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I Think I may Have Had It With BA

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Old Feb 4, 2018, 11:31 pm
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by haroon145


yes that’s correct they would only rebook avios in F if avios seats are available. I think you can get the guidelines through the speedbird website
If that's true then are BA effectively saying that EU261 doesn't apply to avios bookings? I can't find this information in the terms and conditions on the BA website, could you please post a link.
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Old Feb 4, 2018, 11:40 pm
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by 1010101
Funnily enough i was talking to a friend who had a broken seat in F on the same route a few weeks ago. He received an F upgrade voucher to be used on any flight he chooses.




Obviously this was not on BA ^

Interesting !

You have left us to speculate on the identity of the carrier involved, so I’m going to hazard a guess, and see if I’m correct :

Was your friend by chance travelling with We DO Give a Damn Airways ......... ??
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Old Feb 4, 2018, 11:43 pm
  #18  
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Originally Posted by SilverSkier
If that's true then are BA effectively saying that EU261 doesn't apply to avios bookings? I can't find this information in the terms and conditions on the BA website, could you please post a link.
In my personal experience - albeit with a GUF2 - BA do try it on in this area. I was downgraded onto VS J when an A380 went tech, and had to take the MCOL route. BA’s defence ran to 10 pages. My counter submission ended up at 6. We settled in mediation, but essentially I got the whole amount due under EC261 albeit in travel vouchers (which was fine, and I’d spent them within a few months), but the opening offer in that process was absolutely derisory. I spent almost the whole hour letting BA know I’d be prepared to go to court if they continued to insult me and ignore the law, albeit I’d concess to travel vouchers rather than cash, and with three minutes left they caved in.

If you have a confirmed F reservation and they downgrade, the law is on your side - and BA know it.
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Old Feb 4, 2018, 11:57 pm
  #19  
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Originally Posted by NWIFlyer
In my personal experience - albeit with a GUF2 - BA do try it on in this area. I was downgraded onto VS J when an A380 went tech, and had to take the MCOL route. BA’s defence ran to 10 pages. My counter submission ended up at 6. We settled in mediation, but essentially I got the whole amount due under EC261 albeit in travel vouchers (which was fine, and I’d spent them within a few months), but the opening offer in that process was absolutely derisory. I spent almost the whole hour letting BA know I’d be prepared to go to court if they continued to insult me and ignore the law, albeit I’d concess to travel vouchers rather than cash, and with three minutes left they caved in.

If you have a confirmed F reservation and they downgrade, the law is on your side - and BA know it.
Good to know! Should this happen to me I will send you a PM for help with the legal argument
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Old Feb 4, 2018, 11:59 pm
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by subject2load



Interesting !

You have left us to speculate on the identity of the carrier involved, so I’m going to hazard a guess, and see if I’m correct :

Was your friend by chance travelling with We DO Give a Damn Airways ......... ??
Well there are only two carriers on that route with an F product
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Old Feb 5, 2018, 12:44 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by SilverSkier
If that's true then are BA effectively saying that EU261 doesn't apply to avios bookings? I can't find this information in the terms and conditions on the BA website, could you please post a link.
EC261 does apply to Avios bookings, there are a few complexities here. This would be seen as a cancellation and therefore BA need to rebook with "comparable" transportation. Now as it happens QR has a fairly limited fleet of longhaul aircraft with First on it, just the A380 aircraft and there are only 8 of them, which in turn have 8 "suites" each. Indirect routing to DOH is currently restricted too. So in many cases rebooking into QR First wasn't going to happen. BA has long taken the view that Avios rebookings are treated differently to revenue rebookings, the Customer Guidelines have a separate space for it. But EC261 does not make that distinction. In court cases that I've seen BA have attempted to portray the alternative arrangement as "comparable", even if it is a different class of travel (after all there are no shortage of people in this forum who do the same when it comes to Qatar!). But clearly it isn't difficult for passengers to argue the case that F = F.

I actually suspect that only a few people were affected by this, BA switched First availability on this sector to only a 6 week horizon a few months back, and many would be on an onward service that would need rebooking as well. The 6 week horizon isn't a total guarantee against late cancellations.
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Old Feb 5, 2018, 1:13 am
  #22  
 
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What is the "it" referred to in the thread title.

Could the Op be coyly suggesting they have been screwed by BA?
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Old Feb 5, 2018, 1:24 am
  #23  
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Originally Posted by Worcester
What is the "it" referred to in the thread title.

Could the Op be coyly suggesting they have been screwed by BA?
i really must rant more often. Since last night the flight to LCA has been reinstated and BA have replied to the broken seat email with a truckload of Avios.

I shall all watch Death in Paradise tonight. I won’t be claiming EC261 compensation for the 24 hour delay.
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Old Feb 5, 2018, 1:33 am
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I do so love a Happy Ending...
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Old Feb 5, 2018, 1:36 am
  #25  
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Originally Posted by srbrenna


i really must rant more often. Since last night the flight to LCA has been reinstated and BA have replied to the broken seat email with a truckload of Avios.

I shall all watch Death in Paradise tonight. I won’t be claiming EC261 compensation for the 24 hour delay.
So you replied to their initial cut and paste reply? How long from your reply to resolution?
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Old Feb 5, 2018, 1:37 am
  #26  
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Originally Posted by srbrenna
UPDATE

Mrs srbrenna has said that she didn’t want to watch Death in Paradise anyway. This in no way excuses BA who have messed up massively in January and are not off the hooK.
SWISS has Death In Paradise onboard at the moment, albeit only Season 2.
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Old Feb 5, 2018, 1:40 am
  #27  
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Originally Posted by srbrenna


i really must rant more often. Since last night the flight to LCA has been reinstated and BA have replied to the broken seat email with a truckload of Avios.

I shall all watch Death in Paradise tonight. I won’t be claiming EC261 compensation for the 24 hour delay.
As they say, patience is a virtue
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Old Feb 5, 2018, 1:41 am
  #28  
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Originally Posted by sxc

So you replied to their initial cut and paste reply? How long from your reply to resolution?
Yes. The reply came about 24 hours later.
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Old Feb 5, 2018, 1:43 am
  #29  
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
EC261 does apply to Avios bookings, there are a few complexities here. This would be seen as a cancellation and therefore BA need to rebook with "comparable" transportation. Now as it happens QR has a fairly limited fleet of longhaul aircraft with First on it, just the A380 aircraft and there are only 8 of them, which in turn have 8 "suites" each.
Whilst technically true, two of those A380 aircraft serve Heathrow each day - and the combined F capacity of those 2 flights is more F seats than BA offers to Doha.

Having done Qatar F, which has no privacy if you are in the middle seat pair, I would be OK with QSuite on a 777 though .... especially if your F middle seat neighbour spends the flight watching videos on his phone WITHOUT headphones, as happened to me. Same thing happened to me on RJ last week too where for added pleasure my seatmate removed his shoes and socks and then sat cross legged, thus putting his foot under my nose, for much of the flight.
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Old Feb 5, 2018, 1:52 am
  #30  
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
EC261 does apply to Avios bookings, there are a few complexities here. This would be seen as a cancellation and therefore BA need to rebook with "comparable" transportation. Now as it happens QR has a fairly limited fleet of longhaul aircraft with First on it, just the A380 aircraft and there are only 8 of them, which in turn have 8 "suites" each. Indirect routing to DOH is currently restricted too. So in many cases rebooking into QR First wasn't going to happen. BA has long taken the view that Avios rebookings are treated differently to revenue rebookings, the Customer Guidelines have a separate space for it. But EC261 does not make that distinction. In court cases that I've seen BA have attempted to portray the alternative arrangement as "comparable", even if it is a different class of travel (after all there are no shortage of people in this forum who do the same when it comes to Qatar!). But clearly it isn't difficult for passengers to argue the case that F = F.

I actually suspect that only a few people were affected by this, BA switched First availability on this sector to only a 6 week horizon a few months back, and many would be on an onward service that would need rebooking as well. The 6 week horizon isn't a total guarantee against late cancellations.
Regardless of how BA wishes to treat it, the regukation states that "If an operating air carrier places a passenger in a class lower than that for which the ticket was purchased, it shall within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), reimburse ..."

There seems to be nothing at all there that a cancellation/rebook is an exception

I would have thought that a claim for a 75% reimbursement would have little chance of failure if a claim was lodged via MCOL Has BA actually won cases that the downgrade is not entitled to the reimbursement?
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