tim0409

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on a flight cancellation a couple of weeks ago; I was meant to be travelling CE to LCY from EDI on the 10.45am for an event in London that evening, and travelling back the next day. I arrived at the lounge at 9.30am and was told there was a technical issue with an earlier flight and my flight would be delayed till midday. This then kept getting pushed back, with announcements every hour. It turned out that the technical issue was with the aircraft we were due to board (not an earlier flight) and despite numerous other flights to LON there was no proactive help to get an alternative flight. The flight was finally cancelled at 3.15pm; by this point I went to the desk but there systems were down so they couldn't re-book/transfer. I politely waited at the desk for them to resolve the issue when two other passengers jumped in and the staff decided to deal with them first, and booked them onto the last seats to LHR.... I left the lounge, and called the BA CS but was transferred overseas and they were less than helpful, so then went to departures desk and spoke to CS who said they couldn't get me to London in time for the event. At this point I gave up, mainly due to the seriously poor customer service.
I applied for compensation but BA have responded with the usual platitudes, but denied the claim because "We’ve refused your claim because our records show you didn’t travel on the flight you had booked with us. Under EU Regulation 261/2004, we’re not liable for a compensation payment in this situation."
This seems absurd as I clearly didn't travel on the flight because it was cancelled! I'm also still waiting on a refund of the original ticket and the return but that hasn't been forthcoming either.

It just seems to be staggeringly bad service from start to finish. I will pursue the claim through the Scottish small claims process if I have to.

FlyerTalker39574

sadeconomy

Can anyone comment further as to what BA classifies "Reason for Delay : Operational"? Is that a completely vague catch-all or does it actually mean a specific thing?

At the bottom of the document it said "When we use the word ‘technical’ as the reason for a delay, it covers mechanical or electrical faults to aircraft.If there was any other reason for the delay, we say exactly what it was (for instance, ‘Air Traffic Control’ or ‘Adverse Weather’)."

corporate-wage-slave

It's a catch-all which covers a wide variety of circumstances. Sometimes this will be extraordinary circumstances, sometimes not. Moreover just because it's extraordinary doesn't end the question as far as Article 7 compensation is concerned, since the airline is still required to take all reasonable measures to avoid the delay.

sadeconomy

Thank you CWS. Do you recommend adding this PDF from BA to my files with CEDR?

corporate-wage-slave

I don't think it makes a difference, the adjudicator will know the way these things work. I would however highlight that it is for BA to prove extraordinary circumstances applied and/or that there was more they could have done to avoid your delay, for which you have already outlined some of the details, given the delay to the second flight.

sadeconomy

Thanks again. The inbound flight was late and we were still boarding past our scheduled departure so I'm just so curious/confused about what actually happened. I really appreciate your assistance.

ShuttleRunner

corporate-wage-slave

What they are presumably relying on is the requirement to have a confirmed reservation - this would have been for the initial flight. Once you are over 3 hours from that then you are potentially in Article 7 compensation territory. But one you are over 3 - 4 hours of delay, there is no additional compensation no matter how long it takes, no matter how long the delay. You could of course argue that you were rebooked and therefore the clock starts again, but you will have to argue that before CEDR / MCOL. It is further complicated by the fact that you could have got there sooner had you stuck to the delayed initial service..

blotred

Tyzap

This may be helpful...

However, the concept of ‘denied boarding’ relates not only to cases of overbooking but also to those where boarding is denied on other grounds, such as operational reasons23.(from page8)


Any new right to compensation according to Article 7 will apply to the re-routed flight accepted under Article 8(1)(b) or (c) if it is also cancelled or delayed at arrival (see Section 4.4.11).(from page14)


From this document... https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites...%293502_en.pdf

KARFA

Im a new user

According to Article 8.3 of 261/2004, BA has to pay for your transportation from LHR to LCY.

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum blotred. It's great to see you here and I hope that you will be able to contribute in the main forum.

Many thanks to KARFA for finding out the cause. In the past that would not be eligible for compensation, and BA I suspect will still refuse payment. However more recently there have been a lot of court cases where crew sickness is regarded as inherent in operations, and therefore airlines have to work for and around this. Moreover since it was cancelled the night before, clearly BA could have done more to get crew out to Berlin or another German airport. So I suspect that if taken to CEDR you would get somewhere with this. The HEX claim is not an issue, keep your ticket, you can claim for the cost of getting from LHR to LCY or thereabouts.

blotred