Flight delay and cancellation compensation, BA ONLY

kate99

Had 4 hour and 20 min delay on flight from Vancouver to Heathrow in June. Applied for compensation on 5th Sept and received email today saying that compensation will be paid for both self and husband. I did state clearly in the email applying for compensation that there were 2 of us travelling together and the attached e-ticket showed the 2 of us travelling. No problems at all with the process, just followed the MSE proforma, did the research on miles and delay time using links supplied by MSE.

Sarbear1989

Hi

Sorry if this has already been answered on a previous post but we are looking to claim for a 9hour delay with BA flying back from Orlando last year.

My question is that as they had to swap the planes and we ended up with a smaller plane we were seated in business class as there wasn't enough economy seats. Do they class this as suitable compensation for the delay or are we entitled to still claim for compensation.

Any ideas?

br04

Hi - has anyone been compensated for a delayed flight on the 24th May 2013, leaving Heathrow T5? This is the date when a BA flight caught fire and had to emergency land. I rec'd response from BA saying our flight was "delayed due to airspace restrictions being in place that were outside British Airways' control which prevented the aircraft operating as scheduled. Under EU legislation, British Airways is not liable for a compensation payment in this situation." I haven't found one message with a successful claim for this date. Does this mean there's no point in pursuing the claim.
I was travelling to Istanbul (flight BA0676) with my 9 year old son, and were delayed for over 7 hours.

JPears

Sarbear1989 wrote: »

Hi

Sorry if this has already been answered on a previous post but we are looking to claim for a 9hour delay with BA flying back from Orlando last year.

My question is that as they had to swap the planes and we ended up with a smaller plane we were seated in business class as there wasn't enough economy seats. Do they class this as suitable compensation for the delay or are we entitled to still claim for compensation.

Any ideas?

No you can still claim compensation under 261/2004 for delayed flight. Read all of this thread and the FAQs and the Taking airlines to court. BA generally play ball so you may not need the court thread

griffin2006

Hi everyone, looking for a bit of help on this one. I've been refused compensation on my flight from Miami to London Heathrow on the 27th of August with this as the reply from BA:

" Your claim for compensation has been refused because flight BA0208 on 27 August 2013 was delayed due to operational circumstances outside British Airways' control. Under EU legislation, British Airways is not liable for a compensation payment in this situation.

Unfortunately airline operations are subject to circumstances outside the airline's control. British Airways takes all reasonable measures to avoid delaying a flight in such circumstances. Consideration is given to whether there are any operational options available before a decision to delay is made. We are sorry that the delay was necessary in this case."

Background as I explained to the airline was that our aircraft was given to the earlier flights passengers which resulted in us carrying the delay for their flight being late. Here is what I explained to the CAA:

"I am very unhappy at the rationale BA gave me for my flight delay compensation claim which occurred on27 Aug 2013 cited as 'Operation Circumstances outside BA's Control. I feel like full consideration has not been given to the real fact about why our flight was cancelled as BA are continually putting the reason down to circumstances that are not valid for OUR PARTICULAR FLIGHT. Let me explain this to you exactly as I explained to BA:

On each day, there are 2 flights out of LHR to MIA and 2 return flights back to LHR (all times local):

BA207 Dep LHR 11:15 Arr MIA 15:20. Becomes:
BA206 Dep MIA 17:25 Arr LHR 06:40.

BA209 Dep LHR 13:35 Arr MIA 17:45. Becomes:
BA208 Dep MIA 20:45 Arr LHR 10:00.

As stipulated, we were booked onto BA208 which would be fed by the aircraft arriving as BA209 as per scheduled on a daily basis and proven on all the sitessuch as Flight Radar when you check Aircraft serial number(or so we thought).

On the 27 Aug 13, BA207 was delayed (unknown reason at the time) significantly.This of course at the time should have had no impact as, BA209 (our aircraft)had taken off from LHR at 14:24 just slightly behind schedule but eventually arriving at MIA at 18:25 (plenty of time for our scheduled departure of 20:45).

On arrival at MIA, we were told that all passengers on our flight BA208 weredelayed until 02:30, a delay of 5:45 which I quite rightly queried. We were told that it had been due to technical difficulties.

Forearmed with the information on London to Miami flights and that scheduled timings would always preclude one plane feeding another earlier flight(BA206 normally departs 20 minutes before BA209 arrives, I asked why our plane thathad arrived at 14:24 as BA209 was now being changed to BA206 and given to the passengers that had been delayed by the late departure of BA207 from LHR which had finally taken off at 20:32 and was still mid-Atlantic at the time ofspeaking to her. She could not answer me and said that it was something they sometimes did. I then told her I could not understand the rationale of delaying 2 lots of passengers with potentially 2 lots of flights worth of missedconnections but she could not explain it to me which frustrated me even more.

Anyway, our flight BA208 took off from MIA at 0206 and arrived at LHR at 15:37.This was too late for my connecting flight BA1332 13:40 from LHR to NCL so were subsequently delayed again! The next flight available and the one we werebooked onto was BA1336 departing at 18:25 and arriving at 19:25 (4:35 hoursbeyond our booked arrival time).

When I spoke to BA customer relations and they checked their computer, it comesup with the technical delay to BA207 which had been explained by the Captain as Lighting and a crew hours problem). As I explained to her, BA207 issues were unrelated to us booked on BA208. These technical issues should only be applicable to those delayed on BA206 who were due to have that aircraft (withthe technical delay) as BA209 had arrived at 1825 (over 2 hrs before our scheduled departure time of 20:45) and should have been BA208 and NOT re-assigned by BA as BA206.

My point is and the basis of my compensation claim is that our particular delay was caused by 1 reason and that reason was because BA decided to give ouraircraft to the other flight that had been delayed (BA206) and then gave ustheir aircraft that had suffered the technical issue.

I do not see how BA can claim that this was an 'Operational reason beyond BA's control' when it clearly was. BA made the management decision to give our aircraft to the other flight BA206 which gave us the delay waiting on the otheraircraft to arrive. The technical delay should only (as stated above) beattributed and applicable to those passengers on BA206.

Therefore our delay was caused by a BA decision well within their control and in my opinion, I should be liable for compensation. I feel that their reason is incorrect and that they have not given my individual case due consideration due to what their systems are telling them at Customer Relations."

Has anyone come across anything similar. I have searched the forums high and low and haven't found anything similar which makes me believe maybe I'm flogging a dead horse. Really annoys me though how they can claim this mystical 'Operational Circumstances' in this particular case! FACT, they gave our aircraft away so they cause our delay and our missed connection.

Any advice here would be appreciated. BTW, I received BA's reply last Monday.

Vauban

I think you need to ask BA for more detail of the "operational circumstances" that delayed your flight. If this was indeed a decision by the airline to swap one plane for another's flight, you would on the face of it qualify for compensation. If however the problem was caused by an operational issue outside of their control, such as an air traffic control problem, this would likely be "extraordinary". A lightening strike to another plane that leave them short of aircraft for the schedule is unlikely to be extraordinary, as it did not affect the plane scheduled to perform your flight. Regardless you need more detail from BA, I think.

griffin2006

Thanks for the advice Vauban. I have gone back to them requesting further information and have used snippets of quotes from what you wrote. It really annoys me and I love a good fight; I just hate being fobbed off and as I put to them (and you also picked up on), they are using the issues from the aircraft not originally scheduled for us to pin the blame to and I just think that's plain unfair. Will see what they come back with now and am genuinely surprised there aren't others on this forum who have also claimed for the same flight! Will post any further info I get back!

Vauban wrote: »

I think you need to ask BA for more detail of the "operational circumstances" that delayed your flight. If this was indeed a decision by the airline to swap one plane for another's flight, you would on the face of it qualify for compensation. If however the problem was caused by an operational issue outside of their control, such as an air traffic control problem, this would likely be "extraordinary". A lightening strike to another plane that leave them short of aircraft for the schedule is unlikely to be extraordinary, as it did not affect the plane scheduled to perform your flight. Regardless you need more detail from BA, I think.

DIYGirlz

I have been trying to claim reimbursement for cancelled flight from LHR 13 July - for expenses for hotel, taxi to Gatwick etc. BA has offered partial reimbursement but bizarrely not for taxi, leaving me out of pocket. I do not accept that I should pay for transfer to another airport which was their decision. Does anyone have a template letter for legal action? I will take this to court as I feel so strongly about the shoddy way they are trying to brush this off. PS they also failed in their duty of care, as no refreshments were provided during 4 hours of queueing !

Vauban

It's in the FAQs on page one.

DIYGirlz

If I'm to lodge an NBA (and subsequent legal action) do I name the CEO or other senior person or do I lodge against the company itself?
Really would take this to court on principle as I won't bear the costs that BA should pay as set out in Article 9 !!
Grateful Thanks - and sorry if this has been covered - have tried to find answer....