mkt80

Title pretty much says it all - booked a flight on BA with Avios and BA informed us 12 days before departure that our flight was cancelled. Unfortunately, the only other flight that day is with a different airline and departs in the evening, which is no good to us since we have plans that day. If we book tickets on the eurostar, will BA reimburse us for the cost?

If we hadn't booked with Avios and did not need to change airports, the answer would have been easier but given these two factors I wanted to check with folks here to see what they think. Any input would be appreciated. Cheers.

drwook

Did they not offer to put you on the flight the day before or after? I'd be surprised if they'd reroute on rail, but I've been surprised before...

mkt80

They did nothing of the sort. In all fairness, it would not have helped us. We arrive in Brussels the day we are supposed to depart for London. And then we leave from London the following morning (also on a separate Avios booked flight that has yet to get cancelled).

Confus

They don’t rebook on Eurostar and won’t pay for it either. They can, however, rebook on LH if they have a same-day routing that would get you to London - and I’m pretty sure this extends to SN as well.

mkt80

I spoke with an Avios agent and he informed me there are no other flights to be rebooked on. Even the flights the day before and after were booked according to him. I asked if I can receive compensation for booking a Eurostar ticket and he told me that I should be able to and told me how to do so, by filing a complaint on the website. Of course there is no reason to trust him since he explained he works with Exectuive Club and not the compensation team.

There is 1 SN flight available but it arrives late at night and the purpose of our London flight is to attend a wedding that evening, which we would miss with the SN flight.

Is my situation not something that is covered under EU261 at all?

binman

you are covered by UK261 and BA are required to reroute you on any carrier in the same class or higher if space is available. Avios space is not required and the must rebook into whatever fare bucket there is.
In your case delaying rebooking won’t help but you will need to check airline web sites to see what options are available before calling back and telling them what you want.
Importantly do not cancel or refund the ticket. This is crucial. If you cannot get new flights and have exhausted all options with the call centre ( note down dates and times if calls, including agent name) then rebook Eurostar yourself in lowest fare ( take screen shots) and claim after travel. BA must refund this but it could be some weeks and you may need to go to CEDR or MCOL.
while BA are liable and you need to claim UK261cancellation compensation too, this is a situation where also having good travel insurance would add som reassurance. I don’t think insurance should be bailing out BA from its lack of operational expertise or management, but it does protect you from the worst excesses of their incompetence.
if you do book Eurostar remember not to cancel or refund the flight as you let them off the hook the moment you do so. You will also need to call to protect return flights as these auto cancel if you no show on first flight

corporate-wage-slave

BA are required to rebook you, and the CAA guidance is that should be for the same day. There isn't a totally explicit piece of wording that allows you to claim SN but there is jurisprudence that supports you doing this. There is a Customer Advisory that allows contact centre agents to rebook on the Lufthansa Group, I guess some agents are unaware that SN are part of the Group. So I think you are doubly protected since it looks to me that BA haven't even followed their own guidance. So yes, keep the BA booking alive, rebook via Eurostar or national rail services or a LCC or SN, whatever is sensible and proportionate, and claim afterwards. Don't forget meals and drinks can be claimed as well as internet access. Photo the receipts and make a full claim after travel. BA will probably refund the existing booking as part of the reconciliation of the claim, but you claim all your existing expenses. Make a note of who you called in BA and when, though I doubt this one will be controversial.

mkt80

Thanks to everyone for the advice! Forunately I've been keeping call logs of all my communications with BA so far. I'll proceed with booking eurostar tickets and hope for the best.

I paid the taxes and fees with my chase sapphire reserve card but my understanding is that the trip cancellarion peotection doesnr cover me from cancelations made by the common carrier, but i will look into that as well.

kevinflyaway

Curious how this develops.

We have AVIOS bookings from LCY to RTM last weekend. The flight was cancelled 2 days before departure. They automatically rebooked us on the next available flight, which was the next day from LHR to AMS. So totally didn't fit. I ended up booking FlyBe tickets for travel on the original day of return from LHR to AMS.

However, the agent told me to cancel the ticket if I was not going to travel. Otherwise they would have had to no=show on the next day of departure. So interesting how this will develop. I made a full claim for the FlyBe tickets and taxi's + EU compensation. Should receive an answer within 7 days, since this is EU law....

corporate-wage-slave

You can't no-show for a flight that you did not agree to accept, so I think that aspect is a red herring. Or a dwaalspoor if you prefer. You can be taken off a flight and keep the ticket alive, but cancelling a ticket means you are no longer a BA customer.

BLHD

Optimistic.

PointsPointsPoints

In a similar vein, would a channel tunnel booking and fuel costs be claimable if a flight was cancelled?

I'm off to MRS on Sunday, and quite frankly with all this chaos would happily drive down at BA's expense...am I on cloud 9?!!

mkt80

BA finally got back to me after 6 weeks and of course they used the same BS reason they use with everyone:Thanks for contacting us about your claim for EU compensation. We're sorry it was necessary to cancel your flight to London on 16 July 2022. Your claim's been refused because BA0393 on 16 July 2022 was cancelled because of operational reasons and due to Heathrow airport ltd. lack of resources.

I'm afraid we would not be able to cover your expenses related to the transport as it is considered a consequential loss.

I do see that your ticket is in open status. You can claim a refund of your un-used ticket by getting in touch with our customer service team on 0344 493 0787 (Daily 06:00-20:00).
Can anyone tell me how I can appeal this ridiculous decision?

corporate-wage-slave

It's a bit highwire, but you could put in for MCOL, if you are UK based, see the EC261 thread for more information and data points. You would need to construct an argument that BA did not offer a suuitable alternative service to you. You can bring your personal circumstances into this, but if BA did offer a rebooking which you just didn't like, then that may not succeed. It's possible BA will pay off the MCOL a few weeks after they have taken it on board. I would not recommend CEDR in this case, but it is another option.

mkt80

I am not UK based, but BA did not offer any alternatives. In their email response to me they said my ticket is still open and I should contact them for a refund. Problem is, the eurostar tickets I had to pay for were 6x the price of the plane tickets, so I would come at a significant loss if I did that.

Do I have any options to appeal if I am not UK based?

Thanks again for all your help.