EasternPedlar

Good evening

My BA flight BCN-LHR on 8th September 2022 (BA487) was delayed by over 3 hours. I wrote in to BA claiming compensation but this has been refused on the grounds that the flight was delayed due to "operational reasons". I'm not sure what this means but it isn't mentioned as one of the exceptional circumstances in EC261.

I'd be most grateful for pointers on how to take things from here.

- Is the relevant legislation EC261 or the UK equivalent ? Which is more in my favour ?
- do I have a case to argue, or is the BA position correct ?

Thanks in advance!

sunnyD1

I've had a read of the wiki but can't seem to make heads or tails of whether I can claim or not.


I booked 3 day package holiday with British Airways to switzerlan geneva departing from london heathrow.

Original flight 06:45AM on 16th September 2022

This was cancelled by BA less than 24 hours before departure.

They rebooked me onto 13:35PM on 16th September 2022.

Almost 6 hours lost (full day of exploring).

What can I claim for? What template should I use? where can I send it?

I just can't seem to understand the wiki. layman terms would be useful for me thanks

corporate-wage-slave

EC261 is UK261, there is no significant difference at this point in time. And yes you have a case, I would go for CEDR at 8 weeks after your initial complaint.

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum, You can claim compensation for the late cancellation, which is 250€ per person, so long as Extraordinary Circumstances (such as bad weather) does not apply. You just use this link to claim, I think it feeds you through the process.
ba.com/complaints
It may take 2 months before you hear a reply, but best come back here then to find out next steps. Because it's a BA Holidays booking you can also ask for compensation for the loss of value of your holiday. I would say this is separate from the cancellation compensation, under EC261 - package tours have an additional protection under PTR - Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangments Regulation. So I would ensure both EC261 and PTR are mentioned in the complaint form above.

J343

Hey Guys,

I hope you are all well.

I need advise as I don't think I've ever experienced something like this before.

So basically, me and my mum had an Avios reward booking with BA (LGW-MAD 06/09, MAD- LHR 17/09) to connect to our flight to Miami with IB. We obviously timed it to ensure we have enough time to collect our bags and check in again etc.

What happened was on the 17th of September, BA have cancelled our flight to LHR (BA463). I got the email at almost 2pm in the afternoon which did not leave us enough time to arrange another flight. We were then rebooked on to the next day (MAD-GVA with IB and then GVA - LHR with BA all in one ticket). There was no one at the ticketing desk for BA so we thought we would go to the IB one and at the same time to be on the phone to BA to see if we could get on an earlier flight to which there was none available so we accepted the rebooked flight. As a result, we then needed to stay a night in Madrid and of course, we booked two rooms in a hotel close to the airport (there was no way I am sharing room with my mother!).

My question now is: will we both be entitled to any compensation and will we be able to claim back costs incurred (hotel, taxi to hotel and meals) even if it was a none cash booking?

Thank you all in advance

EDIT: In addition, BA did not give any reason why the flight was cancelled.

corporate-wage-slave

I am slightly confused as to what happened when here. But if my assumptions are correct then the extra night in MAD at a hotel can be claimed along with taxi and meals. If the original cancellation was not due to weather (etc) then you can also claim compensation for the cancellaiton. The Avios factor makes no difference, redemption flights are covered by EC261.

J343

Thank you for your response - I really appreciate it. Can I asked what confused you so I could clarify further?

corporate-wage-slave

It was the dates and directions, given there were 2 MAD trips, but I think you amended the text while I wrote my reply.

SK AAR

Your claim for reimbursement for 2 hotel rooms should be straight forward/accepted by BA as there was no same day availability to London. Don't mention anything about refusal to share hotel room with your mother.

As for compensation for cancellation it all depends on why the flight was cancelled. If caused by extraordinary circumstances there is no right to compensation but your expenses (hotel) should still be reimbursed.

J343

Oh I got you. The original itinerary was LGW-MAD (06/09) and returning MAD- LHR (17/09), all in one ticket. The rebooked flight was MAD-GVA with IB and GVA - LHR with BA on the 18th. Thank you again

J343

Thank you for your response! I will take note of it. We have kept all receipts for the hotel and kept screenshots of the Uber to the hotel.

With regards to the cancellation, they did not give any reason why but I understand that there was French Air Traffic Control strikes on the 16th and 17th but the flight to London before our original flights went ahead and so did other flights to LHR with IB

SK AAR

If caused by French ATC strike you are def. not entitled to comp. as this strike was outside the control of BA. It doesn't matter that apparently other similar flights could be performed; you will not get far with this argument.

ndf9876

Hi all - thanks for running such a useful forum!

I found this via MoneySavingExpert and was hoping for a bit of informal guidance. The rub of the situation is that my wife and I flew LHR to PMI (involuntarily downgraded, compensation and refund claimed) and in the same booking, were due to fly back PMI to LHR on 19th September. Now it's not clear to me (as I've had zero comms from BA) why the return flight was cancelled - I only found out it was when I went to check in online. I couldn't contact BA, and my booking was constantly changing - it seems by some automated process in the background - they rebooked me onto another flight due to depart later that day, which was then cancelled as well, then rebooked me onto a flight on 21st September. This was all in the space of about an hour in the evening of 18th.

Now 21st just wasn't going to happen for us, because we had work and no annual leave left, so we booked alternative flights for 20th September with EasyJet and stayed on at the hotel we were at, albeit in a cheaper room. I called BA on the morning of 19th, requested a refund of the flight (not yet received but it's only been a couple of days) and took my EasyJet flight home.

As I said, I don't know why the flight was cancelled - I suspect it might be related to the Queen's funeral - but would I be entitled to claim, from BA, for the cost of the flight I took (which was considerably more expensive that the original flight), the extra night in the hotel and the meals etc we had to pay for?

corporate-wage-slave

If it was due to the funeral then cancellation compensation won't be payable. But Right to Care is OK. BA are on the hook for the easyJet fares, but they may not make it easy. They may pay back the share of the cancelled BA service - that's not difficult for BA, but as this will lead you out of pocket you will need to pursue that with BA. Sometimes they do pay without quibble, but it may take 2 months to get a substantial reply. Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum.

ndf9876

Thanks for the response - I am not looking to make money out of them, just ensure that I'm not left out of pocket by what was understandably a completely unpredictable event. I'll raise my claim for expenses and see what happens - I do feel a bit more confident now thanks to your reply though