Unable to travel due to illness - Hospitalised - Where do I stand?

namiku

My father in law was due to travel to the UK on 20th of December on a British Airways flight which I paid for, but unfortunately two nights before his flight, he was hospitalised and operated on to remove his appendicitis. He was in no condition to travel and was in hospital until yesterday.

The morning I found out I contacted BA promptly and asked for the flight to be cancelled and requested credit for the flight amount, to be used for future travel in accordance with their General Conditions of Carriage providing that I send them medical and hospital records.

The lady I spoke to had no idea about these clauses and had to put me on hold while she actually found out. Then she came back and pointed me to an irrelevant clause that cited illness and said that this is the only time that they actually refund due to illness. I very patiently explained that the clause clearly stated that it was 'after your begin your journey' and that the clause for unused tickets was different entirely but she wasn't having it.

I asked to be put through to a manager and she put me on hold, apparently spoke to someone on my behalf and they told her the same thing. Although I continuously asked to speak to them myself she refused. I then requested permission to record the call and stated all the conversation facts up to that point and asked her to confirm them. Once she did, I greeted her and hang up.

I contacted their complaints team with all the details and I mentioned that our family have been regular BA customers for over 6 years and that we jointly make over 20 flights a year. I am now waiting to hear back.

I wondered if anyone has had a similar experience or if someone can shed any light on whether my case is appropriate.

Thanks in advance.

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EDIT: There is no insurance cover available from the country of travel so if you have something to say regarding insurance please save it for a relevant thread. If you have similar experience or have something to say that will help the case in hand please do share.

jm2926

Only part I can see is:

10c) Voluntary fare refunds

10c1) If you are entitled to a refund of the fare for your ticket for reasons other than those set out in clause 10b, the refund will be as follows.

10c2) If you have not used any part of the ticket, the refund will be equal to the fare and any surcharge and any taxes, fees and charges you have paid, less any cancellation and reasonable service charge.

Depending on the type of ticket/Fare:

3a3) We sell some tickets at discounted fares which may be partly or completely non-refundable. You should choose the fare which best suits your needs and consider taking out insurance to cover instances where you might have to cancel your ticket



Oh - and you don't say when you called them, was it before the check in time?

isplumm

Hi,

So I assume your father-in-law has no travel insurance? I don't think you will have much luck in getting your money back ... but you could look at the flyertalk forums .... see what they say or the holidaytruths forums as well

Mark

namiku

jm2926 wrote: »

Only part I can see is:

10c) Voluntary fare refunds

10c1) If you are entitled to a refund of the fare for your ticket for reasons other than those set out in clause 10b, the refund will be as follows.

10c2) If you have not used any part of the ticket, the refund will be equal to the fare and any surcharge and any taxes, fees and charges you have paid, less any cancellation and reasonable service charge.

Depending on the type of ticket/Fare:

3a3) We sell some tickets at discounted fares which may be partly or completely non-refundable. You should choose the fare which best suits your needs and consider taking out insurance to cover instances where you might have to cancel your ticket



Oh - and you don't say when you called them, was it before the check in time?

Hi there,

Thanks for your reply.

I called them a day before they were due to travel and I used this clause of the General Conditions of Carriage:

3e) Your rights if you are prevented from travelling by events beyond your control

If:

• you are a consumer.
• you have been prevented from travelling by events beyond your control and
• all or part of the fare for your ticket is non-refundable.

we will give you a credit for the non-refundable part of the fare. We will do this if you:

• have a completely unused ticket
• have told us promptly about the events beyond your control and
• have given us evidence of these events.

The credit can be used for future travel on us by you or any person you choose. We may take a reasonable fee from the credit to cover our administration costs.

Also we don't have any insurance.

isplumm

Hi,

But what do they class as "an event beyond your control"? I am not sure that illness would count? Because otherwise why could people who miss flights due to traffic not claim as well?

From the Ba website - Events beyond your control - unusual and unforeseeable circumstances which you cannot control and the consequences of which you could not have avoided even if you had taken all due care.

Mark

Tojo_Ralph

BA define Events beyond your control as "unusual and unforeseeable circumstances which you cannot control and the consequences of which you could not have avoided even if you had taken all due care".

So is illness unusual and unforseeable? ...... Unusual I would suggest definetly not, but unforseeable I would suggest yes.

The subsequent references to control, consequences, due care etc only come into effect as I see things if the events are both unusual and unforseeable.

That's how I see things anyway.

dzug1

'all due care' I think would include taking out insurance. The consequences of the event would have been avoided if that's the case, unusual or unforeseeable event or not.

namiku

Insurance has nothing to do with the event and the care that can be taken, because even if you had insurance you still won't be able to travel. Appendicitis is one of the most unusual, unforeseen and unpredicted illnesses and there is no possible care that can be taken to prevent it.

I don't think traffic can be suggested because taking all care, meaning that you should plan well ahead for your journey taking in consideration possible traffic.

isplumm

Hmmmm ....

Well I am sure I could make a case for traffic issues .... but anyway, trying posting here - http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=49

they have a lawyer who might be able to give initial advice.

see here for more info http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=149252

Mark

giraffe69

Insurance has nothing to do with the event and the care that can be taken

But it has lots to do with how annoying and awkward the fall out is. Your choice was to save the insurance cost i.e. it was a gamble and unluckily did not pay off. Good luck with pursuing BA.

namiku

Of course, you could make a case for everything because nothing is set in stone and generally the terms and conditions for anything tend to be a grey area, but I would say that they would fight "traffic" cases much more and be less inclined to pay out rather then stronger cases like serious illness or death.