Flight delay and cancellation compensation, BA ONLY

hoovuspoovus

A query from a newcomer if I may.

I have been pursuing a claim for compensation from BA for a flight from Baku to Heathrow on 13th July last year that was cancelled. An alternative routing via Moscow was provided by BA, but resulted in an arrival delay approaching 12 hours. The flight was originally a British Midland flight; BM have subsequently been taken over by BA.

At the airport, the passengers were told that the flight was cancelled as the pilot had been taken ill and they had been unable to find a replacement at short notice.

I wrote a letter to BA, using the MSE template, claiming the full 600 euro's compensation (flight length 3,990 kilometres). BA have written back rejecting the claim, saying that the flight could not operate due to circumstances outside bmi and British Airways' control resulting in insufficient cabin crew to operate the service. They state that under EU legislation, bmi and British Airways are not liable for a compensation payment in this situation.

My question is simply are they right? I would have thought that having sufficient cabin crew was ultimately down to the airline.

I have read through a number of posts here and have not found a similar situation cited, but apologies if this has been discussed before.

I would be grateful for any advice/pointers.

Lanarkshirelad

cheap_charlie wrote: »

Just want to post my thanks for the members here who have posted so much valuable information on the FAQs.

Was on a transatlantic BA flight delayed over 20 hours 2 weeks ago due to technical faults on 2 aircraft - decided to contact Customer Services via e-mail while I was away and included a claim using the template letter shown here for 600 euros for myself and my travelling partner.

BA responded within 48 hours with 20K Avios each for our BAEC accounts and promised to get back to us regarding the compensation claim later.

It's taken them another week but they have now responded agreeing we are entitled to the full compensation via e-mail and telling us they will be sending a cheque for £1030.

Whole process was very straightforward - thanks in part to BA playing by the rules. Some of the posts I have read about how difficult other airlines are over this makes me reluctant to ever fly with anyone but BA!

Many thanks to the "experts" on here for ensuring I asked "properly" for compensation

Was this by any chance BA274 LAS-LHR due to leave on 02/04/13? I have submitted a claim for this flight which was delayed for "operational reasons".

JB1980

Vauban wrote: »

If you did not arrive three hours or more late, you have no claim for compensation. Next!

Thanks for that helpful, rude reply, even BA has a better tone. I find it hard to believe that one gets nothing for such a long delay, will find a friendlier forum for questions next time.

cheap_charlie

Lanarkshirelad wrote: »

Was this by any chance BA274 LAS-LHR due to leave on 02/04/13? I have submitted a claim for this flight which was delayed for "operational reasons".

Yes, that's the one. The "operational reasons" were explained by the pilot when we eventually got going - two planes going tech.

Caz3121

JB1980 wrote: »

The flight itself - or so BA claims - was ultimately "only" delayed by 2 hours 58 minutes, falling 2 minutes short of the required 3 hours.

What does flightstats show? the measure will be the actual time of arrival v's the scheduled time of arrival

Caz3121

Centipede100 wrote: »

"Delayed 178 minutes"......!

guess "BA claimed" correctly then :-)

Vauban

JB1980 wrote: »

Thanks for that helpful, rude reply, even BA has a better tone. I find it hard to believe that one gets nothing for such a long delay, will find a friendlier forum for questions next time.

BA may have a better tone, but you've paid them for customer service: the advice you get on here is free. To be honest, I thought it was a daft question. Do you expect a court to rule that, though the law says compensation is due after three hours, as you're only a couple of minutes short of that here's your money? I may be rude; but you're daft.:D

Ich_2

My question is simply are they right? I would have thought that having sufficient cabin crew was ultimately down to the airline.

Just an example regarding the numbers.
So for 364 days of the year an airline finds that having, say, 20 airport standby crew & a further 10 home standby covers all it's flights with staff to spare. On the 365th day they find it doesn't and one or more flights gets affected!
Is that normal or not?
I think some folk (not the OP) wish for the moon

Lanarkshirelad

cheap_charlie wrote: »

Yes, that's the one. The "operational reasons" were explained by the pilot when we eventually got going - two planes going tech.

Good news, never heard that, think we must have been last on the plane so never heard anything. Spoke with BA today and the girl I spoke with was going to push EU claims for me. What did you say to get the 20k Avios?

cheap_charlie

I didn't say anything other than to express my disappointment at the delay and then claim EU compensation. I didn't expect the Avios at all and must admit when they were added to my account I was expecting BA to refuse my claim even though I felt the claim was justified.

I do have status with BA and wonder if that might have been a factor in getting the Avios as well.

I contacted Customer Services via email - you say you've done this by phone...do you have a reference number for your claim? If not I would suggest emailing them via the BA website so you have a reference to refer back to and an electronic version of a paper trail.