Insurance/Compensation Options for an approx 13 hour Delay (BA 28)
 

Apologies if this this is supposed to be in an existing thread but new to the forum and also a fairly inexperienced traveller.

I am currently in HK with the family due to leave on 15 Nov on the BA28 flight back to LHR and then onward to GLA but just been notified that the flight has been delayed by approx 13 hours and instead of departing 23:45 it will have an ETD of 12:35 16th Nov.

Given the current political/social situation in HK and living in New Territories, I had already arrived at the airport before finding out this news. I am not keen on getting hotel accommodation in the city and would prefer to stay in the airport.

BA have provided the following response:

“We would like to apologise for the disruption to your flight to London Heathrow. The aircraft operating your flight has been delayed overnight in London Heathrow on its previous sector. This was due to engineering inspections required on the aircraft following an earlier lightning strike”

Should you need to arrange hotel accommodation, please see the below details, you may claim;
Hotels – up to £200 per night based on two adults sharing.
Refreshment costs – Up to £25.00 person per day. £12.50 per day for a child/infant.
Local transport costs to/from the airport – up to £50.00 per day.
Cost of calls/email/internet access – up to £25.00 total.

Wanted to get some advice from more seasoned travellers on what my compensation/insurance options are in this situation. I’m personally not to bothered about the delay, it’s a pain but these things happen. What I am more interested in is what rights I I have for expenses etc.

Once I return to the UK, will I be eligible for the EU compensation in this case given that the delay is quite significant? Is this the BA’s fault? I also have the AMEX Platinum and the BA PP card and paid for the flight with an AMEX ( though a Gold card that I no longer have). What kind of terms would be able to claim under with these cards?

Appreciate any advice from anyone - first time in a situation where my flight has been delayed for this long!

If you’re travelling solo, does the £200 for hotel “based on 2 adults sharing” still apply? How is someone supposed to go grab a stranger to share a room?

The forum's more experienced members will undoubtedly be along shortly to share their experience.

In the meantime, don't delay in booking a hotel - the entire plane-load full of passengers will also be looking for overnight accommodation. BA will certainly reimburse up to the amounts stated in the email you received, and even more if you can show that you necessarily had to spend more than that.

The fact that BA specifically mentioned "lightning strike" suggests that they will contest compensation claims, but deal with that later.

Get creative :D

I'd guess EU261 won't apply because a lightning strike is the textbook definition of "act of God"...on the other hand, it's incredibly poor form of BA not to notify earlier--if the plane was delayed in LHR they obviously had at least 12-13 hours notice (or did you arrive at the airport a half day early? ;) )

They will claim the amount they have offered is "duty of care." GBP200 will certainly pay for a night at the Regal at the airport under normal circumstances, but I don't know about how things are at the moment. Can't help on the question of what you could claim from the other providers involved in the transaction as I haven't reviewed their terms recently, sorry.

Lightning strike on a previous sector to the outbound to HKG to your return is not grounds for BA to deny EU261 delay compensation. So claim for that when you return home. They may initially deny it but push back. There is a lot of advice in the main EU261 thread.

you are also entitled to the duty of care elements which you have listed already (but the amounts are advisory limits imposed by BA and not by the regulation) so keep your receipts for your claim.

If you chose to stay in the airport terminal rather than book a hotel then there is no extra BA payment for that as it’s something you chose to do.

your various credit cards and own travel insurance may offer additional amounts as well as actual help in booking a hotel so check what help they can give you.

The lightning strike wasn’t in HK and didn’t impact on this flight in particular. It’s a knock on effect from arguably bad weather in the outbound sector in London. So will definitely try and fight on those grounds.


Good point - things are a bit tricky at the moment and I would argue it’s safer in the airport vs the city!

Exactly what I think regarding your first point. Going to try and phone the BA call centre to suss out what their initial stance on this would be. Also, BA agents only available later on in the evening - A pain that BA shut their HK base so no staff on hand her for stuff like this. Also flight on the 777 flight is fully booked.

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA Forum Dan Son, sorry to hear of the travel disruption and I hope it doesn't get too tedious for your family if they are also travelling.

The Express train has been running pretty consistently through the troubles, so personally I would look to find accommodation within walking distance of HK Central, such as the hotels around Pacific Place (Conran, JW Marriott, Shangri-La). Alternatively - and it's slightly more risky, the hotels close to Kowloon (e.g. W). I appreciate that the situation appears to be slowly escalating, but Saturday mornings remain reasonably quiet and if you allow 2 hours for a trip which only takes 1 hour I am confident that all will be well. I'm a former HK resident and I have been there twice in the last month. There is an added advantage in going to a premium hotel - they have their own limos and will find a way through if necessary. As it happens, hotel rates in HKG have fallen like a stone so you'll be OK there. There is no question that you are entitled to this money and I can't recall a single case where BA have refused Right to Care.

You could use any "concierge" benefit on Amex to see if they can get a good hotel at a better than public rate with perhaps extra benefits.

The 600€ for the delay can't be counted upon 100% but my view would be that BA need to have the aircraft at their LHR base to cope with inherent flying conditions such as lightning strikes. BA may indeed refuse initially but I have a high confidence you will get your Article 7 compensation eventually.

Since you have a lot of time to kill, I would suggest a visit to the BA Forum Dashboard, where there is a very detailed thread on EC261 which will tell you a lot more. One aspect is that the figures quoted by BA are guidelines, not limits, however in the current situation you should be fine with the figures mentioned. And no, you don't need to share rooms if you are a single traveller.

If you do just want to stay close to the airport the SkyCity Marriot is just on the edge of the airport and is a perfectly reasonable hotel

Exactly my thoughts regarding your first point. Since I have time to kill, I’ll probably phone the BA call center and hopefully suss out their stance on this or wait until the counters are occupied by BA stuff in the evening. It’s a pain that BA shut their base down here at HKG, makes it harder to get any answers.

Neither the call centre nor counter staff will be able to advise on EC261 compensation. This is something to deal with - and, probably, fight for - when you get home.

Don't waste your or the Call Centre Agent's time. You will not find out anything more than you already know, at this stage.

I very much doubt the Contact Centre will give any help on Article 7. It's handled by a separate team and always after the event. My hunch is that BA is that 50% chance BA will pay no quibble, 50% you will have to push for it, if necessary to CEDR or MCOL (see main thread). In any event you won't get any compensation for several weeks, typically. But the Right to Care is always paid and you at least have a letter explaining that, and usually that gets refunded in a couple of weeks.

[Note that on your first day on Flyertalk you get 5 messages maximum, a one off restriction so we can block out the bad people. This gets lifted 24 hours after post 1].

Are you kidding me?
The fact that a lightning strikes a plane, happens probably more than 1000 times a year. -> hence, it is not extraordinary!
Moreover, the lightning did happen on a previous flight -> hence, it is not extraordinary!

Ignoring the compo side of it, but i'd travel to the airport and see if they will put you on CX 255 (d 01:10) which has Y availability. If they won't i'd book into the Regal Airport Hotel which has plenty of rooms (albeit over the £200 threshold, but i'd pushback on that).

I think the situation in HKG would entirely justify being as close to the airport as possible, and i'd hope that BA would approve the hotel without blinking.

Appreciate you're probably sorted now though?

+1. just stayed here last night. excellent hotel, especially if you have Marriott Plat or higher status.