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Flat Tyre Rule | Cut Off For Meal Loading | Missed Flight

Flat Tyre Rule | Cut Off For Meal Loading | Missed Flight

Old Jan 22, 2018, 8:35 am
  #1  
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*Updated * Flat Tyre Rule | Cut Off For Meal Loading | Missed Flight

Before I begin this is not a BA bashing just looking for some clarificiation

As some may remember I posted last week about collecting some computer equipment from London and transporting home in my suitcase:

Checking in an item that isn't a suitcase

Anyway Sunday was the day I ended up going down and through no fault of BA's I ended up having a mare of a time in London and it was quickly becoming obvious that I was going to miss my 5pm flight home due to traffic and issues with the hire car. What happened next was that I was basically told tough you missed the flight you need to book another ticket, So I went into the app and frantically booked a new ticket for the last flight home but it only had Club Europe left but I booked it as I needed to be home.

What then happened was at the airport once I checked in for my new flight I sat in the lounge to see that the original flight I was supposed to be on was in fact showing delayed by 40 minutes from the time I was in the lounge. So in theory I could have made that flight., Then to add insult to injury I was told on the flight that they had no meal loaded for me as I had booked my ticket after the cut off for catering so wasn't being fed, I had eaten in the lounge already so that was fine but I was a bit miffed that the cut off on an exLHR flight would have been so short.

Anyway onto my questions:

Is the flat tyre rule a guarantee ? e.g should I have been offered to change the flight if I could prove why I couldn't get to the airport in time or is it a goodwill / unwritten type rule? Also guessing that regardless of how delayed the flight was I missed the original time so was offloaded?

Regarding the meal is this something I can be recompensed for ? To be fair I am not bothered about not getting fed as they got me home in the end but recovering some of the avios would be nice

Last edited by cgtechuk; Jan 26, 2018 at 3:22 pm Reason: update
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 8:45 am
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Deleted.

Last edited by Globaliser; Jan 22, 2018 at 8:50 am
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 8:49 am
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Originally Posted by cgtechuk
Is the flat tyre rule a guarantee ? e.g should I have been offered to change the flight if I could prove why I couldn't get to the airport in time or is it a goodwill / unwritten type rule? Also guessing that regardless of how delayed the flight was I missed the original time so was offloaded?
It is written in the Conditions of Carriage, section 3c4, but unless you specifically quote it to BA and insist they stick to their side of the CoC then you're unlikely to find them ever offering it.

3c4) If you need to change any aspect of your transportation because of events beyond your control, you must contact us as soon as possible. We will use reasonable efforts to transport you to your next stopover or final destination, without re-calculating the fare.

Originally Posted by cgtechuk
Regarding the meal is this something I can be recompensed for ? To be fair I am not bothered about not getting fed as they got me home in the end but recovering some of the avios would be nice
Yes complain and you will get a few avios, maybe 2500-4000. At LHR in theory a spare meal can be brought to the aircraft until very close to departure, in practice I don't believe they bother much.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 9:02 am
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Originally Posted by cgtechuk
Is the flat tyre rule a guarantee ? e.g should I have been offered to change the flight if I could prove why I couldn't get to the airport in time or is it a goodwill / unwritten type rule?
Originally Posted by Airprox
It is written in the Conditions of Carriage, section 3c4, but unless you specifically quote it to BA and insist they stick to their side of the CoC then you're unlikely to find them ever offering it.
BA's definition of this has long been "an event that is unusual and unforeseeable" - think more along the lines of mass disruption than a flat tyre or M25 traffic.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 9:07 am
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Originally Posted by JAXBA
BA's definition of this has long been "an event that is unusual and unforeseeable" - think more along the lines of mass disruption than a flat tyre or M25 traffic.
If that is what BA wants the definition to be, then that is what they need to write in the CoC. As it stands, it is not what is in the CoC, and therefore the actual conditions are "events beyond your control".
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 9:12 am
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Originally Posted by Airprox
If that is what BA wants the definition to be, then that is what they need to write in the CoC. As it stands, it is not what is in the CoC, and therefore the actual conditions are "events beyond your control".

Thanks both for your replies. It was outwith my control but looks like I should have pushed the CoC at the time rather than now after the fact, i just took what I was told the first time as gospel and rather than argue I just booekd the one remaining avios seat in CE home. They are now saying it cannot be retrospectively done
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 9:13 am
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The phrase "events beyond your control" is defined in section 1.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...ns-of-carriage

Events beyond your control - unusual and unforeseeable circumstances which you cannot control and the consequences of which you could not have avoided even if you had taken all due care.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 9:16 am
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Originally Posted by KARFA
The phrase "events beyond your control" is defined in section 1.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...ns-of-carriage
Should have spotted that in bold there
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 10:29 am
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Originally Posted by KARFA
The phrase "events beyond your control" is defined in section 1.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...ns-of-carriage
So I guess this would mean, in real life, that a flat tire really would be a reason, but heavy traffic (which is not uncommon in London) woudn't?
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 10:41 am
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We debated this on another thread. No-one then came up with any cases where this clause had helped them out.

My reading of the clause is that if you plan to be at the airport at the recommended time - 2 or 3 hours ahead of advertised departure - then you've time to replace a flat tyre with the spare you should carry with you and still make the flight. Or get out of a taxi stuck in traffic and get train/tube etc. etc. etc.

The thing is the clause says that you have to take 'all due care' to avoid the consequences of the delay-causing porblem. I think 'all due care' is a very tough test! But I'm still on the look out for examples where people get something back having claimed using this clause. I can only think that a major unexpected crisis that blocks all routes to the airport for many hours even though you were very prudent with your timings.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 10:44 am
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Similar experiments with the gold line last night. Driving down to EDI for the last flight of the night but got caught in a bit of a blizzard on the A9, snow gates closed. Phoned up and explained but most they would do was a new booking for the next day plus a 35 change fee. In the end turned around found a proper mobile signal and booked new flight online for 17.50 and a few avios.
At least Avis and Heathrow parking were amendable to my weather delay and no extra charges for hire car or Heathrow parking.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 11:01 am
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Originally Posted by LondonTechTraveller
But I'm still on the look out for examples where people get something back having claimed using this clause.
I don't think that you'd necessarily "get something back" from this clause. If you successfully invoke "We will use reasonable efforts to transport you to your next stopover or final destination, without re-calculating the fare", that suggests free reaccommodation on another flight. And there are plenty of reports of people being reaccommodated for free if (for example) there's disruption on the Tube or HEX.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 11:09 am
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Originally Posted by Globaliser
I don't think that you'd necessarily "get something back" from this clause. If you successfully invoke "We will use reasonable efforts to transport you to your next stopover or final destination, without re-calculating the fare", that suggests free reaccommodation on another flight. And there are plenty of reports of people being reaccommodated for free if (for example) there's disruption on the Tube or HEX.
I was trying to avoid legalistic commentary! I mean to obtain some benefit having invoked the clause that would not otherwise have been given. That benefit could be the reasonable efforts of of BA to secure alternative travel without re-calculating the fare.

So does anyone know of any examples where someone has been delayed, mentioned this clause and then got transported on a later service without additional charge? It would be really helpful to have a list of successes and failures. For now it looks like a long list of failed or untested scenarios.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 11:17 am
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Originally Posted by LondonTechTraveller
So does anyone know of any examples where someone has been delayed, mentioned this clause and then got transported on a later service without additional charge?
I've been delayed and reaccommodated by BA (twice) and LH (once) without needing to mention the conditions of carriage. The most recent occasion was a couple of years ago and involved the Piccadilly line early on a Sunday morning.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 11:31 am
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Originally Posted by LondonTechTraveller
We debated this on another thread. No-one then came up with any cases where this clause had helped them out.
Originally Posted by Globaliser
I don't think that you'd necessarily "get something back" from this clause. If you successfully invoke "We will use reasonable efforts to transport you to your next stopover or final destination, without re-calculating the fare", that suggests free reaccommodation on another flight. And there are plenty of reports of people being reaccommodated for free if (for example) there's disruption on the Tube or HEX.
Indeed the example I was going to use was from a few months ago when there was a really awful double fatality on the GWR mainline which resulted in HEX being suspended and then restarted with service every 30 minutes - services taking in excess of 30 minutes (instead of 21 minutes). As was reported here, and I saw for myself, BA simply rebooked those affected on to the next flight.

Originally Posted by where next
Similar experiments with the gold line last night. Driving down to EDI for the last flight of the night but got caught in a bit of a blizzard on the A9, snow gates closed. Phoned up and explained but most they would do was a new booking for the next day plus a 35 change fee.
The thing to do in this situation (or similar) is to get the Contact Centre to put a note on the PNR, then get EDI to rebook you once they saw the note. Well - given that the weather yesterday was very much predicted in advance I'm not entirely sure this would have helped, EDI may still have said no, and if it was the last flight you may have struggled to find a Menzies agent. The 35 change fee is the sort of thing that the Contact Centre will do for Gold cardholders, unofficially, and I personally think it's a reasonable outcome, but it's a shame they didn't also check the Avios situation too.
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