woglet86

Hi,

I had a flight cancellation at the weekend which I believe is due compensation. Haven't made a claim before and so I wanted to check the facts here first. This is what I would submit in the BA online form based on my understanding of this thread. Any help gratefully received!

- I was booked on BA0833 DUB-LHR on Sunday 29th July.
- I received notice by text message at 0050 on the same day that the flight was cancelled and I had been rebooked on BA4465 DUB-LCY
- The original flight was due to arrive in LHR at 1045
- The new flight was due to arrive in LCY at 1310 (a 2hr 25 minute delay)
- I was advised by a ticketing agent at LHR that the cancellation was due to not having serviceable aircraft available
- The revised flight did not work for me and I decided not to travel
- I would therefore like to claim compensation which I believe to be EUR250

Separately (for FT not BA): The above was actually the second leg of a B2B which I had booked as two bookings. The outbound LHR-DUB had also been cancelled. I accepted a re-routing LHR-MAN-DUB, which would have got me into DUB about 10 hours later than planned due to a long connection in MAN. However I didn't end up taking the last leg MAN-DUB, and just flew back home from MAN (made a separate avios booking). I think if I had just refused to travel, I would have been due cancellation compensation. And if I completed the journey I would have been eligible for delay compensation. Not sure what the verdict is if I completed half the journey? Is cancellation compensation still due?

Thanks!

babats

OP - perhaps if you'd mentioned you'd spoken with BA and been offered a refund of the rail fare in your original post, then my response would have been different - which would then have removed the need for all the subsequent aggression. You'll find a lot of responses on here are asking for more information before a detailed response / offer of assistance can be made.

Please do continue to monitor this forum and generate more posts when your limit is removed.

fransknorge

In the e-mail of your original booking, the one with subject Your E-ticket receipt XXXXX, in the table Payment information, the first row is ticket number(s), with one or more series of 13 digits starting by 125-XXXXXXXX. How many numbers are there ? And then, after you book, before you learn of the cancellation, did you made any change to this booking ? (Upgrade, date change, etc ...)

Globaliser

I think that technically it's the other way around. If you only had one booking and one booking reference, it is almost certain that you therefore had only one ticket for NCL-BOS. What BA arguably did for you was to re-route you LHR-BOS as an alternative to NCL-BOS seeing as they couldn't fly you from NCL on the originally reserved flight.

The fact that you can check-in for each of the two flights comprised in your NCL-BOS ticket doesn't change the nature of that ticket. It would have been within BA's rights to offer you (as hypothetical examples) NCL-DUB-BOS or NCL-DXB-BOS if those routings had flights and space.

You might be able to get some refund for NCL-LHR, even if BA were to take a strict view about compensation. There might be some taxes, fees and charges that could be refunded to you. I suspect, though, that the fare for NCL-BOS is the same as the fare for LHR-BOS; but if there was a fare difference, you could reasonably expect that to be reimbursed too - in addition to what BA has agreed to reimburse for you getting to LHR under your own steam.

But this is why there is an argument that you're not due the fixed compensation for the cancellation of the flight. You didn't have one journey from NCL to LHR that was cancelled, followed by a separate journey from LHR to BOS. You had a journey from NCL to BOS, and between your own arrangements and BA's agreement to re-route your ticket from NCL-BOS to LHR-BOS, you got to BOS as originally planned.

Now, of course, you may find that BA is actually more generous than all of this, and in your shoes I'd be hoping for something in addition to mere expenses for the hassle of having to travel under my own steam. (Or I might just have taken the 24-hour hit and collected my €600.) But you were puzzled by why some people were suggesting that you might not get fixed compensation, and this is my take on the possible reasons.

JALlover

If you only had one booking reference number, then it is considered as one ticket from NCL-BOS (transitting through Heathrow).

Though in BA's perspective, it is treated as two separate sector, and you would receive two boarding passes in normal circumstances. But as you missed your first leg (NCL-LHR), and with your LHR-BOS booking still active in your account, they would be able to check you in as you were still within the check in period. I guess this is because the reservation system hasn't caught up with the change of your Newcastle flight and you were down in London already.

As in for compsensation, as a few others have mentioned because you arrived on-time in BOS, which is your final destination, you won't be compensated for that.
However, you should be refunded for your NCL-LHR sector and also reimburse for your train ticket.

corporate-wage-slave

If there was a flight cancellation and you were going to be more than 2 hours late then yes that would seem to be EC261 enabled. The dispatch note has a Y for Yes in the relevant area, an operational cancellation:.

The only thing being whether you want to inadvertently draw attention to all your other flight arrangements, which may overlap somewhat. That's something only you can decide.

JALlover

Hopefully someone would know the answer to this.

If any of my future flights get delayed/cancelled AGAIN (hope not), and BA re-booked me on an alternative flight over 12 hours later. The timing is not suitable for me, but there is another flight departing for the same destination 2-3 hours earlier and I chose that one, would I still be able to get compensation for delay/cancellation under EC261? Assume I still landed 11 hours later than my original arrival time.

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk rachel333 and welcome to the BA forum, it's good to see you here, and I hope we will continue to hear from you, it's a good place to get advice.

I suspect that BA will pay the train fare, but I can't see you being entitled to EC261 compensation due to you arriving into the USA on time. If they don't pay the train fare you may get a refund on the unused NCL-LHR sector (it's one or the other). By all means revert back when you hear from BA about this, for any further guidance.

I doubt (in fact I know) that leaving 24 hours later wasn't the only option, let alone cancellation, since I was in NCL at the time - people were being rerouted at the airport via AMS and DUB, others were going via EDI and MAN airports, both are fairly easy to get to from Newcastle. These people would have faced arriving late into BOS, there are plenty of flights there, and would have been eligible for compensation if more than 3 hours late. If you miss the connection then BA just have to rebook you to BOS, something that is an unfortunate but not unusual feature of travel.

Personally I would have done the same as you, probably, or gone via EDI. As for your partner, it is probably easiest in these days of GDPR to claim separately, and cross reference the claims; if you have an incident number it will be processed eventually and if they need your partner to send in an email confirmation then they will tell you about this. And yes, those with status in BAEC will get priority in being processed, particularly Gold Card holders. I would wait another week or so, then it's ok to ring the Newcastle contact centre, using the Customer Relations number, between 13:00 and 17:00 hrs Monday to Friday, they may be able to shortcut the process for you.

corporate-wage-slave

If it was a BA or Joint Business service then I would hope BA would just rebook you anyway. If it is a cancellation, and it's not Extraordinary Circumstances, then after 2 hours (assuming it is shorthaul) you can claim compensation and potentially a refund. If it is a delay, then either you need to be delayed on the original service, or the BA rebooked service, by 3 hours or more plus the usual extraordinary circumstances exception. If you decide to make your own arrangements for a delay AND you ask for a refund on the fare then you won't usually get compensation.

JALlover

That means if I stick with BA operating flight (even if not the same delayed one) and more than 3 hours I would be able to claim for compensation?

Want to make things clear so I would know my stance if anything does go wrong in the future.

Btw, those data you posted for each flight, they are from Expertflyer right?

Chrisjg

Hi everyone,

I'm the travel partner mentioned in rachel333's posts. She has hit her posting limit for the day, so I decided to sign up.

I just wanted to say thank you for all the advice. Neither of us have experienced this before, and we've both really appreciated reading through the responses.

I just wanted to add a couple of things that Rachel didn't mention. Unfortunately, it was either catch the 11:15 LHR-BOS flight or cancel the trip. We had to be into Boston at a certain time. Our whole reason for travel was time specific, and therefore waiting 24 hours was unfortunately not an option for us.

Also, both myself and Rachel were completely unaware that people were being re-routed at Newcastle airport. That's complete news to us. She received a text at 9PM on the Wednesday evening to say the NCL-LHR part of our journey was cancelled. The LHR-BOS wasn't even mentioned, and when we logged in to check the booking, it was still very much active. We had already checked in online for both flights, and so already had boarding passes for both. When we looked at the booking online, the only option we were given was to book a NCL-LHR flight for 24 hours later. That was the only option it was allowing us. We both tried to call BA numerous times across the course of the evening, but weren't able to get through. We weren't even put in a queue, simply told 'we are exceptionally busy right now, please try again later' followed by the line going dead. By this point it was about 11PM on the Wednesday evening, we were supposed to be flying NCL-LHR at 6AM, and then LHR-BOS at 11:15AM. So, with the only option showing for us on the 'manage my booking' screen being 24 hours late, and unable to get through to BA, we took matters into our own hands, and decided to book train tickets.

Should we have gone to Newcastle airport first? Maybe we should, in our naivety it genuinely didn't cross either of our minds. We were on a very short timescale, the only flight BA was offering online was 24 hours late, so honestly, I don't think either of us thought going to the airport would help. Either way, I'm fairly certain any re-route the airport could have done would have resulted in us missing the 11:15 Boston flight, which we needed to catch, so I think ultimately the train was our only option.

Having read through the replies, we both now understand exactly where people are coming from when they say we probably won't be entitled to the compensation. I find that incredibly frustrating, but I do understand from BA's perspective. I truly hope however that we're given a reimbursement for the train tickets - it was over Ł360 for the two, and our trip quite literally hinged on catching that Boston flight, so it truly was either pay the money and get the train, or cancel the trip all together.

Thank you so much to everyone from both myself and Rachel for your responses. Hopefully we will hear back from BA soon, with at least some partial good news!

DYKWIA

If you have any issues, ask BA to check the recording of this phone call. It sounds like you made the decision to go by train before this call, but they should still stand by what they said.

It's a good job you managed to speak to BA before your NCL-LHR flight was scheduled. I can imagine how you would have felt if you'd got to LHR and found they'd cancelled the whole lot (which is what would have probably happened).

corporate-wage-slave

And welcome Chrisjg to Flyertalk along with Rachel, welcome to the BA forum, I hope you too find this forum useful for this and any future plans.

The compensation area relates to some European Union legislation, EC261, of which there is a comprehensive thread in the Dashboard. It lays out various criteria for statutory compensation, and in your case largely hinges around delays on arrival in BOS. Now I guess one could argue that there is a shortfall in cover if your experience isn't included, but that's where we seem to be. Before EC261 BA and many legacy airlines awarded discretionary compensation in this area, low cost carriers generally did not (and did all sorts of dodgy things). The Regulation has harmonised the landscape but BA - and other airlines - then largely stopped the discretionary elements. Now I very much hope BA won't leave you out of pocket, and there are other cases where BA have paid rail fares, if not perhaps you have some insurance that would cover this.

As for whether it would have been better to go to Newcastle Airport - well it's water under the Ponteland now, but it is worth checking with this forum on Flyertalk in that situation and someone here is generally able to work out whether there are alternative options that could be used. The Contact Centres are constrained as to what they can do, however they should have seen any NCL-DUB-BOS options on Aer Lingus (owned by the same company as BA) for example, and someone here could have checked availability. Or the situation in EDI or MAN. But in the absence of that, then going by train to London is perfectly sensible and I would hope your expenses for that will be met.

True, but for the benefit of anyone else so disrupted in the future, such a booking could and would be reinstated, after a heck of a lot of typing.

SK AAR

Just til chime in: You should be able claim reimbursement of the train ticket, but you cannot at the same time ask for a refund of the NCL-LHR segment. You have to decide between the two (and can't have both). I believe you are better off by asking for reimbursement of the train ticket.

Most in this forum seem to be of the opinion that you are not entitled to compensation for cancellation. I'm not sure I share this view and fail to see why your timely arrival into BOS would have any impact on whether you are entitled to comp. for cancellation or not. BA may half the compensation with reference to art. 7 (2) but your flight was cancelled (not delayed) and one may argue that you are entitled to compensation under EU Reg. 261/04 in the same way as if you decided not to travel (and asked for refund of the ticket). I believe it is common ground in this forum that in case of cancellation (but not if the flight is delayed) you are still entitled to compensation should you decide not to travel and have the ticket refunded. Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure about this, but I think it is worth a shot to try to claim compensation for cancellation of the initial flight from BA.

In hindsigt you may have been better off by going to the airport and getting rerouted to BOS (most likely you wouldn't have been rerouted to LHR only; it wouldn't make sense) - it may have made your claim for compensation more clear, in particular if you arrived with delay to BOS. However, I still believe you did the right thing by taking this in your own hands and taking the train to London. Many of us would have done the same in order not to jeopardise the holiday plans.

Often1

All of this confusion is the product of not providing all of the information. Those who rightfully questioned why OP was permitted to board at LHR now know that OP had spoken to BA and been rerouted such that she did not "no show" and thus have her ticket cancelled. Rather than arguing about compensation for the train ticket, it is simply an agreement by BA to reroute her and reimburse (not compensate) her for the train ticket.

BA will have all of that in the PNR notes and this should be quite easy. But, it will take some time because all of this is not obvious.

It may well be that the best reroute was train + plane given OP's time constraints. We can't know what availability via AMS (or even AMS-BOS) was on that day and without knowing that, one can't criticize the train + plane option.

This should all net OP a reimbursement of GBP 180 for the train ticket and, in theory, if she has receipts or the costs are reasonable, a couple of meals. Compensation though is almost certainly off the table, but BA might come through with some avios towards future flying, as a gesture.