GLA

My family and I travelled back JFK-LHR last week in CW. I am silver and other three are bronze if that is relevant. Our connection to GLA was cancelled with less than 48 hours notice and there was no offer of alternative connection within 24 hours. Call centre advised to make our own arrangements and contact CR for reimbursement and any compensation.

We thankfully managed to get ourselves train tickets to Glasgow at cost of £900 + £90 taxi into London.

Claim was submitted to CR online 5 days ago. Any ideas about when I should expect to hear from them? I presume EU261 applies. Any likelihood of other gesture of goodwill over and above this or am I hopelessly divorced from reality?

ThatT1Feeling

So you would need to apply separately for EU261 on ba.com if you haven't already done so. It won't come through automatically.

You won't get any additional gesture if EU261 is payable - and there are some people saying they're waiting many weeks to hear back, but you should get your train fare back plus EU261 if BA believes it's payable. You may need to push for EU261 and you may get pushed back a few times on that - see the other thread on this.

The 2021/22 BA compensation thread: Your guide to Regulation EC261/2004

Was there any reason given for the domestic cancellation?

GLA

Thanks. Yes, I applied for EU261 separately and can’t see how it would not apply. No reason given for cancellation.

On a side note, it was really interesting to see how AA lounges in US (we were in JFK and PIT lounges) are now so much better than BA ones here. Far more pleasant spaces to be in with better food options and I was able to guest in the whole family on domestic AA tickets with no difficulty.

Teefaf

Similar situation for me regarding cancellation of final return leg - only we got 2 hours’ notice!

Complaint, expenses and EU261 claim were submitted 03/07 as a single ‘ticket’. So far I’ve had two automated holding emails from BA assuring me they’re doing everything they can to get back to me as soon as they can.

Meanwhile I’m £2.5k out of pocket…

GLA

Thanks for confirming that I should not hold my breath!

efincomputer

Not sure if it's improved, but my reimbursement claim from April took 11 weeks to be paid, so I'd advise patience. If you incur interest on your credit card etc, then i would update the claim to BA to include that.

efincomputer

By any chance was it the Flagship lounge in JFK you were using? If so, then I can understand your comment (but haven't been to PIT, so assume it's just a standard Admirals Club lounge). Can't say I agree that Admirals Club is better than BA's lounges - of those I've ventured into, they have tended to have very limited food offerings (usually some items to make yourself a taco bowl or something similar). Flagship lounge, on the other hand, I very much like and would agree that these are far superior to BA's Club lounge - one of the sweet spots as a Silver is being able to access these, when AA's own equivalents can't (without another membership or credit card, etc).

GLA

Yes, it was the JFK Flagship Lounge. As you say, a real sweet spot for a silver like me. I prefer it to GF at LHR and it totally blows GC out of the water.

With the PIT lounge I was taking the BA Lounge at GLA as a reasonable comparator. I was not impressed by my first post-pandemic visit to GLA, especially with respect to food offering. Not much to choose between them but I like the AA snacks and make-your-own sliders that were on offer when I visited.

efincomputer

I kind of get where you're coming from re GLA (I love the lounge, but wouldn't really call it a "food" offering - just crisps and snacks during the day). However, PIT is serving 9 major cities for AA including Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Washington, Phoenix and Philadelphia, so will be dealing with an order of magnitude more premium travelers than GLA, which is currently serving a single City - London, and only a handful of daily flights. I'd be more inclined to compare a "standard" Admirals Club to the likes of Galleries North at Heathrow (but that's just my view).

The Flagship lounges are nice - I've only been to JFK and LAX so far - lover the apron views from LAX. Be curious to see what the new combined lounge offering is like at JFK once BA complete their move - hope they keep the views, as it was something sadly lacking from the BA lounges.

GLA

[img]blob:https://www.flyertalk.com/c2d4d64b-6b86-47e7-8e65-a1a5bbfa9b60[/img]

Agree on all of that. Here’s the view from JFK Flagship Lounge of the sun going down literally and figuratively on our holiday!

GLA

Is it unusually bad that I have not heard a peep from BA about this, over 3 months down the line? They have even stopped sending automated emails telling they are on the case!

I submitted a form through the website a week ago asking for an update and still nothing. I would be mightily peeved if I really needed the £990 I am out of pocket.

Stunningly poor service for customers travelling in a premium cabin.

zanderblue

if I were you I wouldn’t wait anymore time or try and have any sort of dialogue with BA. I’d say your best option is to raise a case with CEDR now.

GLA

Sounds like quite a lot of hassle. Life is too short! Will be going through LHR next week - might try speaking to a real human being to see if I can provoke a bit of action.

bd95

I’ve just heard back from BA last Tuesday regarding a flight cancellation on 11 June with the complaint sent in same day. I had sent them a further complaint form stating I would start Small Claims Court action (in NI) if no action within 10 working days a few weeks ago but hadn’t time to follow up on it.

Meanwhile they said on Tuesday to expect the bank transfer for £218.30 (a little short of the UK261 compo of £220) within 48 hours and that they had passed a refund request for the downgrade (would work out better than UK261 / Mennens downgrade reimbursement) to their Refunds dept. I’ve heard nothing since not had there been any money sent to my account!

Infuriating isn’t the word.