Friend Just bumped LCY - Malaga - Over weight
Mar 12, 2018, 3:06 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: London
Programs: Ba Silver ( for now!)
Posts: 775
Friend Just bumped LCY - Malaga - Over weight
Friend has just volunteered to be one of 5 offloaded as the 8:45 to Malaga is over weight.
She offered as no one was - so someone had to as it was going nowhere!! People crying at the gate and so on.
She was offered indirect via Barcelona.
I hopped on line and suggested ... err no ... direct from Gatwick - so they said yes.
Offer is £350, flight form gatwick and and a cab.
Question ... how good are BA at paying the £350 and can she expect a debit card or does she have to claim?
She is still there now - and i have said at the very least get it in writing!
She offered as no one was - so someone had to as it was going nowhere!! People crying at the gate and so on.
She was offered indirect via Barcelona.
I hopped on line and suggested ... err no ... direct from Gatwick - so they said yes.
Offer is £350, flight form gatwick and and a cab.
Question ... how good are BA at paying the £350 and can she expect a debit card or does she have to claim?
She is still there now - and i have said at the very least get it in writing!
Mar 12, 2018, 3:14 am
#2
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,779
I have seen this happening before on some of the LCY flights, in fact the last case I can recall is here, was to IBZ, so a similar-ish distance:
Car-Blogger 'removed due to aircraft weight' from BA flight
Sounds like a WAT issue (weight, altitude, temperature equation) out of sync here. Some LCY flights deliberately fly with fewer than the maximum number of passengers, Skiathos comes to mind.
Your friend will normally get a debit card, take all the money out immediately so that the PIN code can be double checked. If not, then I'm sure the money will be forthcoming via Customer Relations within a few weeks. At this time of day the train to LGW from London Bridge may be quicker than a taxi.
Car-Blogger 'removed due to aircraft weight' from BA flight
Sounds like a WAT issue (weight, altitude, temperature equation) out of sync here. Some LCY flights deliberately fly with fewer than the maximum number of passengers, Skiathos comes to mind.
Your friend will normally get a debit card, take all the money out immediately so that the PIN code can be double checked. If not, then I'm sure the money will be forthcoming via Customer Relations within a few weeks. At this time of day the train to LGW from London Bridge may be quicker than a taxi.
Mar 12, 2018, 3:29 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: London
Programs: Ba Silver ( for now!)
Posts: 775
Thank you.
So she got ...
- a debit card fo £357 ( the first 2 uses are free and then you charge you £1.75 per withdrawal so i guess the £7 is to compensate that
- £10 for refreshments whilst waiting for her bag
- taxi ( coming to my house and i will drive her to gatwick later. Suggested cash in lieu and get the train as faster but no dice!)
- BA from Gatwick at 3:25, apparently in Business ( flight is now sold out) but the slip they gave her with the ticket on telex type paper says Economy - will see
She volunteered but it was a miles ticket with a cost of £17!
She was the only one to offer so i suspect the fight at the gate is still going on!
So she got ...
- a debit card fo £357 ( the first 2 uses are free and then you charge you £1.75 per withdrawal so i guess the £7 is to compensate that
- £10 for refreshments whilst waiting for her bag
- taxi ( coming to my house and i will drive her to gatwick later. Suggested cash in lieu and get the train as faster but no dice!)
- BA from Gatwick at 3:25, apparently in Business ( flight is now sold out) but the slip they gave her with the ticket on telex type paper says Economy - will see
She volunteered but it was a miles ticket with a cost of £17!
She was the only one to offer so i suspect the fight at the gate is still going on!
Mar 12, 2018, 4:03 am
#6
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: UK/France
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hertz Gold, Avis Preferred, Honours Silver, Marriott, Hyatt, IHG
Posts: 274
Atmospheric pressure at LCY currently 985 hPa - 28 below standard so it will be difficult getting a decent payload this morning on long sectors.
Mar 12, 2018, 4:34 am
#7
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Madrid
Programs: BA GfL
Posts: 157
A couple of years ago we were flying Malaga - Aberdeen. It was a charter, organised by Barrhead Travel, but operated by a BA 190 from LCY. After a prompt boarding we sat for some time after scheduled take-off. Then the pilot came on to say she was talking to Flight Ops as we were right on the maximum weight limit for that routing. It ended well, as we left without anyone being offloaded - and we made it without any refuelling diversion. Looking at the seats it appeared 100% full.
The next time we did the ABZ - AGP route I was talking to the BA gate agent who said there was a delay as they thought they might be overweight. Again, no offloading, but the agent said that this happened quite a lot on the ABZ-AGP route with the 190s.
(As a side note, that Barrhead/BA charter has now stopped. Ryanair now does it twice a week, but are stopping one rotation from winter 18.)
The next time we did the ABZ - AGP route I was talking to the BA gate agent who said there was a delay as they thought they might be overweight. Again, no offloading, but the agent said that this happened quite a lot on the ABZ-AGP route with the 190s.
(As a side note, that Barrhead/BA charter has now stopped. Ryanair now does it twice a week, but are stopping one rotation from winter 18.)
Mar 12, 2018, 8:08 am
#9
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,779
They paid the same amount as the EC261 (400€ plus rebook plus right of care) and this sort of thing would not be seen as extraordinary. Essentially they did the right thing here, asked for volunteers and then bumped people involuntarily by date of booking. They would have got the same as the volunteer, so there's not much incentive to have a Dutch auction on this.
Mar 12, 2018, 8:51 am
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: London
Programs: Ba Silver ( for now!)
Posts: 775
Now at gatwick and the man at check in gave her another £10 voucher as she had previously been delayed. This was a bit random but welcome.
The cab cost BA £60 to SW london and took 2 hours! Gatwick apparently would have been £160 but I assume would have been faster.
Overall a relatively expensive morning 5 passengers are probably the thick end of £500 all in for each passenger. On lady she mat afterwards whilst waiting for her bag was taking a flight the following day as there were no direct ones left, so that i assume is also a hotel!
The cab cost BA £60 to SW london and took 2 hours! Gatwick apparently would have been £160 but I assume would have been faster.
Overall a relatively expensive morning 5 passengers are probably the thick end of £500 all in for each passenger. On lady she mat afterwards whilst waiting for her bag was taking a flight the following day as there were no direct ones left, so that i assume is also a hotel!
Mar 12, 2018, 9:18 am
#13
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: London Stratford, E7
Programs: BAEC Gold! Thanks to FT
Posts: 3,376
They are usually pretty good at LCY to process offloads like this. It does seem to take a while for the bags to come off but they issue them taxi vouchers, hotel vouchers and rebook them and give them debit cards there and then. Better than saying you are rebooked on xxx flight claim the rest. Some people offer to share taxis but they don’t insist on this.
A good result id say.
A good result id say.
Mar 12, 2018, 10:13 am
#14
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,163
I don‘t agree. Low atmospheric pressure cannot be extraordinary unless it is perhaps at a level never experienced before, which 985 hPa is not. Besides which, I think it‘s more the density altutude which makes the difference for take-off run and aircraft performance, and with todays temperatures it‘s nothing extraordinary at all.
Mar 12, 2018, 10:20 am
#15
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,943
There is no get out of IDB compensation for weather though. See the EC261 thread, in particular post 1 section 11:
Note that an airline is able to invoke "extraordinary circumstances" as a reason for not paying compensation for delays and cancellations, but not for denied boarding or downgrades.