corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum Yannisb, I hope we will see you elsewhere in the forum, it's a great place to improve your travel experience.

I don't see the point in involving a third party company with your claim, they can't save you any work, and so it's just like you giving some law firm a charity donation frankly. But if it was ATC related - this was the day after the Heathrow problems and I seem to recall Eurocontrol was very busy on 19 July - then there is no compensation, that would be extraordinary circumstances. Still you should apply, just in case there were other factors involved, and you can do that yourself using the process at the top of the thread.

For the Eurostar ticket, you can either have the refund on the air ticket (which may then cover the Eurostar) or you can pursue BA for the Eurostar ticket but not have the air ticket refund. The latter case is not always easy to achieve but if the BRU agents were unable to rebook then you have a fairly strong case.

Yannisb

That's right, it was the day after the LHR problems... I was in BRU watching the news thinking I am lucky again (I didn't have my flight cancelled due to the snow storms in the UK back in March).
I just read that it can take 5-6 weeks to have the case resolved so I am not holding my breath! I will keep you all posted and thanks for the advice as it will help me handle similar situations better in the future.

dmandan5

Not BA but this seems to be the source of all knowledge - if there's elsewhere I should post this please let me know.

Flying Norwegian DI7015 LGW-JFK next week, have just been informed of a schedule change of exactly 4 hours, 8 days out from departure. Original scheduled departure was 17:05, now it is 21:05, scheduled arrival was 20:05, now it is 00:05. According to Norwegian website I am NOT entitled to compensation if:

you’re informed of the cancellation between 2 weeks and 7 days before the scheduled departure time and you’re offered a rebooking, allowing you to depart no more than 2 hours before the scheduled departure time and reach your final destination less than 4 hours after the scheduled arrival time

As I read it, I AM due compensation because this schedule change has an arrival of exactly 4 hours later (which is not less than 4 hours), am I correct? If so, how much compensation am I due? Or since it's a schedule change with same flight number and not a cancellation do I get nothing by way of EU261 compensation? Worth noting they are offering free refund and free changes.

DYKWIA

It will depend on when exactly the doors open when you arrive. So, you can't claim compensation until after the flight. It may be that take off is 4 hours late, but it may get to the destination only 3:30 late.

luitje

Hello all. Need community advice. A friend of mine was travelling on the infamous BA236 connecting to a US bound flight this Sunday. Ticket bought through a TA. BA236 was delayed and she was offered to take her flight on Moday, which she politely declined. BA refused to rebook her to a different carrier, but suggested she makes her own arrangements and claims a refund for the inbound sections.
She ended up buying OW to the US ex-MOW.
Do I understand the process correctly:
1. She shall be claiming refund through her TA
2. EC261 compensation shall be claimed directly to BA, using their web-form.
3. I understand BA is not be liable for the cost of alternative flight she had to take.

corporate-wage-slave

1) Correct. Under the Regulation it is strictly speaking BA's direct responsibility, but in practical terms it is best to see an Involuntary Fare Refund from the TA, which should be half the return fare if that was what was purchased. If the TA won't do that, then you can approach BA.
2) If the flight was cancelled yes she can apply via the webform. If the flight was delayed she isn't able to claim compensation if she wasn't on the delayed service.
3) Correct, as things stand. This is open to argument, depending on details and circumstances, but as things stand, if BA offered her an alternative routing and she declined it then BA isn't liable for the alternative arrangement.

luitje

Yes, it is my understanding that BA236 on August 5 was cancelled, not delayed.
She believes agent in DME mentioned she would be refunded, which at the time she interpreted as "refunded for a new ticket", which I don't believe the agent actually menat.

leshark

Evening All,

My recent flight to from LGW to DLM was delayed by 3.5 hours as the plane allocated for the flight was out of position due to adverse weather in Amsterdam the previous day. I filed an EC/261 compensation claim as I believed airlines cannot claim extraordinary circumstances when planes are out of position and I don't believe there were any ATC restrictions at LGW the day of my flight. BA have rejected my claim for the following reason:

"Thanks for your recent email. I understand how disappointed you must have been when your flight to Dalaman was delayed, it must have disrupted your plans. Please accept our apologies.

Your claim for compensation has been refused because BA2562 on 28 July was delayed due to operational circumstances outside of our control. The aircraft due to operate your flight had been held up in Amsterdam the previous day due to adverse weather. Unfortunately even after the flight departed the delay was extended further due to Air Traffic Control restrictions. Under EU legislation, I’m afraid we’re not liable for a compensation payment in this situation.

We take all reasonable measures to avoid delaying a flight and we always consider if there are any operational options available before we make a decision. We’re very sorry the delay was necessary in this case.

Thanks again for getting in touch with us. We value your support as a Gold member of our Executive Club. I hope you enjoy your flight with us on 11 August. Please feel free to contact me directly using the blue link below if I can help you with anything else."

I'm not fully up-to-speed on the meaning of delay codes on Expert Flyer but I believe the flight would be annotated as ZW if it was weather related:



I believe ZY means rotational delay (i.e. the previous service delayed the availability of the aircraft.) and ZO is Operation (less of an idea what this could cover). Are BA fobbing me off or have I misinterpreted the entitlement?

Thanks

SK AAR

It is the knock-on effect of weather related delay/cancellation of inbound flight, which will exempt BA from liability to pay comp.

corporate-wage-slave

You've got that correct, and it's consistent with BA's message too. But the key point is that BA's fleet size at LGW is a commercial decision, and if the airline chose not to have enough aircraft at LGW to cover an overnight delay on just about their shortest route, then that's their problem to resolve. So I would either ask for a CEDR deadlock letter or go MCOL. I think I'd slightly prefer MCOL, just in case CEDR get too narrow minded, but I think that is unlikely.

leshark

I thought that might be the case until I read this:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/n...weather-delay/

leshark

As ever thanks for the helpful response. I'll pull up a Google tab and find out what MCOL and CEDR are before I give them a call back. BA tried calling me 3 times in the space of 10 minutes while I was at work and then gave up!

All the best

corporate-wage-slave

See the top of the thread for how to take it though either route, and your next steps.

leshark

Great thanks. I'm going to compose a response back to them outlining your point above and see how they respond before escalation.

Thanks Again

Tyzap

I'm not sure if you know about the background to this flight.

Norwegian have leased an A380 (ex Singapore airlines) from HiFly to operate these flights. They have been operating for a few days only and the very first flight departed around 4 hours late. Since then they have been unable to recover any of that time, with every flight being around 4 hours or more late.

They are facing some further problems at JFK due to a lack of available gates for an additional A380 at the scheduled time of arrival. The chances are that things will get worse before they get better and I would suggest that 4 hours is likely to be the minimum delay.