Flight delay and cancellation compensation, BA ONLY

But you need to register (it's free)

We were travelling from Edinburgh to Tampa in March 2014 from Edinburgh via Gatwick. The plane made it to the runway at Edinburgh but after 30 minutes returned to the terminal and we then waited for an engineer to try and fix the fault for 2 hours. The pilot eventually told us to disembark because there was an unexpected safety related fault with one of the flaps. I managed to get to the head of the queue at BA check-in and they managed to route us via Heathrow to Washington where BA arranged a hotel for the night. We then flew on with United to Tampa the following morning. We arrived at Tampa 16 hours behind schedule.

I applied for compensation from BA and there response was -

Your claim for compensation has been refused because flight BA2937 on 20 March 2014 was delayed due to an unexpected flight safety shortcoming, which prevented the aircraft operating as scheduled. Under EU legislation, British Airways is not liable for a compensation payment in this situation.

During the final maintenance checks, we discovered a problem with the flap. There are numerous parts that the airline may be required to replace within a specific timeframe. These parts are kept fully stocked and ready to fit. As this particular ‘part’ was not due to be replaced, this constitutes as extraordinary circumstances.

I passed all the paperwork and boarding passes to Bott and Co and they applied for compensation on our behalf.

All cases were put on hold until the Jet2/Thomsons appeal was rejected by the courts. Two weeks after the Appeal decision BA settled the case with Bott & Co and we are waiting for 600 euro compensation for my wife and myself. I think the Bott & Co fee is 27% but that should still leave us with about £700 compensation.

Bott & Co were very easy to deal with, everything was handled by email and they provided regular updates regarding the Jet2/Thomsons appeals.

Our advice is don't give up - a technical fault is a technical fault and warrants compensation if you are delayed.

Yes compensation is due per person.
Check distance is correct "bracket" ie 1500-3500KM

I've looked through the compensation threads for something that matches our circumstance but could not find anything specific, perhaps someone has has a similar experience? My son and I travelled from London City airport to New York in September on the BA001 service. Although originally due to leave at 0945 when we arrived at 8 we were told that the service would be delayed until around 11 because the aircraft had been diverted to Gatwick because of bad weather at London City. Eventually the plane arrived just before 12 although planes had been coming and going from London City from about 9 o'clock. We were then told that there would be a further delay because the plane had not been cleaned and eventually we boarded the plane at 13.50 some 4 hours after it was due to leave. When onboard the crew apologised for the delay but asked us not to blame them but said the crewbus had not arrived to take them to the airport ! - no mention of bad weather.... We arrived in New York 3 and a half hours late and missed our non refundable onwards flights and hotel for the night costing us around 400 pounds. We duly applied for compensation but after what appears to be the normal tactic of ignoring us for several weeks BA eventually replied with a template letter stating that as our flight was delayed by bad weather then no compensation was due. We objected to this based on the majority of the delay being caused by the inability to provide a clean plane with a crew and after more weeks of ignoring we got basically the same letter back repeating the bad weather get out clause. I'm very disappointed by the BA customer "service" but has anyone had any success in turning around a "bad weather" claim when although initially bad weather was a factor the majority of the delay appeared to be caused by organisational chaos ? Any delay less than 3 hours would have meant that could have made our connections and saved 400 pounds.