I click to see other flight options and I get an error. I try again and this time click "Accept", same error ... I need to call BA. So I call BA, but they say I need to call my travel agent. I call my travel agent and they say the new flight is all confirmed and I should be able to check-in. Back to BA.com and still get the same message. After 4 calls to BA, I found I could actually check-in online without clicking "Accept".
So rather than making my life more efficient, or taking the burden off the call centres, BA's systems have actually had the opposite effect and increased the volume of calls to the call centres and wasted a lot of my time. Why can't BA invest in decent, tested systems that are capable of handling such events? They happen multiple times each year, so there must be a valid business case for getting this right.
My flight this afternoon was cancelled, I get a message telling me I have been automatically re-booked onto a flight tomorrow morning. I go online and it gives me the option to "Accept" or see other flight options. I click to see other flight options and I get an error. I try again and this time click "Accept", same error ... I need to call BA. So I call BA, but they say I need to call my travel agent. I call my travel agent and they say the new flight is all confirmed and I should be able to check-in. Back to BA.com and still get the same message. After 4 calls to BA, I found I could actually check-in online without clicking "Accept".
So rather than making my life more efficient, or taking the burden off the call centres, BA's systems have actually had the opposite effect and increased the volume of calls to the call centres and wasted a lot of my time. Why can't BA invest in decent, tested systems that are capable of handling such events? They happen multiple times each year, so there must be a valid business case for getting this right.
I live very close to LHR and can assure you there has been very little snow, a dusting I would call it. Many parts of the UK are facing significant issues but it was all very well forecast. There is absolutely no comparison to the snowpocalype, as you put it, of 2010. (great phrase by the way)
Amen. It's been a tits-up of epical proportions, for just a little slush. And it's stopped snowing hours ago. HAL and BA are to fault; HAL for having seemingly failed to use the hundreds of pieces of kit they've got stored at both runways ends, T5C and other places; BA for having done exactly the same with the de-icing rigs. Meanwhile, not far south, BA LGW had 2 cancellations, both AMS flights. Two.
The 2011/12 and '13 disruption were caused by lack of equipment. This one cannot possibly be so, and it's not good enough to blame the weatherman. It just isn't.
The 2011/12 and '13 disruption were caused by lack of equipment. This one cannot possibly be so, and it's not good enough to blame the weatherman. It just isn't.
The Piccadilly Line has promptly fallen to pieces but, again, it was less than an inch of slush. I've been in Bosnia, Hungary, Central Asia in winter, during serious snowstorms, and yet the airports worked. LHR just dies at the sight of a snowflake, or even at the threat of one (anyone remember last year's "thundersnow"?).
The staff did not seem to be getting much information or support but were trying desperately to help. The GGL team got me sorted but they were in the dark for a while.
It was hard work getting out, mainly because pax were blocking gate 19 and 20 asking questions rather than just heading out. Passport control was not too bad if you had access to the automatic gates........but yes thank god for the CCR.
It was hard work getting out, mainly because pax were blocking gate 19 and 20 asking questions rather than just heading out. Passport control was not too bad if you had access to the automatic gates........but yes thank god for the CCR.
Quite simply, I am begging for 2 new runways at LHR and a lot more space. It would have made today's weather an almost non-event.
Anyway this does not help people stuck right now, so I hope everyone keeps calm and carrys on!
Dec 10, 2017, 1:42 pm
#235
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club, Marriott Bonvoy
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Englandshire
Programs: SPG LT Plat, BA G, BD*LG, MG Blue+ ...
Posts: 16,032
Folks, given the extent of the disruption and the number of FT members affected, can we please ask for this thread NOT be diverted by tangential and off-topic interjections.
the Mod team
the Mod team
Dec 10, 2017, 1:43 pm
#236
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,809
Am flying to Basel tomorrow morning from Heathrow, they've already cancelled two of the four flights tomorrow but the 7.40am is still showing on time at the moment so fingers crossed. First time flying at a time when everything has gone to pot so I'm looking forward to it
Welcome to Flyertalk tiesto, and welcome to the BA forum. I hope you're not the real Tiësto, since 07:40 would be rather early for him! He was definitely a GCH at one point, and probably GGL or above. I would assume tomorrow's flight is going to be tricky so indeed a wry detachment from the probable hassles may make it a slightly easier experience. Welcome on board, and good luck tomorrow.....
Dec 10, 2017, 1:45 pm
#238
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 2,660
Meanwhile... checking in from BOH. Still onboard three hours after landing. They seem to have "negotiated" arrangements to offload passengers into the terminal (not sure how they're addressing customs/immigration in that case). They are doing this with the ONE airport coach that operates airside. They've gotten one of the four planes unloaded. We don't know if we're next.
Their further plan is to coach us from here to... HEATHROW. No idea how long it will take them to sort it, whether our bags will come as well (they do have some baggage handlers trying to take care of that) or just how long it will take once they fold us into coaches. Somewhat impossible to imagine we'll arrive before the wee hours of the morning, given how much they're trying to do here with how little.
Yet that's not my biggest concern - knowing what Heathrow is like right now, what are we supposed to do once we get there in the middle of the night/early morning? Unless we could be assured of smooth operation tomorrow, that almost seems the worst place they could take a large number of us.
They did announce that we were free to make our own arrangements if we didn't want to be coached to LHR, and there are some places I would stay either here or in London or in between as I try to assess the situation tomorrow, but unless anyone knows where to strike up a regiment of taxis or private drivers at BOH around 22:00 on a Sunday, I don't know what I can do from here either.
I know many of these issues are obviously unforeseen, and don't at all want to come across as whingeing (I'm really trying not to), but it's hard for me to fathom how what was reported to be some pretty minor snow this morning has made so much go so extraordinarily pear-shaped for so very, very many.
Over and out for now...
Their further plan is to coach us from here to... HEATHROW. No idea how long it will take them to sort it, whether our bags will come as well (they do have some baggage handlers trying to take care of that) or just how long it will take once they fold us into coaches. Somewhat impossible to imagine we'll arrive before the wee hours of the morning, given how much they're trying to do here with how little.
Yet that's not my biggest concern - knowing what Heathrow is like right now, what are we supposed to do once we get there in the middle of the night/early morning? Unless we could be assured of smooth operation tomorrow, that almost seems the worst place they could take a large number of us.
They did announce that we were free to make our own arrangements if we didn't want to be coached to LHR, and there are some places I would stay either here or in London or in between as I try to assess the situation tomorrow, but unless anyone knows where to strike up a regiment of taxis or private drivers at BOH around 22:00 on a Sunday, I don't know what I can do from here either.
I know many of these issues are obviously unforeseen, and don't at all want to come across as whingeing (I'm really trying not to), but it's hard for me to fathom how what was reported to be some pretty minor snow this morning has made so much go so extraordinarily pear-shaped for so very, very many.
Over and out for now...
Dec 10, 2017, 1:46 pm
#239
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: London
Programs: BA GGLfL
Posts: 1,342
Dec 10, 2017, 1:46 pm
#240
Moderator: Qatar Airways
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: LHR/NCE/MIA
Programs: BAEC GfL & GGL, SQ Gold, Amex Centurion, Mucci des Chevaliers des Bons Mots et Qui Savent Moucher
Posts: 8,948
How long before Alex brings out his fluorescent jacket to apologise for the abject weather conditions...and to remind us that the issues are Heathrows and not BAs?
How bad have the cancellations been on non-BA services out of the other LHR Terminals?
M
How bad have the cancellations been on non-BA services out of the other LHR Terminals?
M