corporate-wage-slave

It depends on the details. Cancellation compensation is not payable for example. But Right to Care is, as is the right to be Rebooked. There is an expectation that BA provides a same day alternative if available and if BA refuses you may be able to book your own and claim later, but there are risks involved. Usually BA pays Right to Care but there is no point asking BA (presumably) GGL team in advance since it's Customer Relations that handles it after the event. Indeed the whole of EU261 is post event. If you are unclear about what to do it's often best to ask "if there was zero chance of BA paying for this, what would I do?".

corporate-wage-slave

The key aspect will be was this extraordinary? And if so could the operating airline have reasonably done something about it. Generally speaking, slow boarding may delay a flight 10 - 15 minutes or so, but if that prevented a connection on the same ticket then usually the airline will say this was just a factoid of a busy day and a very tight connection. That's putting it very generally, different airlines have different approaches. If this a reference to Iberia, to take a randome example, there is almost no easy path for them to pay EC261.

KARFA

Yes so just to add, what specifically were you asking for in writing and why were you referencing EU261? If it’s just rebooking which you are asking about I don’t really see the need to reference the regulation - or put it another way I usually discuss what I want it to be rebooked to but I don’t feel any need to state “in accordance with EC261 Art.x I want…”.

DocS

Thanks - this was a BA operated flight that was late leading us to miss a tight connection. Rerouting would have been possible to the final destination (on BA) avoiding an overnight delayed arrival but was not offered. By the time we got through to the front of massive queue at BA flight connections desk we had missed that chance and were left with an overnight delay.

I have mentioned EC261 in the email to BA as I assumed this would qualify given we were on a single ticket (albeit with a tight connection).

Simon Schus

I asked to be moved to LHR-DUB-MAN with the relevant flight codes. They said that they couldn’t rebook onto those flights even though the direct scheduled BA flights arriving at a similar time weren’t available (resulting in an 11 hour wait or overnight wait). The justification was that “We don't have a rebooking agreement with Aer Lingus that would allow us to offer this routing.” which seems bizarre at it is a BA codeshare that is available for purchase on their website. I pushed again, and got the same response. At that point, I brought up EC261 for rebooking, then they wrote that EC261 doesn’t apply. That’s essentially it.

I had tried to put all the relevant detail in the original post so I’m sorry that I might have missed something out. I had thought it was fairly clear cut as to whether they should rebook particularly given I have done it before (albeit via BHD rather than DUB)

Simon Schus

Thank you I tried to be up-front in my initial post that I was referring to the rebooking , not the compensation and right to care. I tried to include everything that seemed relevant but I appear to have still missed the mark so I’m sorry! I’m trying to get them to rebook a route that they offer on their website so I can avoid the trip being pointless, and avoid the RMT train strikes. Perhaps I used the wrong thread too for EC261 questions unrelated to compensation.

cbagent

BA have now agreed to pay two lots of compensation following cancellations to my itinerary in February. Just a shame I had to go to CEDR to get the correct result.
In brief, I was due to fly ncl/lhr/lis and received cancellation notification approx 12 hrs before departure and was rebooked to fly same itinerary 24hrs later.
A further cancellation notification was sent for these alternative flights again a matter of hours before departure and I eventually travelled 2 days later than originally planned.
BA swiftly paid compensation for the first cancellation but refused point blank to pay for the second stating compensation had already been paid for the journey.
CEDR application was made 3 weeks ago and today I have had notification that BA have made a settlement offer of GBP350.00 .

KARFA

Ok. So if ba refuse to book on another airline if there is no rebooking allowance, you are not going to get any further by quoting the regulation. Your only option really at that stage is book it yourself and try and reclaim the cost from BA after. BA will most likely refuse and you will have to go to CEDR/MCOL to have the chance to get anywhere, it certainly isn't guaranteed you would win.

Simon Schus

They haven’t said there is no rebooking allowance, but instead that there is no rebooking allowance specifically with EI (for a 4 weeks out). I think part of the confusion I’m having is why I can book the requested flight on BA.com for 100% cash and separately for as an Avios booking… but they won’t rebook it themselves. They said it isn’t because the route is too long, but that it is because EI don’t allow it. I didn’t realize that BA rebooking after a cancellation couldn’t do the same flights as the BA website. I was told on the phone that “Our contract with Aer Lingus doesn’t allow us to rebook a disrupted Avios ticket onto Aer Lingus even though we can sell it on our website. Aer Lingus refused to allow this during contract negotiations”.

suffice to say, this thread appears to be the wrong place to discuss what is required under EC261 for rebooking.

corporate-wage-slave

The current EI rebooking provision for BA extends to 31 July only. so mid August is out of scope at the moment. It is the case that rebooking arrangement needs negotiation with the airlines concerned. It's possible to suggest other options given more details. E.g. date of travel.

Simon Schus

Thank you. I’ll leave this here as I don’t want to extend this thread and confuse matters for s thread that appears to be focused on something else (I had mistakenly thought this was all EC261 discussion rather than just compensation). I don’t want to add to the melee when others need immediate and more pressing help! I only needed a UK261/EC261 perspective as to whether EC261 rerouting rules applied (BA said they didn’t) rather than route help. I appreciate that my specific routing is a bit ambiguous per EC261 rerouting rules but that doesn’t mean that EC261 doesn’t apply still.

It is fully reasonable for statements like “EC261 rerouting rules apply to rerouting this far out” and “the customer-proposed route isn’t allowed” to be true at the same time, based on my reading of EC261. However, I was focusing exclusively on the accuracy of the former statement given what BA had told me to the contrary.

Thank you KARFA and cws

EDIT: correcting a typo in my comment about EC261!

corporate-wage-slave

This thread is about EC261, no question of that, not just compensation, which is one feature, so is rebooking. I think I have been clear about the rebooking entitlement, but to be as clear as I can:
- Cancellations give the passenger the right to be rebooked.
- It does not give the passenger the right to be rebooked exactly as they choose
- It does not necessarily give the passenger the right to be rebooked on something being sold by BA at the moment
- There is a right to being rebooked "at the earliest opportunity".
- There is not an explicit right to be rebooked on another airline, though some legal remedies follow if this is not done
- The CAA has advised airlines that where possible rebooking should be done the same day and on direct services, and given a choice, same day counts more than direct. This is guidance not law.
- Passengers are at liberty to make alternative arrangements, perhaps by cancelling and using the refunded sum to get a cheaper alternative, or one not offered by airlines
- Passenger are at liberty to rebook more expensive options, and this may be reclaimable after travel. However it's not guaranteed to work, plus there is a requirement to be resonable and proportionate. It probably means at least starting a court case, and if BA have offered either a same day connection of some sort then it may not work out.

simon79

Hello. Not had much luck with BA the last 24hrs, with three flights canceled this and next week! Be grateful if someone could help me out with the cancellation codes please:

15/07: BA2775 JER-LHR
19/07: BA416 LHR-LUX
22/07: BA417 LUX-LHR

TIA

corporate-wage-slave

BA2775 = ARPN - airport / No (very much open to challenge this)
The others are not operational yet and may not show, but it worth checking again on the day. I bet it's the same though.

simon79

Thanks cws. Yep, guessing the same.