Flight delay and cancellation compensation, BA ONLY

Caz3121

Gulpiyuri wrote: »

Not only Iberia Express is another IAG company but also all Iberia Express flights from LHR depart from Terminal 5 and are operated by British Airways; hence the cancellation of the 27 May flight. Iberia Express doesn´t have any staff based in LHR and just provides the aircraft and the flight crew.
Many airlines do not have staff at the airport and are managed by handling agents or partners, this does not mean they are not operating a flight. The aircraft and flight crew are generally the operating carrier's

Most importantly, I bought my flight ticket at BA.com site for a flight with a BA code operated by British Airways. As my e-ticket receipt states, the travel contract is between myself and British Airways, not any other third party or airline.
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For EU261 the flight number / where bought ticket is not relevant for EU261. The operating carrier is where the claim is made
(BA will sell you a JFK-LHR flight with a BA flight number but operated by AA and if there is delays there is no EU261 claim from either party)
What was your route/flight number?...It should be really simple to check out where the claim should go. On the BA website when you check the flight and see what is says under "Flight Operator"
e.g. LHR-LPA will show BA536 with the Flight Operator as Iberia Express

If flight operator shows as BA then you can dispute the response from BA
If flight operator shows as Iberia Express then you claim from them

Gulpiyuri

Caz3121 wrote: »

For EU261 the flight number / where bought ticket is not relevant for EU261. The operating carrier is where the claim is made
(BA will sell you a JFK-LHR flight with a BA flight number but operated by AA and if there is delays there is no EU261 claim from either party)
What was your route/flight number?...It should be really simple to check out where the claim should go. On the BA website when you check the flight and see what is says under "Flight Operator"
e.g. LHR-LPA will show BA536 with the Flight Operator as Iberia Express

If flight operator shows as BA then you can dispute the response from BA
If flight operator shows as Iberia Express then you claim from them

Many thanks @Caz3121 for your answer.

Indeed it´s an Iberia Express flight. I have submitted the claim to them and will report back when any finding

I found this interesting piece of info: https://www.claimair.com/blog/how-to-get-compensations-from-codis leshare-flight/

So, who you should claim to when your flight gets delayed, cancelled, your baggage gets lost or you are bumped off of the flight? Marketing airline? Operating airline? My answer is – once your flight is covered by the legislation, you can claim to whoever you want. That’s another advantage of codeshare – both operating and marketing carriers share their responsibilities and whoever you choose to claim to, they must pay attention to your complaint.

However, there is another bad airlines’ common practice you should be aware of. Once you claim your rights to operating carrier whilst you had previously entered a contract with marketing carrier, you could be quickly wrongfully rejected by the operating carrier with an explanation that only marketing carrier is responsible because of your agreement. Sometimes it’s like fighting with windmills so my recommendation is to claim your rights to the airline you entered a contract with. According to the statistics, the amount of rejections is lower if you accomplish it this way so your complaint can be at least processed faster.

Any thoughts on the above quote?

However I also had a deep look into the EC261 text and it looks that the operating carrier is to blame: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261&from=EN

On a related note, another interesting piece to the jigsaw: As per my original post, BA agreed to pay my food and train expenses and they also sorted out the hotel accommodation for a Yorkshire family I randomly met at my re-booked flight (they were also booked at my cancelled flight)… why BA paid those when they claim Iberia Express is liable?

Thanks

Caz3121

Gulpiyuri wrote: »

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So, who you should claim to when your flight gets delayed, cancelled, your baggage gets lost or you are bumped off of the flight? Marketing airline? Operating airline? My answer is – once your flight is covered by the legislation, you can claim to whoever you want. That’s another advantage of codeshare – both operating and marketing carriers share their responsibilities and whoever you choose to claim to, they must pay attention to your complaint.

Interesting that they contradict that in their answers to questions

e.g.
Q. Recently flew on an Iberian flight from barcelona to krakow. Marketed by Iberia (and who I bought tickets through) and operated by Vueling.......
A.To answer your question, operating carrier should be the one responsible for it.....

Q. Hi, I recently flew from Dallas to Chennai via Newark and London. The entire ticket was marketed by British airways : BA 2511 - Dallas to Newark, BA 188- Newark to London, BA35- London to Chennai. My flight from Dallas to Newark was delayed by more than 3 hours,....
A. this is a classic codeshare issue. It is usual to see one flight marketed as even 5 or more airlines. However, the truth is that the operating carrier is the only one responsible....

Q. I had a flight booked via BA for LAX-LHR-BLR with a stop over at London of a few days.
My flight from LAX-LHR was cancelled (BA 1540) but apparently it was operated by AA...
A. it's true that the flight would have to be operated by the EU-based airline (BA in your case) in order to get the compensation based on the EU regulation...

these are similar examples to yours and there is no mention of being able to claim from marketing airline

Crabman

Unfortunately MSE has not posted a discussion link on the news item regarding BA's "genuine mistake" relating to claims.

I found this quote from BA interesting:

"We are sorry for this genuine mistake, and encourage any customers who think they have been incorrectly denied compensation to contact us again."

If this was a genuine mistake, why isn't BA reassessing ALL claims so that the outcome is fair? I think we can work out the answer - not all customers will get in touch resulting in a saving for BA. Which raises the question - was this really a genuine mistake?

Vauban

Caz3121 wrote: »

Interesting that they contradict that in their answers to questions

e.g.
Q. Recently flew on an Iberian flight from barcelona to krakow. Marketed by Iberia (and who I bought tickets through) and operated by Vueling.......
A.To answer your question, operating carrier should be the one responsible for it.....

Q. Hi, I recently flew from Dallas to Chennai via Newark and London. The entire ticket was marketed by British airways : BA 2511 - Dallas to Newark, BA 188- Newark to London, BA35- London to Chennai. My flight from Dallas to Newark was delayed by more than 3 hours,....
A. this is a classic codeshare issue. It is usual to see one flight marketed as even 5 or more airlines. However, the truth is that the operating carrier is the only one responsible....

Q. I had a flight booked via BA for LAX-LHR-BLR with a stop over at London of a few days.
My flight from LAX-LHR was cancelled (BA 1540) but apparently it was operated by AA...
A. it's true that the flight would have to be operated by the EU-based airline (BA in your case) in order to get the compensation based on the EU regulation...

these are similar examples to yours and there is no mention of being able to claim from marketing airline

Yes. That blog is bollards. There's no ambiguity here on the question of codeshares - liability for compensation sits squarely and only with the operating air carrier, regardless of whom you bought your tickets from.

The only caveat to this is why an airline "wet leases" a plane and crew from another airline to perform a flight on their behalf (Monarch do this a fair bit, since they don't seem to have enough planes for the routes they sell, oddly). In these circumstances the claim is still with the carrier who contracts the leased aircraft (i.e. Monarch).

flibblesan

I had my flight from Amsterdam to Heathrow cancelled by BA on Sunday 28th of May due to the "IT issues". They rebooked me onto a flight departing the next day which was cancelled an hour later and after speaking to the Aviapartner staff I had to other choice than to book an alternative flight and claim it back, since they couldn't guarantee I would get back into the UK until Tuesday.

I booked a flight with Vueling to Luton on Sunday evening at a cost of £103 plus £48.80 train fare to get home. I know BA won't refund the train costs.

(I didn't wait for BA to sort this out since they wouldn't give me a hotel and said I had to pay for it and claim back. I couldn't find any rooms for less than £100 a night)

I used the Resolver website to put a claim in and BA replied a few days ago to say I was eligible for the EU compensation. The email didn't say anything about refunding for the replacement flight I bought so I called them up. Initially the adviser said that BA was already refunding the return flight that was cancelled by them and he would enquire about the Vueling flight. After being placed on hold I was told that the Vueling flight would be refunded to me, but they would subtract the cost of the BA flight that I would've taken if it wasn't cancelled.

This doesn't sound right to me. I asked for an explanation and I still didn't quite understand why I was being charged for a flight I didn't take.

Is BA right to do this? They cancelled the return flight, I paid for an alternative out of my own pocket and BA have already publicly said they would refund alternative flights taken.

I paid for the original BA flights using avios points & £55 cash on top so I'd only lose £27.50 but still..

JPears

But you would also loose all those Avios points (at least you were able to use them). Thier argument is that they are paying the difference, because you still made the actual journey. But they really should be paying the train fare as well because you didn't fly to you original destination.
Don't forget you are also due compensation of 250Euro under reg 261/2004

flibblesan

Yes, the original reply from them was regarding the EU compensation which they will be paying. I just contacted them to ask about a refund for the cancelled BA flight and the Vueling flight.

I'll need to contact them regarding the Avios points.

Edit: Just remembered, the adviser said that a refund for the return flight was already being processed for £27.50. BA were going to let that refund go through as normal, then take £27.50 away from the Vueling refund.

Yes they made the argument that I still flew to the UK even if it was to another airport. I had a hotel booked at Heathrow due to the original flight landing at half 9, and a train from London to Nottingham on the Monday - both I've lost. The replacement flight was earlier than my original flight so I could go directly home. I've told BA about all these extra charges but I've got them with my travel insurance as well.

Caz3121

flibblesan wrote: »

After being placed on hold I was told that the Vueling flight would be refunded to me, but they would subtract the cost of the BA flight that I would've taken if it wasn't cancelled.

This doesn't sound right to me. I asked for an explanation and I still didn't quite understand why I was being charged for a flight I didn't take.

you would not be refunded for both the original flight and the Vueling flight (that would have meant you had travelled for free)
generally it would be either a refund of the original flight leaving you to rebook yourself
or, BA would rebook you on an alternate flight at no additional cost to yourself
either way you would still be paying for one flight

The hotel and train are consequential losses that you can use your EU261 compensation for or deal with your travel insurance

flibblesan

OK makes sense. BA already said they would refund the Vueling flight and take £27.50 away for the BA refund that is already being processed. So I'll effectively see the new flight refunded fully along with the EA compensation. Just need to wait for them to make the payment now. I gave them my bank details on Wednesday as they were originally going to issue a cheque for the EU compensation, but I requested that they pay everything into my bank instead.

Now to see how long it takes.