elizadoo

I booked a flight on BA Executive Club site with Avios (which took me to Iberia). in J class for my daughter. 20K Avios and taxes/fees.

Routing was LIS> MAD > DUS. The Lisbon to Madrid segment was delayed by 1+ hour (this flight averages a major delay 33% of the time). She arrived in MAD too late to make her connection. She was re-booked on the next flight to DUS but downgraded to the back of the bus, no availability in J. She arrives in DUS 3 1/2 hours behind origianl schedule

Re: filing for compensation--

1. Regarding EU 261, is the distance judged from where the delay originated, ie, LIS, or from MAD, where she was re-booked?

2. How is the downgrade on the MAD>DUS segment handled? Communication with BA or IB? They were my ExecClub points so I will have to make the call.

Thanks!

corporate-wage-slave

1) It's regarded as a direct flight LIS-DUS, assuming one ticket. So 1158 miles = 1860 km approx.

2) It is IB the operating airline who is in charge of this. It wouldn't surprise me if they push you to BA to get a refund on the Avios. If that's all you are interested in, fair enough. But maybe the BA forum's Dashboard, which gives you a link to the Mennens case, will give chapter and verse on this. I suspect getting the Avios back would be much easier than getting Iberia to resolve this, but you may want to read up on the process (namely getting the National Enforcement Body to rule on your case) before starting a potentially tiresome paperchain.

elizadoo

Thank you very much. Daughter = poor graduate student so the EU compensation will have paid for her entire 10 day stay in the hostel in Lisbon and all meals. A surprise Christmas gift.

Will plod along in getting back the Avios, not a huge amount by anyone's standards but will get her a coach seat somewhere in the EU.

Often1

This has become a close to daily issue on FT and thus more likely a broader issue in the "real world." Presuming that OP is due a downgrade refund and the ticketing carrier is not the operating carrier for a redemption, how is the refund calculated?

The BA/IB issue may disappear soon enough if there is a migration to a single avios platform. But, had this been an AA-issued ticket on a BA or IB operated flight, neither BA nor IB have the ability to issue AAvantage Miles nor does AA sell them on an interline basis.

In this case, unless the delay is for an extraordinary reason, OP is due cash compensation. IB will likely deny the refund under EC 261/2004 unless there is a clear record that OP was denied the opportunity to wait for the next flight with availability. BA will refund the fare difference in avios under its own COC. Perhaps not a bad result on this particular ticket.

elizadoo

While arriving in MAD on the delayed flight the OP was sent an email by Iberia with two flight options, one later that evening, the second option for the following morning. Neither option had J availability and the pax was told to see a gate agent.

To complicate matters the OP (me) just remembered that I was short on Avios for the flight, so I used 12,000 and purchased the remaining 8,000 with cash, all on the BA site.

OP has the feeling this will be a BA issue.

craigthemif

IB paid the compensation already, or you are referring to 6 or 9 months from now when you've gone through all of the hoops necessary to force IB to pay?

Yllanes

What was the cause of the delay? Keep in mind that if it is weather (Lisbon's been having a lot of fog) no compensation is due.