mrkjd

Well, during a recent dreamliner 787 flight with BA the extra legroom seat I paid extra for was broken and would not recline. Crew couldn't/wouldn't reseat me so as a Gold Card member thought I would use the "dedicated" complaints line. No response after 3 weeks so sent a registered Letter Before Action which seemed to at least get a response. The CS assistant assigned the case was (frankly) boarderline hostile and unhelpful from the outset. I got nowhere with my request for compensation (including costs for the registered letter). There final argument was that "seat 30A as a bulkhead seat is designed not to recline so no compensation can be considered". This is just plain wrong! I have flown that seat on the same aircraft (and the opposite one 30K) previously and The other seats in that row all reclined. I have exhausted their complaints procedure so, armed with their farcical response I want to take the matter through the Small Claims process. Has anybody on here any experience with doing this with BA / another airline and can anybody on here confirm that Seat 30A on the BA 787 definitely reclines (unorthodox expert testimony but worth a punt through Small Claims). Ohh - and what address should I have the notice served (they haven't bothered to reply to my request for that either)

Cymro

How much extra did you pay as a GCH?

LCY8737

In my (limited) experience BA will play hardball until just before the court appearance and then roll over and offer to settle.

At the same time - what are you looking to get out of this? Is it really worth going to court over a few quid?

Deltus

The MCOL fee for anything up to Ł300 is only Ł25. Worth a punt in my view...

Steve in Olympia

You got the extra legroom you paid for, right?

FlyerTalker39574

Do we pay for a seat or a seat with recline?

stu1985

Isn't seat choice free for a GCH?

Send any claim to BA's registered office - you can search for it on Companies House.

BertieBadger

I'd exercise some caution. I am not a lawyer, and I don't play one on the internet, but there was an interesting discussion recently here, around a related issue, albeit a faulty CW seat. See here:

Broken Club World seat - compensation claim

And there is some interesting reading in there, specifically Stott vs Thomas Cook. Some actual lawyers were of the opinion that any such action against BA was bound to fail.

It would be helpful if the OP were to set out what redress specifically they were seeking? What outcome do they wish to achieve.

(I assume seat booked and paid before they were Gold, since it would be free to a GCH.)

EsherFlyer

Did CSD not offer any Avios compensation? I think we'd seen that dip to 5000, but recent reports of increase.

It suggests BA see that problem as Ł50 or so compensation. Is that what you'd be asking for?

Anonba

BertieBadger

Possibly booked & paid while OP was a silver, and other flights before this one took him to Gold? But otherwise, yes, confusing....

konagirl2

As you can see from the responses here, your complaint is easily mis-interpreted to be about the extra legroom. You need to focus your complaint purely on the fault: your economy class seat would not recline and you consider that unacceptable for a (however long) long-haul flight. Then simply state the compensation you expect for the fact you couldn't recline. The BASource doesn't mention a lack of recline in those seats (for the 787-8 or 787-9) and it is an emergency exit row not bulkhead, so I would just ignore the last response from CS.

Good luck.

NWIFlyer

BA will defend using the Montreal Convention, which means compensation would not be paid for loss of enjoyment. You would be on a hiding to nothing. BA will not roll over on this - they would go to court and likely win if you make any sort of claim along the lines you seem to be taking.

You may have an a case using the Consumer Rights Act 2015, in terms of not getting what you paid for (i.e. a reclining seat, not the legroom) - see the link in the Dashboard for more details.

themax

My sincere advice is do NOT proceed with this. Here's why:

1) As a GCH you did not actually pay anything. Yes, there is normally a charge to reserve this seat, but BA are not legally required to compensate you for something that they have given you for free. In any event, even if you did pay for the seat, you still got the extra legroom you paid for; the fact that the seat didn't recline does not give rise to a compensation claim for value paid for extra legroom. Technically speaking, you may have a legal claim for breach of contract over the broken seat (and not being given a suitable replacement), but good luck quantifying your loss and in my experience it is a complete waste of time and money bringing a legal claim for something which will never be of significant value (and you will never be able to recover your costs in the small claims court).

2) I have no proof otherwise, but if you do decide to sue BA do not be surprised if your profile with the airline is flagged for negative reasons (meaning that you might find yourself not getting any upgrades, etc). Companies tend to treat customers that sue them differently from those that don't!

I know you are angry with the way you have been treated, but take some time to step back from this and consider whether it's worth your time and effort taking this forward. Sometimes you just can't beat the phone company......

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, I think this is CRA related, so not very well explored territory at this stage. It would have to be based on you not getting what you paid for, particularly if BA knew the seat was defective before you stepped on board.

All 787 seating reclines fully. In fact all BA seats recline fully on all aircraft, with the definite exception of exit row shorthaul aircraft, and the possible exception of a few 777 out of LGW (though someone I know in Cardiff says they all recline too).