Flight delay and cancellation compensation, BA ONLY

Musicology

Hi There,

Quick question. My husband and I were returning from Palma to London City Airport on 8th October. At the airport we were told the flight was cancelled as the incoming plane from City airport had been cancelled due to fog so therefore the plane was not here to take us back.

BA were good and put us in a hotel before getting us onto the next flight the following day (total delay 23 hours).

My question is are we entitled to compensation? There was clearly no fog in Palma but could they blame the fog in London which led to the cancellation of the incoming flight as extraordinary circumstances?

My husband contacted customer services on our return and just asked for a gesture of goodwill. They responded with 6000 avios each but he was unaware that we may have been entitled to any compensation (which on my calculations would be worth more than the avios?)

Thanks in advance for any replies/advice x

Mark2spark

Musicology wrote: »

Hi There,

Quick question. My husband and I were returning from Palma to London City Airport on 8th October. At the airport we were told the flight was cancelled as the incoming plane from City airport had been cancelled due to fog so therefore the plane was not here to take us back.

BA were good and put us in a hotel before getting us onto the next flight the following day (total delay 23 hours).

My question is are we entitled to compensation? There was clearly no fog in Palma but could they blame the fog in London which led to the cancellation of the incoming flight as extraordinary circumstances?

My husband contacted customer services on our return and just asked for a gesture of goodwill. They responded with 6000 avios each but he was unaware that we may have been entitled to any compensation (which on my calculations would be worth more than the avios?)

Thanks in advance for any replies/advice x

Were there any other flights leaving Palma for London during this time?
I expect so. Sounds like a valid claim to me. Have you read regulation EU261/2004, as linked in the FAQ's?
What does it say about meteorological conditions?

Musicology

Mark2spark wrote: »

Were there any other flights leaving Palma for London during this time?
I expect so. Sounds like a valid claim to me. Have you read regulation EU261/2004, as linked in the FAQ's?
What does it say about meteorological conditions?

Yes Mark2spark various other flights leaving Palma for London at the time. I guess I'll get my reading head on and read the full regulation. Nice to know that my claim could be valid though. Cheers.

toesonthenose

We too got delayed in LAS for 20 hours courtesy of BA274 (9th Oct 2013).

Followed the guide and claimed compensation for delay also cost of staying extra day. BA response within 7 days of complaint was that due to them following recommended maintenance plan then a technical fault counts as extraordainary. They completely ignored the claim for hotel and food.

Based on reading the article and also the great website flyertalk.com thread on ba compensation, its clear that technical fault is not extraordainary, unless its say a Boeing design fault.

Ill let you all know how I get with stating the relevant EC judgement.

111KAB

This site may help some claimants ......

http://www.thebasource.com/

opinions4u

Just a quick summary of circumstances - interested in your views:

Flight from JFK to LHR with a connecting flight to a UK regional airport on Sunday 27th.

Three of us queuing to check in bags when airport staff call anybody with a connecting flight out of LHR before noon the next day to rebook the connection as they had all been cancelled due to weather.

We were placed in a new queue where it was evident that there was no chance of rebooking the connection out of LHR, checking bags in and getting through security in time for the JFK to LHR leg as there were only two agents rebooking connections and dozens of passengers in the queue.

We pointed this out and were told that we could check our bags in to LHR only but would have to organise the onward connection on landing. As it was a choice of miss the JFK to LHR flight or check in bags to LHR only we chose the latter option.

On landing at LHR, close to schedule, it transpired that our onward connection was not cancelled. We did, however, miss the flight due to having to collect our baggage (which would have been routed straight through had there been no intervention at JFK).

While BA did book us on a subsequent flight we eventually landed at our final destination just over three hours later than the original schedule.

My assumption is that BA will defend their position by saying it's a weather related issue. But to me it seems like their unnecessary panic and inadequate staffing at JFK created the delay, not the weather itself.

Any thoughts?

(At no stage were we offered any explanation of rights, nor any refreshments etc).

Vauban

The original cancellation was weather related. The fact that the weather may subsequently have improved does not seem to me relevant to the original decision to cancel. Your argument that BA were over-hasty could be tested in court, but I'm not confident the law would support your contention.

DTDfanBoy

opinions4u wrote: »

Just a quick summary of circumstances - interested in your views:

Flight from JFK to LHR with a connecting flight to a UK regional airport on Sunday 27th.


On landing at LHR, close to schedule, it transpired that our onward connection was not cancelled. We did, however, miss the flight due to having to collect our baggage (which would have been routed straight through had there been no intervention at JFK).



Any thoughts?

I would say that you may have a chance of compensation providing the flight BA claimed was cancelled actually did operate as scheduled, and your late arrival into Heathrow "On landing at LHR, close to schedule" played no part in you missing your connection, I'd imagine that your delay into Heathrow was caused by the weather which would be a valid EC.

Are you certain that your scheduled onward flight operated under the same flight number ?

How late was your arrival into Heathrow ?

How much did you miss your onward flight by ?

opinions4u

Are you certain that your scheduled onward flight operated under the same flight number ?

Yes.

How late was your arrival into Heathrow ?

About half an hour. And this was due to ground winds causing an aborted landing. We'd been blown ahead of schedule but then circled for close to an hour.

How much did you miss your onward flight by ?

About 15 minutes. If the bags had been routed straight through it would have been fine.

Vauban

I think we should inject a sense of reality into this discussion. This delay is caused at it root by the anticipation of the largest storm to hit the UK for several years, and then compounded by a late arrival due to that storm.

People will no doubt have different views, but I cannot see how a court will not conclude that your delay was fundamentally caused by the storm, affecting your flights directly.

But there's only one way to see who's right ...