Flight delay and cancellation compensation, BA ONLY

BAsuccess

Hey all, just thought I'd add my story.

I had a flight from Tel-Aviv to Heathrow in July 2007 and due to a mechanical problem with the plane (wheels I think) the flight was delayed overnight whilst a new part was flown in from the UK.

BA put us up in a hotel overnight and had us back in London about 16 hours later. I found out in April about the possibility of a claim, so, using the template letter (adding in the details and a bit of a pro-BA paragraph about how much I like BA because, well, I do) I wrote to BA and received a standard "not our responsibility, extraordinary circumstances" e-mail.

I responded to the e-mail with a few questions regarding the problem with the plane etc and explaining that I didn't think their response was acceptable. I didn't hear anything back.

Before sending off angry e-mails and overreacting I decided to try a better approach.

I e-mailed the CEO with the e-mail address I found online.

Now of course I don't think he sat there himself and read through it but a couple of days later I got an e-mail back from the Head of Customer Relations saying that they are sorry for my experience and that they had 'reassessed' my case and that they would be sending me a cheque out to the GBP value of 600EUR!

And today I received that cheque.

One thing I want to make clear is that when I e-mailed the CEO I did something that a lot of people maybe do not do. I remembered that he is a high level important person, not someone to be ranted at. I made sure I emphasised how much I have always enjoyed flying with BA (which is true) and I kept it simple, I didn't go into long diatribes. I kept it simple, he can find out the information of the case from the reference number, he doesn't need to read all the nitty gritty details about how this person said this or that person made a comment about that.

Anyway, I basically want to say that I am happy with the result and it was pretty painless after the initial (and understandable) e-mail of non-responsibility. If I was a company I'd probably do the same thing.

romanby1

BAsuccess wrote: »

Hey all, just thought I'd add my story.

I had a flight from Tel-Aviv to Heathrow in July 2007 and due to a mechanical problem with the plane (wheels I think) the flight was delayed overnight whilst a new part was flown in from the UK.

BA put us up in a hotel overnight and had us back in London about 16 hours later. I found out in April about the possibility of a claim, so, using the template letter (adding in the details and a bit of a pro-BA paragraph about how much I like BA because, well, I do) I wrote to BA and received a standard "not our responsibility, extraordinary circumstances" e-mail.

I responded to the e-mail with a few questions regarding the problem with the plane etc and explaining that I didn't think their response was acceptable. I didn't hear anything back.

Before sending off angry e-mails and overreacting I decided to try a better approach.

I e-mailed the CEO with the e-mail address I found online.

Now of course I don't think he sat there himself and read through it but a couple of days later I got an e-mail back from the Head of Customer Relations saying that they are sorry for my experience and that they had 'reassessed' my case and that they would be sending me a cheque out to the GBP value of 600EUR!

And today I received that cheque.

One thing I want to make clear is that when I e-mailed the CEO I did something that a lot of people maybe do not do. I remembered that he is a high level important person, not someone to be ranted at. I made sure I emphasised how much I have always enjoyed flying with BA (which is true) and I kept it simple, I didn't go into long diatribes. I kept it simple, he can find out the information of the case from the reference number, he doesn't need to read all the nitty gritty details about how this person said this or that person made a comment about that.

Anyway, I basically want to say that I am happy with the result and it was pretty painless after the initial (and understandable) e-mail of non-responsibility. If I was a company I'd probably do the same thing.

Re the above approach to the CEO of BA.
If we run into a brick wall with any customer services department with any company we write a personal letter to the CEO of the company and usually get a favourable response.
In our case with thomsons sadly it did not work. After 4 no replies we started in the small Claims Court our court date is in a couple of months.

medism

Hi all,

I have previously been successful with a BA claim dating back in 2010 which was very straightforward.
I have now a relative, who flew with BA, that I think has potentially a solid claim for compensation. However, it is slightly complicated. I have tried to find the answers on all previous threads and FAQ but no luck.
So here goes:
Relative was booked onto BA0641 (ATH-LHR) and BA1344 (LHR-LBA) under the same booking on Fri 17 May 2013. BA0641 arrived at LHR on time. BA1344 was firstly delayed by 1 hour (departing 20:30 instead of 19:30) about 18:30. About 20:10, BA cancelled the flight, offered everyone hotel accommodation and rebooking them on the next morning's flight. However, said relative had to get to Leeds before the morning and was given choice of last flight of the day BA1410 to MAN (arriving 22:35) and then train from Manchester to Leeds (arriving at 00:35 Sat 18 May 2013).
At the time of re-booking, he was told that the train fare would be refunded (upon completion of a claim). However, when he asked CS inside T5 if it would be refunded, they claimed it might not be refunded as he was offered accommodation and direct flight the next day. Is this correct?
Now the other questions:

• Does his flight fall into the category within the EU of more than 1500 km (ATH-LHR-LBA as it's under one booking) or the category of 1500 km or less (as the cancelled flight was LHR-LBA)?
• The reason for cancellation is that because the flight from EDI-LHR was cancelled due to a technical fault on the plane, the crew for the LHR-LBA flight was stuck in EDI. Shockingly enough they could not find any stand-by crew even though this happened on BA's hub T5! Am I right to say this is not extraordinary circumstances?
• When it comes to compensation BA has this rule: "No compensation, if you are informed of the cancellation less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing you to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and to reach your final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival." He arrived at MAN by BA flight at 22:35 and Leeds by train at 00:35. Which one is considered his final destination?

• Also BA says: "Compensation is reduced by 50% if any re-routing offered to your final destination results in a scheduled arrival time which does not exceed the scheduled arrival time of the original flight by: Three hours for all flights within the EU of more than 1500 km and for all other flights between 1500km and 3500 km." Again , the same question. Is arrival time 22:35 at MAN or 00:35 at Leeds?

Any help/answer will be greatly appreciated.
Apologies for the long post and thank you all in advance.
Also, thank you again for helping all of us make sense of this regulation! :T

Kieran_Brenton

Hi, I'm new to this but basically I'm having the same problem.

My flight back from JFK-New York to London-Heathrow on the 8th of February was delayed by a day due to weather which I accept and then a further 4 hours 15 minutes due to flight crew sickness.

This flight arrived 4 hours 15 minutes late at London Heathrow.
The judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Tui & others v CAA confirmed the applicability of compensation for delay as set out in the sturgeon case.
I am seeking compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 for this delayed flight.

My scheduled flight length was 5540 kilometres; therefore I am seeking €600 Euros.

It was delayed firstly due to weather which I accept and the secondly because the pilot fell sick. Basically other people that I traveled with claimed and have received compensation from this and they are refusing to pay mine, they offered me £300 in eVouchers which I'm not willing to accept. They said:

"delayed due to flight crew sickness and the time taken for the replacement flight crew to take their legal rest time after the inbound flight. We take reasonable measures to avoid this by over-rostering crew by 20% at London Gatwick and our hub, London Heathrow, to cover this type of situation. However it is not possible to do this at our outstations such as New York. This situation is regrettable but it is an extraordinary circumstance. In such instances we are not liable for delay compensation payments under EU legislation.

Article 5.3 of the EU Regulation 261/2004 states that a carrier is not obliged to pay compensation if it can prove that the delay or cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. In Recital 14 and 15 of EU Regulation 261/2004, extraordinary circumstances include weather, strike and the impact of an air traffic management decision which gives rise to a long delay. I regret, therefore you are not entitled to compensation under the EU Regulation for your delayed flight."

They also said that it was an error as to why the people I traveled with had received this money:
"I appreciate that some of your travelling companions have been paid compensation for this flight. However this was done in error and we will not continue to make any further cash payments."

What can I do to receive this and am I actually entitled to this? I feel that I am and it is completely unfair.

Please reply, thank you so much

Caz3121

A friend was due to travel on the LGW-TPA flight on the 26th July 2012 which was delayed till the next day and ended up being rerouted, arriving in TPA 8 hours+ late
I encouraged him to make a claim and he received a response

Your claim for compensation has been refused because flight BA2167 on 26 July 2012 was delayed due to aircraft damage which was not caused by British Airways, this prevented the aircraft operating as scheduled. The aircraft suffered a birdstrike on the previous inbound flight and under EU legislation, British Airways is not liable for a compensation payment in this situation.

The basource link in #21 mentions
July 26, 2012

Following yesterday’s technical issue Boeing 777-236ER G-VIIP departed Orlando this afternoon operating yesterday’s BA2036 Orlando - London Gatwick using callsign BA9603. As a result of the late return of this aircraft today’s BA2167 London Gatwick - Tampa has been delayed until tomorrow.


Is it worth him responding given that it was not his actual flight was affected, it was the aircraft on a previous rotation, or does he just accept defeat...I can see the wording regarding weather only being a valid EC if applicable on that day and not from previous route but not sure if this applies to bird strike on previous rotation

zackary71

Kieran_Brenton wrote: »

"I appreciate that some of your travelling companions have been paid compensation for this flight. However this was done in error and we will not continue to make any further cash payments."

At the end of the day, if they've made an error in paying someone else, they're not going to compound it by continuing to pay others.If you don't qualify for EU compensation, you don't qualify

harrietfisher

Hi

We were booked onto a British Airways flight London - Havana with a connection in Madrid. The Madrid to Havana leg was to be operated by Iberia. But the whole journey was on a BA ticket with a BA booking reference.

The BA flight from London was cancelled and BA rebooked us onto a flight operated by Iberia but with a BA flight number and a BA boarding pass. This second flight was then delayed and we missed our connection at Madrid meaning we arrived 24 hours late into our final destination of Havana.

I have applied to BA for compensation and been refused. I complained to customer services and was told the first flight was cancelled because of fog and the second flight was delayed due to a technical fault. I responded to BA saying I didn't understand why the first flight was cancelled because the fog had cleared hours earlier and other flights took off before, during and after our flight. I also said that I didn't think the technical fault for the second delayed flight counted as exceptional circumstances. They ignored my response.

So I took it up with the CAA who said I had a case and started investigating on my behalf. The CAA have now said my case is part of a wider project and will take a long time to resolve. Because it has been so long and BA have stopped responding to my letters I decided to go to the small claims court.

BA are fighting my claim. They have again stated that the first flight was cancelled due to exceptional circumstances (fog) and are now stating that the second flight was operated by Iberia and therefore I have to go to Iberia for compensation. They have offered me and my husband £200 in BA vouchers as a goodwill gesture. Also they have 'reminded' me that if I continue with my court claim and lose I may have to pay their legal costs. Is this true?

I now have a decision to make. Do I proceed with my claim in the court with BA? Or do I drop the claim and pursue Iberia instead?

I am on a short deadline to make this decision because of the court deadlines so any advice would be very much appreciated. thank you!

richardw

Perhaps read about thalia22's claim with Iberia

harrietfisher

thanks Richard, I have tried searching the forum but couldn't find it. Please could you direct me to the post?

richardw

You've given up after 5mins!
You really need to learn to search these forums and posts, there's lots of excellent information there so persevere with searches.