wilko1

Dear all,
I had a JNB- LHR avios flight in F that BA cancelled, and is now refusing to rebook due to 'ticket validity'. I therefore intend to purchase a cash ticket, and claim it back under UK/EU261 rebooking rights.
Looking at the date I want, BA offer the flight in F for an eyewatering ~Ł4k, and Emirates offer it for ~Ł2.5k. Both in F. BA direct, Emirates obviously through UAE, taking about 5h longer.
If I were genuinely booking the ticket myself with my own cash, I would choose the Emirates one, based on price. If they were identical price, I would choose the BA one, due to direct flight. What duty (if any) do I have to choose the cheapest available flight when booking and claiming back? Would I get criticized for not choosing the cheapest F flight? Would I get criticized for not choosing the same airline I originally was booked on (BA)? As there is always a (small) chance of me not winning my cash back I obviously ideally would want the smallest outlay. Is there any precedent/guidelines on this?
Many thanks

GBOAC

Have you tried CEDR? I would say you are taking a massive financial risk if you want BA to reimburse you under EU261. My suspicion is that initially they will reject this (and you will be out of pocket), and you will have to go to dispute resolution anyway. So why not just start there and save yourself the financial risk...

GLA350

Hi All,

I hope you might be able to give me a bit of advice. I had my outbound travel disrupted on the way to Mauritius for Christmas, I arrived a day late and my bags 4 days late, so I have claimed for EC261 and relevant expenses. I have tried following this up with BA via twitter and the claims form but received platitudes and automated responses. I am aware that customer relations are taking longer than usual to process claims but this was submitted on January 4th. Is there something I could be doing to move things along?

Thanks in advance.

wilko1

I will be going through CEDR to reclaim money. But I need to travel, and proceedings wont be complete by then. And I believe you can only claim cash (not force the airline to do anything such as book you a flight) if going through CEDR/MCOL. No?

corporate-wage-slave

For MCOL you are best to articulate the claim in cash and have hard numbers to back it. CEDR can order things to happen, like reinstating the ticket. There was a case recently, that went to CEDR, where the paralegal offered a rebooking early into the procedure (within a month I would guess) whereas the whole process will take 2 to 3 months.

My view is that BA must offer a rebooking, they don't have the option to remove that. If BA refuses to rebook, and the timing are such that you need to act on BA's refusal, then you best book the most cosf effective alternative, ideally letting BA know you are doing this so they can intervene. As you say, you can't 100% assume MCOL / CEDR will run in your favour so you also have to bear that in mind. The courts generally favour someone who reduces the legal exposure, though I wouldn't overstate that too much. I'm not aware of requirement on you to rebook using BA, but BA can rely on their own services so long as they fit the broad thrust of what EC261 is trying to achieve.

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk. If you made your complaint on 4 January and have not had a substantial reply, then you are past the 8 week period, and thus can go straight to CEDR. Indeed you must complain witihin 1 year and time is plodding on. For MCOL you can simply give BA 10 days notice of intended action.

SK AAR

Wow - you are really taking a risk here. Surely, BA will deny such claim and you will have to fight it for any chance of recovery. The ticket validity argument is IMO not given to be set a side by EU Reg. 261/04 (EU Reg. 261/04 doesn't concern ticket validity or specifically deal with the normal 1-year validty rule )and you will face the argument that ticket validity rules apply concurrently with EU Reg. 261/04.

And if you purchase the cheaper EK flights you will face the arguments that the purchased itinerary is not compareable to a BA Avios flight. This is not going to be easy, so good luck..

pazza2000

How long are BA CR taking to respond to complaints right now? I’ve been waiting 5+ weeks

wmaciej

4 weeks and counting for me.

pazza2000

Glad it’s not just me then

wilko1

As I understand it, BA's standard modus operandi is to deny all claims until CEDR/MCOL, as this will weed out most people. My replacement flight is within 5 months of the original, and BA are refusing to budge as it is just outside the 1y limit. I am not aware that arbitrary ticket validity rules imposed by BA should overrule EU261(certainly within this timeframe), otherwise BA would just set a 1 day validity and refuse all required rights as it is outside this validity to get out of any of their obligations.
I am still waiting for the full 8 weeks before going to CEDR/MCOL, and I am still holding out hope they will just simply rebook me, so hopefully it is irrelevant, but this is fading fast given previous corespondence. But we are now close to that deadline, so I need to make a plan. I shall of course update as to what happens.

SK AAR

Your problem is that it is not an arbitrary rule - 1 year ticket validty rule is a commonly accepted rule (and most likely for good/valid reasons) and applied by most carriers.

Trying to rebook for travel dates 5 months later will also not be in your favour.

KARFA

doesn’t ec261 entitle you to rebook at a date convenient to you? Where do you see a 1 year limitation in ec261?

SK AAR

There is nothing in the EU Reg. which suggests that normal ticket rules will not be applicable. AFAIK there is no right under EU Reg. 261/04 to rebook beyond ticket validity. Under your interpretation pax should be entitled to rebook several years ahead (if no limit for rebooking to a travel date convenient to pax) which is clearly not right nor law.

KARFA

thats a very odd reading of the regulation. I don’t know what the effective limit might be, but I don’t think there is any case law which says it must be whatever the airline decides is their ticket validity - and depending when the flight is ticket validity may be only week or a few months away.

The regulation clearly says at a date of your convenience, that is your entitlement. Any suggestion that means ticket validity is your own interpretation not based in any case law.