Flight delay and cancellation compensation, BA ONLY

wanderman

Hi,
I'd really appreciate advice! Our flight LGW-BRI (Bari, Italy) was cancelled approx one hour before take off at the end of May. No alt options available at all in south of England so got the train to Edinburgh and flew from there the next morning. 

BA gave refund but I am also due compensation and expenses. Submitted claim through ba.com on 11th June. No response except "Sorry for slow reply" automated emails (last of those four weeks ago). Sent emails to chase through website - no response. Called customer services who say they cannot help and I need to go through ba.com. Tried contacting through Twitter - the bot promises someone will contact but nobody does. 

I don't know what to do next! I just can't get hold of anyone at BA to help. How can I chase it/move it on?

Many thanks in advance of any help. 

erin94

Hello, 
Does anyone have any idea of how long BA are taking to process expenses claims/compo claims at this point, based on their experience?

We submitted a claim for about £300 of expenses plus the standard £500 compo for a 14 hour delay back on the 23rd June and haven't heard anything other than the generic 'we're working on it' since. Could really do with those expenses back and the compo would be a nice bonus!

JPears

erin94 said:

Hello, 
Does anyone have any idea of how long BA are taking to process expenses claims/compo claims at this point, based on their experience?

We submitted a claim for about £300 of expenses plus the standard £500 compo for a 14 hour delay back on the 23rd June and haven't heard anything other than the generic 'we're working on it' since. Could really do with those expenses back and the compo would be a nice bonus!

I submitted a similar claim on 1st July. Despite several further messages to BA I have received nothing. No communication or payout.  I am submitting a small claims form this evening.

JPears

Small claims submitted yesterday. BA have until 5th September to pay up, put in a defence or request a further 2 weeks.

rnem170

Advice required please.   DD was away in France for 4 days, and two days before return, BA cancelled their return flight (GEN-LHR Saturday) offering a new one on Tuesday instead. 

Impossible to call them.  When they got through after nearly one hour on hold, as soon as they mentioned cancellation, the line mysteriously dropped.  On on retry, got a message saying "we're too busy, call again later".  

The lead passenger had to research and buy own tickets (cheapest via Munich same day but earlier- Lufthansa).  When they arrived, Lufthansa said they had no room for their bike boxes, but moved them from their flight to SwissAir (direct from GEN-LHR).  In they end, they arrived back at LHR about 2 hr after the original BA flight would have.

After filing a claim, and BA rejecting it more than once, they are now saying (paraphrasing) "We won't cover the cost of your return flights because their cancellation was not our fault.  We were forced to cancel because Heathrow told us to".

IMHO, the contract was with BA, so BA should pay up and then claim off Heathrow if that is the reason - plus, they should have booked them on the next available flight - even if this was with another carrier and probably the one they ended up on.  The lead has gone back again and is waiting to hear.  

Am I correct that BA should responsible for cost of replacement flights, additional travel costs & incidental expenses due to need to rebook + £200 compensation per passenger, and additional parking costs.  The party was insured, and they have been notified, but clearly an excess needs to be paid and they want a 'final' no from BA before doing anything.  In the meantime, lead passenger is over £2K out of pocket.

eskbanker

rnem170 said:

After filing a claim, and BA rejecting it more than once, they are now saying (paraphrasing) "We won't cover the cost of your return flights because their cancellation was not our fault.  We were forced to cancel because Heathrow told us to".

IMHO, the contract was with BA, so BA should pay up and then claim off Heathrow if that is the reason - plus, they should have booked them on the next available flight - even if this was with another carrier and probably the one they ended up on.  The lead has gone back again and is waiting to hear.  

Am I correct that BA should responsible for cost of replacement flights, additional travel costs & incidental expenses due to need to rebook + £200 compensation per passenger, and additional parking costs.  The party was insured, and they have been notified, but clearly an excess needs to be paid and they want a 'final' no from BA before doing anything.  In the meantime, lead passenger is over £2K out of pocket.

There are three separate claim headings when flights are cancelled:

1. Refund or rerouting
2. Duty of care while waiting at airport (food/drink, etc)
3. Compensation

Your daughter is definitely entitled to 1 and 2, regardless of cause, so should continue to press for reimbursement of the cost of the alternative flight that BA should have arranged for her.

However, compensation isn't applicable if the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control, so if they're asserting that it was caused by Heathrow cutting slots then that can be difficult to counter - if the airport is deemed to be the cause then no compensation is payable.

Additional parking costs aren't reimbursable in this situation, but if arrival was only a couple of hours after originally scheduled then ought not to be significant, especially when it's rarely sensible not to allow some contingency.

What other 'additional travel costs and incidental expenses' are involved?

BA's version of what they're obliged to pay out is covered at https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/legal/flight-cancellation-compensation, which echoes the regulations at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/contents

If she's gone back to BA for the last time and still doesn't obtain what she's entitled to then the next steps would be their ADR scheme (CEDR) and then ultimately small claims.

JPears

CEDR will take forever. As this is a fairly clear cut case I'd go straight to small claims

lludovic

British Airways denied compensation, blaming Heathrow. Anyone has a suggested course of action?

I was due to fly from LHR to OSL at 0730 on a Monday and got a text Sunday night at 2245 telling me my flight was cancelled. I spent a long time on the phone trying to get to an agent whilst checking the rebooking options offered by BA. Given the earliest they offered me was on Tuesday, I rebooked myself on a different airline and cancelled my flight.

I claimed compensation and the price difference with BA, which they denied saying it was due to Heathrow.

It's rather disgraceful and poor, has anyone else experienced this? 
And is there a way to obtain compensation?

JPears

JPears said:

Small claims submitted yesterday. BA have until 5th September to pay up, put in a defence or request a further 2 weeks.

BA requested an extra 14 days. Responded to Court within 2 days. Shame they didn't do that with my claim which would have avoided the cost and hassle of legal route.

sayling

eskbanker said:

rnem170 said:

After filing a claim, and BA rejecting it more than once, they are now saying (paraphrasing) "We won't cover the cost of your return flights because their cancellation was not our fault.  We were forced to cancel because Heathrow told us to".

IMHO, the contract was with BA, so BA should pay up and then claim off Heathrow if that is the reason - plus, they should have booked them on the next available flight - even if this was with another carrier and probably the one they ended up on.  The lead has gone back again and is waiting to hear.  

Am I correct that BA should responsible for cost of replacement flights, additional travel costs & incidental expenses due to need to rebook + £200 compensation per passenger, and additional parking costs.  The party was insured, and they have been notified, but clearly an excess needs to be paid and they want a 'final' no from BA before doing anything.  In the meantime, lead passenger is over £2K out of pocket.

However, compensation isn't applicable if the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control, so if they're asserting that it was caused by Heathrow cutting slots then that can be difficult to counter - if the airport is deemed to be the cause then no compensation is payable.

Have Heathrow actually cut slots, though, or left it to the airlines to CHOOSE the flights they will cancel,  to get departing passenger numbers below the HAL cap?

Sounds as though that makes it BA's choice and BA should still be culpable/ liable to pay out compensation (in GBP, *not* converted Euro rates) for flights they have chosen to cancel (particularly at short notice - they've been adjusting their Winter schedule recently, way outside the 14 days, so that doesn't count)

Same for other airlines